Blake Butler—
[out of nothing] #3 is quite the wild beaut. featuring work by Achraf El-Bahi Luis Panini Douglas Kearney Mathew Timmons Alfred Brown Matias Viegener Jen Hofer Morgan Craft Jenny Yurshansky Nikki Allen Jesse Seldess Kevin Varrone Tim Kahl Kyoung Kim Vadim Bystritski and emcee: Teresa Carmody
8
Roxane Gay—
Lincoln Michel, frequent HTMLGIANT commenter and co-editor of Gigantic, has offered a ranking of literary magazines. Magazines I would have considered First Tier, for example, were in the Second Tier–The Missouri Review comes to mind, not in terms of say, my personal preference but in terms of prestige. Rankings are, ultimately, an impossible thing but I thought the rankings were really interesting.
Loneliness
Haven’t really read anything beyond “The Loneliness of the Long Distance Runner,” but read that a while back and enjoyed it thoroughly. So, here’s one for Alan Sillitoe, to mark the old man’s passing. It’s Tuesday, go right ahead:
Do You Really Want To Live Forever??
[Giancarlo Ditrapano sends word of Lish’s upcoming class in NYC -BB]
So you still want to be a writer? Ah man, you are relentless! Good for you and all, but it’s getting kind of annoying, so here’s your last chance for a shot at immortality. (But if it doesn’t pan out for you after this class, you’ve got to promise me you’ll just go to law school and give up your dreams, okay? Okay.) Here’s your golden ticket, Charlie. Don’t choke on it: The Mercantile Library in NYC and Noreen Tomassi have organized another superb class for this summer. Every Monday, starting June 7th and ending on the 23rd of August, Gordon Lish will be teaching again. He took a little break (ten years) but started up again last summer. Due to how wonderfully that went, he is coming back for more. The classes run from 5 o’clock until around 11 or 12. Whew! That is a lot of hours, huh? So many hours! And all beside each other, one after the other! But you won’t believe how fast the hours fly by. The energy in that room could power a train.
N.B. If you have any ego whatsoever, or your feelings are easily rattled, or you think you’ve got Gordon’s number and you just might have something to teach the class yourself, then you should probably bag it. You are already dead in the water, my friend. But if you are prepared to throw it all away and start anew, here is your chance. Yeah, yeah, I know what you’ve heard about the Lish classes. I’ve heard it too. Who hasn’t? But instead of sounding like an idiot after spewing a bunch of garbage about them and then saying you’ve never taken one or even met Lish, why don’t you take the class so you can really back that garbage up, huh? Wouldn’t that be great? For once talking about something you actually know about? What do you have to lose? No, really. What do you have to lose?
Here’s the link. And you’re welcome.
All White People, Indeed
Now that I’ve had a couple weeks to catch up on life post-AWP, I’ve had time to reflect on my experience attending the conference a second time. I had a fantastic time at AWP ’10. It’s a much better experience when you actually know people; I really enjoyed working at the bookfair with my co-editor and meeting so many contributors; and there was, of course, the EPIC dance party on Saturday night that was everything I had been told it would be and so much more. You have not lived until you see a bunch of hot, sweaty writers dancing awkwardly (myself included), and I do mean awkwardly, to Tone Loc.
At several points during AWP, friends and acquaintances would riff on the theme of AWP standing for All White People and we would laugh and move on to the next topic of conversation but there was a certain truth to the comments that was… uncomfortable.
Chapbook Festival in NYC next week. Plan on it.
ANNUAL CHAPBOOK FESTIVAL
Monday May 3 &Tuesday May 4, 2010
The Festival celebrates the chapbook as a work of art and as a medium for alternative and emerging writers and publishers. Now in its second year, the festival features a two-day bookfair with chapbook publishers from around the country, workshops, marathon poetry readings, and a closing-night reading of prize-winning Chapbook Fellows. At the CUNY Graduate Center, 365 Fifth Avenue and 34th Street, NYC. Full schedule at www.chapbookfestival.org and below.
Co-sponsored by The Office of Academic Affairs, The Center for the Humanities, The Graduate Center and MFA Programs in Creative Writing of the City University of New York, The Center for Book Arts, Poets House, Poetry Society of America, and Poets & Writers READ MORE >
First Annual Book Trailer Awards: The Moby’s
I just got an email from the fine folks at Melville House inviting me and my “colleagues” to this event and since I work for myself I guess that means you people. You can nominate trailers here. (Formal attire!)
Worst Acceptance Ever
A friend just forwarded me an acceptance letter he received from a pretty great journal. He had submitted to them a long while ago. It was clear, though, that the letter was meant for someone else. I think that would make for a gut welt.
I can see how publishers could make a mistake like this, and I’m not posting it here to be a jerk. One time I meant to forward a submission to a reading editor, but actually replied to the author. Luckily, my note just said something like, “This seems great. What do you think?”
Here’s the wayward acceptance, if you’re interested: READ MORE >
Power Quote: The Comb Over
Now that even professional athletes are wearing mohawks, I’m pretty sure the only transgressive hairstyle is the comb over.
—My buddy Jordan
Maybe we should all start writing melodrama. Should we? Would that be the most transgressive choice we could make?
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Wait, are we transgressive? Are we trying to transgress now? I can’t remember.
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