lightning + lightning bugs

Stephen Colbert + Ann Patchett

Wed, 22 Feb 2012 12:26:24 -0500

In the midst of my reading and editing manuscripts — my clients have been sending me work non-stop, it seems like — a good friend of mine sent me this video. She knows me too well. I find it hilarious.

Who Left A Tree, Then A Coffin In The Library?

Mon, 19 Dec 2011 18:28:51 -0500

Who Left A Tree, Then A Coffin In The Library?:

This is awesome. Mah new favorite thing.

For Poetry Lovers in NYC

Tue, 29 Nov 2011 22:59:29 -0500

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

Visions Coinciding: An Elizabeth Bishop Centennial Conference

Co-organized by the NYU Gallatin School of Individualized Study and the Poetry Society of America, with support from the NYU Humanities Initiative.

All events are free and open to the public. RSVP suggested.

For more information, visit: www.gallatin.nyu.edu

RSVP and questions, contact mollykleiman@nyu.edu

Location:

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

"Reasons Not to Self-Publish in 2011-2012: A List"

Tue, 29 Nov 2011 12:22:08 -0500

"Reasons Not to Self-Publish in 2011-2012: A List":

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"

Sun, 27 Nov 2011 23:36:55 -0500

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

Re-Opening to Queries as of November 8th, 5:00 p.m. EST

Mon, 07 Nov 2011 02:57:00 -0500

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.

Closed to Queries

Mon, 10 Oct 2011 09:41:28 -0400

I’m closed to queries until further notice. All queries received between now and whenever I reopen will be deleted unread.

Closing to Queries on Monday

Wed, 05 Oct 2011 14:36:00 -0400

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.

Tobias Wolff's "Bullet in the Brain"

Tue, 04 Oct 2011 01:28:50 -0400

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.

Meet Teresa Frohock

Mon, 03 Oct 2011 10:44:31 -0400

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.

Toni Morrison On Writing What You (Don't) Know

Sat, 01 Oct 2011 16:39:37 -0400

[Morrison] challenged her students to go after big, ambitious subjects in their work. “I used to tell them, ‘I know everyone is telling you to write what you know. But I don’t want to hear what you know because you don’t know anything,’” she said, laughing. “Please, write what you don’t know.”

- The Washingtonian

Via my client Leah Raeder.

Currently Reading?

Wed, 28 Sep 2011 23:04:00 -0400

I’m currently in the midst of three books:

THE UNBEARABLE LIGHTNESS OF BEING

THE WIND-UP BIRD CHRONICLE

THE CHILD THIEF

If you have “the next ,” please send it my way. (Oh, the utter, utter genius they all possess.)

What are you currently reading?

Hannah Bowman: What I'm Looking For--Fiction

Wed, 28 Sep 2011 13:18:00 -0400

Hannah Bowman: What I'm Looking For--Fiction:

I’ve known Hannah for a while now, and she is fabulous — possesses such a deep, intensive knowledge of good literature, and is a writer, too. Now she’s also an agent with Liza Dawson Associates (which is a fab agency altogether). For anyone who’s looking to expand their querying field, check it out:

hannahbowman:

I’m interested in all kinds of commercial fiction, but especially: science fiction and fantasy (and all subgenres), high-concept women’s fiction, contemporary and historical romances, cozy mysteries, and young adult books, including sci-fi and fantasy.

Right now I’m not looking for middle grade…

The Books You Have To Read

Wed, 21 Sep 2011 00:21:00 -0400

It is rare for a work of non-fiction to reduce me to pure emotion — in the case of HALF THE SKY, a mix of disbelief, rage, helplessness, and passion.

In the book, journalists (and married couple) Nicholas D. Kristof and Sheryl WuDunn — winners of the Pulitzer Prize — trace the current human rights status of women across the world. What they find — and what has been statistically proven over and over, across the globe — is that there exists a gender gap. Most horrifying is the oppression of girls and women in the developing world: instances of rape (from rape as a weapon of war, used to dehumanize and terrorize groups of people, to rape as a mechanism of punishment for various cultural norms); acid throwing; burning to the death; maternal mortality; sex trafficking; sex slavery; and more.

