Woo-hoo! I’ll spend a week in April in my most beloved Midwest, with the awesome folks over at the University of Wisconsin - Madison, for their Annual Writers’ Institute. If you’re in the area, or looking for a conference to attend, I highly recommend. Here’s a list of attending editors and agents. And take a glance at the schedule.
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This spring is going to be very busy for me travel-wise. You can check out my scheduled adventures here!
This is awesome. Mah new favorite thing.
I’ll be attending all of the events on Friday, for anyone who wishes to join me and the wonderful collection of our artistic colleagues, this Thursday and/or Friday.
*** *** *** ***
Thursday, December 1 & Friday, December 2, 2011
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Jerry H. Labowitz Theatre for the Performing Arts
NYU Gallatin School of Individualized Study
1 Washington Place, corner of Broadway
NYC, 10003
***THURSDAY, DECEMBER 1, 2011***
6pm – 6:45pm
Seeing Elizabeth Bishop
A slideshow and talk exploring rarely seen images of Elizabeth Bishop.
Eric Karpeles
7pm – 8:30pm
Bishop in Brazil
A screening of footage from Helena Blaker’s forthcoming documentary on Bishop’s years in Brazil, followed by a discussion with the filmmaker and scholars.
Helena Blaker, Brett Millier, Barbara Page and Lloyd Schwartz
Moderated by Alice Quinn
8:30pm
Refreshments
***FRIDAY, DECEMBER 2, 2011***
1pm – 2:30pm
Elizabeth Bishop and Modern Art
Two interdisciplinary lectures and a discussion.
Peggy Samuels, “A Fascination with Kurt Schwitters: Bishop Reimagines her Poetics”
William Benton, “A Place in Art”
Moderated by Lisa Goldfarb
30-minute break
3pm – 4:30pm
Editors’ Roundtable
A discussion with the editors of recent collections of Bishop’s poetry, prose and correspondence.
Joelle Biele, Saskia Hamilton, Lloyd Schwartz and Thomas Travisano
Moderated by Jonathan Galassi
30-minute break
5pm – 6pm
Student Reading
Selected students will each read a poem by Elizabeth Bishop and their poems written in response.
Jacqueline Allen, Emma Behnke, Stephanie Rodas and Luke Vargas
Introductions by Scott Hightower and Emily Fragos
30-minute break
6:30pm – 8pm
Celebratory Reading
Participating poets read and discuss poems by Elizabeth Bishop
Frank Bidart, John L Koethe, Yusef Komunyakaa, Maureen McLane, Mark Strand, and Jean Valentine
In a previous essay, I interviewed four self-published authors I admire, and I examined some of the benefits of that career path. Midway through writing the piece, I realized I’d have to continue the discussion in a second essay in order to fully explore my feelings (complicated) on the topic (multifaceted). You see, Reader, I still don’t plan on self-publishing my first novel, though I don’t deny the positive aspects of that choice.
Below I’ve outlined a few reasons behind my decision, informed by our contemporary moment. I can’t predict the future, though I’m sure I’ll remain comfortable with my opinions for at least another thirteen months. It’s in a list format, the pet genre of the blogosphere. How else was I to keep my head from imploding?
— Edan Lepucki
i am accused of tending to the past
as if i made it,
as if i sculpted it
with my own hands. i did not.
this past was waiting for me
when i came,
a monstrous unnamed baby,
and i with my mother’s itch
took it to breast
and named it
History.
she is more human now,
learning languages everyday,
remembering faces, names and dates.
when she is strong enough to travel
on her own, beware, she will.
— Lucille Clifton
Due to some unforeseen circumstances that placed extreme limits on my time, I had to close my query inbox.
I am still behind on manuscript reading — to those waiting, I apologize — but things are finally settling down. I’ll be reopening to queries tomorrow, as of 5:00 p.m. EST.
I’m closed to queries until further notice. All queries received between now and whenever I reopen will be deleted unread.
As of Monday, October 10th, at 12:00 a.m. EST, I’ll be closed to queries until further notice.
All queries received at 12:00 a.m. EST or later will be deleted unread.
Exceptions: material requested/solicited via contests or conferences, or queries from writers who have a referral or recommendation from another agent or client. (Please specify this in the subject line.)
Any questions? Ask below.
I’ve been reading a lot of short stories on the subway lately, in between editing for my clients and the work that has enveloped my life at the office.
This is another one that I loved. It’s absolutely magnificent, and the ending has to be one of my favorites ever.
It’s also very short — aka, you should read it!
An excerpt (bolded phrases are mine):
Anders couldn’t get to the bank until just before it closed, so of course the line was endless and he got stuck behind two women whose loud, stupid conversation put him in a murderous temper. He was never in the best of tempers anyway, Anders – a book critic known for the weary, elegant savagery with which he dispatched almost everything he reviewed.
With the line still doubled around the rope, one of the tellers stuck a “POSITION CLOSED” sign in her window and walked to the back of the bank, where she leaned against a desk and began to pass the time with a man shuffling papers. The women in front of Anders broke off their conversation and watched the teller with hatred. “Oh, that’s nice,” one of them said. She turned to Anders and added, confident of his accord, “One of those little human touches that keep us coming back for more.”
Anders had conceived his own towering hatred of the teller, but he immediately turned it on the presumptuous crybaby in front of him. “Damned unfair,” he said. “Tragic, really. If they’re not chopping off the wrong leg, or bombing your ancestral village, they’re closing their positions.”
She stood her ground. “I didn’t say it was tragic,” she said. “I just think it’s a pretty lousy way to treat your customers.”
“Unforgivable,” Anders said. “Heaven will take note.”
The best version of it online that I could fine is here.
You can meet the talented Teresa Frohock, author of MISERERE: AN AUTUMN TALE, if you’re in the Piedmont Triad, NC, area this week:
I’ll be speaking at the Forsyth County Library this coming Wednesday (details here), so if you’re in the Piedmont Triad area and want to pop in and hear me talk about “Writing to Horrify,” please come. I will be talking about the Winston-Salem Writers horror serial novel Rady, reading from Miserere and also from my current novel, The Garden.
I’d love to meet you.
