Author News
Let’s talk about me for a minute: Poetry + Robert Mondavi Edition
I wonder if people noticed that one of the three categories in which this post is classified is a brand-new one. That would be the “Craven self-promotion” tag–something we’ve probably needed here for a long time, and which I hope all the contributors will feel inclined to make use of, as needed. That said, wanting to direct your attention to this first thing isn’t actually all that craven. I’ve written an essay for the Poetry Foundation, “A Dog Days Reading List: five books of poetry as hot as the sun.” Titles discussed are: The Wonderfull Yeare (a shepherd’s calendar) by Nate Pritts, Fort Red Border by Kiki Petrosino, Sum of Every Lost Ship by Allison Titus, The Drunk Sonnets by Daniel Bailey, and Mean Free Path by Ben Lerner. Eight poems from four of the five books are posted with the essay (dunno what happened with Titus, but you can read some of her work here) for your sampling pleasure.
Okay, second thing. Have you seen the July issue of Bookslut? Among its many treasures, there’s a great review of Ben Mirov’s Ghost Machine, an interview with Rae Armantrout, and–here it comes–a long interview with me, by Mark Doten. It’s a little hard to articulate just how excited I am about this, and why, but I’ll give it a shot. In the version of my own biography that I tell to myself, the start of my career as a “real” writer is marked by the first piece I wrote for Bookslut, an interview with Dennis Cooper published in February 2005. Dennis and I would wind up becoming frequent co-conspirators, and friends, and lately press-mates, but at the time he was just this guy whose books I was in love with, who had actually agreed to talk to me. Looking over the “Articles by Justin Taylor” on Bookslut, it occurs to me that (1) I haven’t written anything for them in over two years, which is inexcusable, and (2) that pretty much all the people I spoke to on their behalf–and several of those I reviewed–wound up becoming friends and/or colleagues in some capacity. Even five years ago Bookslut had a long rich history–without its trailblazing and its model, a site like GIANT would almost certainly not exist–and they should be commended for their ongoing commitment and apparently perpetual vitality. So that’s why it’s a special moment for me to find myself on the other side of the interview on their website, and why I hope you will go read it. Also, if I do say so myself, the piece is awesome. Mark Doten is a good friend, an incredible writer, a wise reader, and a savvy interviewer–what I mean by this last remark is that he was smart enough to get me drunk, and decent enough to get at least as drunk as I got.
Tags: Bookslut, mark doten
Yr next book should be titled “Up My Ass.”
I like the Doten interview a lot.
I take it that every item at the Gint is self-promotion, some craven, some not. I also guess that you’re friends and/or colleagues with Nate Pritts, Kiki Petrosino, Allison Titus, Daniel Bailey, and Ben Lerner. And I don’t care! Hell, I nominated myself to Salt Publishing–(see below)–that’s craven.
Fantastic interview. Lots of fun spots. Interviews are hard these days. You guys did a good one.
I’ve met most of them at least once–poetry’s a very, very small world–and am friendly with a couple, but that piece will come as a complete surprise to all of them. I’d never even heard of Kiki Petrosino until I started working on this piece– I found her book at Poets House, actually. That remark was mine about “colleagues” was specifically w/r/t Bookslut, and should only be read in a very limited sense- Dennis Cooper and I have worked together on a number of projects, from my publishing work of his in my anthology The Apocalypse Reader, and later in my magazine, The Agriculture Reader, to him letting me guest-post on his blog, or us reading together, or us covering him here on Giant. Two other people I interviewed for Bookslut–Steve Aylett and Gary Lutz–were also later included in Apocalypse, and Lutz has a story in the new AgReader. Also, Coop, Kevin Sampsell and I are all press-mates now, since we all have new-ish books out with Harper Perennial, which is something that was absolutely un-anticipateable in 2005, when Dennis was about to be dumped by Grove, his fiction publisher for the course of his whole career, Kevin S. had a new book out on I think Word Riot, and I had no book of any kind because I was 22 years old, had barely published a word of fiction, and had not so much as an inkling of a manuscript. So that’s what I meant.
thanks, Adam!
“Interviews are hard these days”
Hell, yeah. It’s not like when we were kids! Interviews were easy then. You’d walk 12 miles through a snowstorm to The Tavern and take a seat between JD and Pynch and say: Boys, whassup? Interviews? Today? Why bother.
Craven for the most part means cowardly. Perhaps craven self-promotion isn’t quite the right phrase. I think folks are mistaking the “crave” in “craven” to mean “to desire,” but that’s inaccurate. Sort of a false cognate kind-of-thing.
Good point, BR. I was thinking of the word in the sense of being overt, and perhaps desperate; when I think of cowardice I think of “callow,” though this of course doesn’t mean that your definitions are anything other than correct. In any case, I think what I really meant was “Crass.” Will look into fixing this, but not now.
Yr next book should be titled “Up My Ass.”
i’ve met justin a couple times, very briefly.
I like the Doten interview a lot.
I take it that every item at the Gint is self-promotion, some craven, some not. I also guess that you’re friends and/or colleagues with Nate Pritts, Kiki Petrosino, Allison Titus, Daniel Bailey, and Ben Lerner. And I don’t care! Hell, I nominated myself to Salt Publishing–(see below)–that’s craven.
Fantastic interview. Lots of fun spots. Interviews are hard these days. You guys did a good one.
I’ve met most of them at least once–poetry’s a very, very small world–and am friendly with a couple, but that piece will come as a complete surprise to all of them. I’d never even heard of Kiki Petrosino until I started working on this piece– I found her book at Poets House, actually. That remark was mine about “colleagues” was specifically w/r/t Bookslut, and should only be read in a very limited sense- Dennis Cooper and I have worked together on a number of projects, from my publishing work of his in my anthology The Apocalypse Reader, and later in my magazine, The Agriculture Reader, to him letting me guest-post on his blog, or us reading together, or us covering him here on Giant. Two other people I interviewed for Bookslut–Steve Aylett and Gary Lutz–were also later included in Apocalypse, and Lutz has a story in the new AgReader. Also, Coop, Kevin Sampsell and I are all press-mates now, since we all have new-ish books out with Harper Perennial, which is something that was absolutely un-anticipateable in 2005, when Dennis was about to be dumped by Grove, his fiction publisher for the course of his whole career, Kevin S. had a new book out on I think Word Riot, and I had no book of any kind because I was 22 years old, had barely published a word of fiction, and had not so much as an inkling of a manuscript. So that’s what I meant.
Nice interview JT.
thanks, Adam!
“Interviews are hard these days”
Hell, yeah. It’s not like when we were kids! Interviews were easy then. You’d walk 12 miles through a snowstorm to The Tavern and take a seat between JD and Pynch and say: Boys, whassup? Interviews? Today? Why bother.
Craven for the most part means cowardly. Perhaps craven self-promotion isn’t quite the right phrase. I think folks are mistaking the “crave” in “craven” to mean “to desire,” but that’s inaccurate. Sort of a false cognate kind-of-thing.
Good point, BR. I was thinking of the word in the sense of being overt, and perhaps desperate; when I think of cowardice I think of “callow,” though this of course doesn’t mean that your definitions are anything other than correct. In any case, I think what I really meant was “Crass.” Will look into fixing this, but not now.
i’ve met justin a couple times, very briefly.
Nice interview JT.