The results are horrifying.

I urge everyone, everyone, everyone to read the book.

Please read it.

You can buy used copies on Amazon for just under $5.00.

One interesting thing that Kristof and WuDunn found is that the sharing of statistics makes individuals less inclined to donate than the sharing of individual stories. I urge everyone, therefore, to read about and listen to this collection of women who have found avenues against the repression.

A modern anti-repression strategy is women’s economic empowerment. It has been found that the economic gender inequality is the single largest economic loss — a loss of billions of dollars — experienced across the globe, including within the United States.

The process of economic empowerment that responds to this scenario internationally begins via education.

In particular, there is strong evidence that educating girls boosts prosperity. It is probably the single best investment that can be made in the developing world. Not only are better educated women more productive, but they raise healthier, better educated children. There is huge potential to raise income per head in developing countries, where fewer girls go to school than boys.

- The Economist

In the developing world especially, women are key:

Furthermore, the increase in female employment in the rich world has been the main driving force of growth in the past couple of decades. Those women have contributed more to global GDP growth than have either new technology or the new giants, China and India (see article). Add the value of housework and child-rearing, and women probably account for just over half of world output. It is true that women still get paid less and few make it to the top of companies, but, as prejudice fades over coming years, women will have great scope to boost their productivity—and incomes.

Governments, too, should embrace the potential of women. Women complain (rightly) of centuries of exploitation. Yet, to an economist, women are not exploited enough: they are the world’s most under-utilised resource; getting more of them into work is part of the solution to many economic woes, including shrinking populations and poverty.

- The Economist

I would like to urge everyone to find a way to offer economic assistance to the plight of these women internationally.

I’ve had the luck of corresponding with some employees at Vital Voices, which is an organization dedicated to the support of small- and medium-sized enterprises/businesses in the developing world. I hope to, in the near future, if I can make the possibility work alongside job demands, spend some time abroad working hands on with these communities by teaching English.

VV supports women corporations in employing others from their villages, etc. Per every 100 women employed, I believe the statistic is, up to 14,000 individuals within these communities can experience the positive effect of increased economic production. One cannot underestimate the positive economic effects.

There are two ways that you can help.

Donate.

Or, better yet, support these women directly by shopping in the Vital Voices store of items produced in developing countries — bags, decor, jewelry, art, etc.

If there is one message that echoes forth from this conference, let it be that human rights are women’s rights and women’s rights are human rights once and for all.

- Hillary Clinton

Why I Love Margaret Atwood

Tue, 13 Sep 2011 23:01:31 -0400

Read this story.

A snapshot:

John and Mary meet.

What happens next?

If you want a happy ending, try A.

A.

John and Mary fall in love and get married. They both have worthwhile and remunerative jobs which they find stimulating and challenging. They buy a charming house. Real estate values go up. Eventually, when they can afford live-in help, they have two children, to whom they are devoted. The children turn out well. John and Mary have a stimulating and challenging sex life and worthwhile friends. They go on fun vacations together. They retire. They both have hobbies which they find stimulating and challenging. Eventually they die. This is the end of the story.

B.

Mary falls in love with John but John doesn’t fall in love with Mary. (…)

Nathan Bransford on "Spaghetti Agents"

Tue, 06 Sep 2011 20:15:07 -0400

This is great advice, and I wanted to pass it on.

Read the full entry here.

An excerpt:

And if you’re getting multiple responses of “I like this but don’t know if it’s quite ready” from some agents but then one wants to go out with it immediately… take a long pause and really really think it through. I’m not necessarily advising giving up the bird in the hand, and don’t be paranoid, because this may just be the one agent who really gets your work and they might be completely right that it doesn’t need work. But as always, just really, really think it through and make sure it’s the right choice.

Having the wrong agent can be worse than having no agent. After working so long on your novel and wanting so badly to go out on submission, it’s tempting to want to leap into the arms of the first agent who will have you. But be sure and take your time, do your research, and make sure it’s the right fit before proceeding.

Man Booker Shortlist

Tue, 06 Sep 2011 20:11:09 -0400

I love seeing the shortlist announced every year — though, I must be honest: I haven’t read any of this year’s shortlist (and only two from the longlist):

Julian Barnes: THE SENSE OF AN ENDING (Cape)
Carol Birch: JAMRACH’S MENAGERIE (Canongate)
Patrick deWitt: THE SISTERS BROTHERS (Granta)
Esi Edugyan: HALF BLOOD BLUES (Serpent’s Tail)
Stephen Kelman: PIGEON ENGLISH (Bloomsbury)
A.D. Miller: SNOWDROPS (Atlantic)

Has anyone read any of these? Any favorites?

Definitely check them out if you haven’t had the chance to.

Win Four Fantasies!

Fri, 02 Sep 2011 15:42:54 -0400

Win Four Fantasies!:

… including Teresa Frohock’s MISERERE: AN AUTUMN TALE, which was the Library Journal’s speculative debut last month.

More here.

Ann Patchett on Writing

Thu, 01 Sep 2011 02:20:01 -0400

I began Ann Patchett’s (love her — zomg, have you read BEL CANTO? ah-mazing!) newest, STATE OF WONDER, yesterday evening, upon the urging of one of the foreign scouts working out of our office, and had to grin when I saw that Jane Dystel of Dystel & Goderich blogged yesterday about the very same writer.

I’ll take the easy way out and quote:

Ann Patchett, whose work I’m a big fan of, and who I’ve blogged about before, has written a short electronic book (it’s really more like a long article) with advice to writers that she is selling through Amazon, who was advertising it through an e-mail to its customers (or at least to me since I recently downloaded State of Wonder on my Kindle).

From the description, it sounds like a memoir about Patchett’s writing life, beginning in childhood, and offers a glimpse into the path of a talented and ultimately bestselling novelist. It’s only 45 pages, but I suspect for the aspiring writer, there is a lot of great advice to be found here. I found this brief and charming excerpt from the book(let?) at Byliner.com. Judging from the reviews on Amazon, the insight she shares is very valuable. I’m curious to know if it will be successful, and if we’ll be seeing a lot more of this kind of thing. I think it’s pretty cool that writers are expanding their oeuvre in unique ways that make their work in different formats more accessible to a wider audience.

I’d love to know what you think. Is this the kind of thing you’d be interested in reading, and do you think $2.99 is a fair price for it? And if anyone out there has downloaded it already and read it, please share your thoughts. Is it worth it? Is it too short? Should she consider expanding it into a full-length memoir? Maybe this is a way to test the market and see what the reaction is before she embarks on a much longer journey. Personally, I’d be happy to read anything she writes.

Find the full post and answer Jane’s questions here.

"New Economics Rewrite Book Business"

Tue, 30 Aug 2011 19:21:57 -0400

"New Economics Rewrite Book Business"

lightning + lightning bugs

Stephen Colbert + Ann Patchett

Who Left A Tree, Then A Coffin In The Library?

For Poetry Lovers in NYC

"Reasons Not to Self-Publish in 2011-2012: A List"

"i am accused of tending to the past"

Re-Opening to Queries as of November 8th, 5:00 p.m. EST

Closed to Queries

Closing to Queries on Monday

Tobias Wolff's "Bullet in the Brain"

Meet Teresa Frohock

Toni Morrison On Writing What You (Don't) Know

Currently Reading?

Hannah Bowman: What I'm Looking For--Fiction

The Books You *Have To* Read

Why I Love Margaret Atwood

Nathan Bransford on "Spaghetti Agents"

Man Booker Shortlist

Win Four Fantasies!

Ann Patchett on Writing

"New Economics Rewrite Book Business"

The Books You Have To Read