Eat, Sleep & Read!

The Daily Beast

2012-02-12T12:23:00.002-05:00

The Newsweek/Daily Beast Company LLC formed in February 2011 when the revered print brand and the thriving young news site completed their merger, bringing together the warp speed 24/7 website with the depth, analysis, and investigative power of a great print magazine. The combined operation now attracts over 10 million unique online visitors a month and the magazine reaches 14 million readers across America, and millions more through its international editions.

The Daily Beast was founded in 2008 as the vision of Tina Brown and IAC Chairman Barry Diller. Curated to avoid information overload, the site is dedicated to breaking news and sharp commentary. After the merger, The Daily Beast became the online home of Newsweek Magazine, which has served as the world’s preeminent conversation starter since its founding in 1933. Tina Brown, former editor of Vanity Fair, The New Yorker and Talk, serves as Editor-in-Chief of both publications.

*I love their book section.

Poetry and Poetics

2012-02-12T12:14:00.004-05:00

THEthe Poetry is a blog about poetics, for both poets and non-poets. It takes its name from Wallace Stevens’ poem “The Man on the Dump,” which ends with a question and an answer: “Where was it one first heard of the truth? The the.” THEthe is a forum for ideas on poetry and the poetic aspects of fiction, non-fiction, music, visual art, film, and “the things / That are on the dump (azaleas and so on) / And those that will be (azaleas and so on).” Our contributors are writers, readers, artists, critics and so on. Our readers are writers, readers, artists, critics and so on. All are people on the dump, where “one sits and beats and old tin can, lard pail. / One beats and beats for that which one believes. / That’s what one wants to get near.” We hope that THEthe will help us all get a little closer.

FRANKLIN PARK READING SERIES

2012-02-11T12:54:00.000-05:00

BEN MARCUS (The Flame Alphabet)
MARTHA SOUTHGATE (The Taste of Salt)
KATE ZAMBRENO (Green Girl)
CHIARA BARZINI (Sister Stop Breathing)
WILL SNIDER (The Halloween Plays)

When: February 13

Time: 8-10pm

618 St. John's Place, Brooklyn, NY

(between Classon Ave. and Franklin Ave.)

A call for submissions from Queer writers, with a strong emphasis on Queer Canadian contributions.

2012-02-11T12:46:00.001-05:00

For the sixth issue of Poetry Is Dead we welcome submissions from Queer writers, with a strong emphasis on Queer Canadian contributions. As always, Poetry Is Dead is interested in work that runs the gamut of forms—from spoken word to experimental language-focused work.

go ahead and cry. to break
is to be sanctified. to find in the body
a safehouse where all your monsters
get to be raucous, bring the audience

to their feet calling what. what.
dig at the shame places. your gutter
of a cunt. your crowbar of a cock.
say the words, say fuck and wheelbarrow

and voluptuary until it all sounds
like amen, amen, amen, amen, amen,
amen, amen, amen. why despise

your own wiring? it was desire
that made you

--Marty McConnell, “The World’s Guide To Beginning”

A resource web site for chapbook publishers

2012-02-11T12:23:00.001-05:00

Welcome to chapbookfinder.com, a resource web site for chapbook publishers, authors and agents seeking greater exposure for an individual title, series of titles, annual competitions, and other publishing opportunities in this form. Our immediate goal is to get the word out about newly released chapbooks (and those still in print) and make them easy to find and purchase.

The Association of Writers & Writing Programs

2012-02-11T12:08:00.001-05:00

AWP provides community, opportunities, ideas, news, and advocacy for writers and teachers. We support over 34,000 writers, 500 college and university creative writing programs, and 100 writers' conferences and centers.

Advancing works of art and electronic media.

2012-02-11T12:01:00.001-05:00

Map Literary publishes poems, prose poems, short stories, self-contained novel excerpts, essays, manifestos, hypertext and new media works, author interviews, book/cultural reviews, and art/photography.

The New Inquiry is a space for discussion.

2012-02-11T11:49:00.004-05:00

The New Inquiry is a space for discussion that aspires to enrich cultural and public life by putting all available resources—both digital and material—toward the promotion and exploration of ideas.

The New Inquiry is a 501(c)3 non-profit and is not affiliated with any political party, government agency, university, municipality, religious organization, cadre, or other cult.

Handwritten manuscripts and journal entries...

2012-02-11T11:28:00.000-05:00

8 Memoirs to Get You Through Hard Times

2012-02-11T11:16:00.003-05:00

Live From Home with Josh Ritter

2012-02-11T10:54:00.001-05:00

Josh Ritter is from Moscow, Idaho. The son of two neuroscientists, he was on his way to follow in their footsteps when he discovered Johnny Cash and Bob Dylan’s “Girl from the North Country” in high school. He has since released five studio albums and has been recently named one of the 100 greatest living songwriters by Paste Magazine, alongside Dylan, Springsteen, and Neil Young. Joan Baez has covered one of his songs; Stephen King named one of Ritter’s albums the best of recent years and David Letterman has requested him twice, so far. His albums include So Runs the World Away and The Animal Years. His debut novel, Bright’s Passage, was published by Random House this year to wide acclaim. He has a new EP, Bringing In the Darlings, out on February 21st.

An Essential Postmodern Reading List

2012-02-11T10:50:00.000-05:00

Storybook Burlesque

2012-02-11T10:43:00.003-05:00

Storybook Burlesque was formed in the summer of 2009 by seven of New York burlesque’s rising stars. Its mission: to produce literary burlesque inspired by a variety of storybooks, from Tabloid Magazines to the Bible, William Shakespeare to Doctor Seuss.

Storybook Burlesque Presents The Works of Roald Dahl

Read It First!

2012-02-09T18:58:00.001-05:00

What could be better than learning about great new reads?
Getting free copies of great new reads!

Iowa Summer Writing Festival

2012-02-09T18:54:00.001-05:00

These pages refer to our 2011 Iowa Summer Writing Festival, now past. The updated pages for the 2012 program will be posted in mid-February.

PoetryTodayOnline.com: Online Resource & Information for Poetry

2012-02-09T13:12:00.004-05:00

PoetryTodayOnline.com is your number one resource for poetry on the web. You’ve come to the right place if you’re looking to enjoy or write poetry. With over 20 articles to browse through, you can discover classic and modern poetry online, get into poetry contests, develop your writing craft, and find tips on publishing.

The Writer's Almanac with Garrison Keillor

2012-02-09T13:05:00.003-05:00

“Writing is 90 percent procrastination: reading magazines, eating cereal out of the box, watching infomercials.”

—Paul Rudnick

Visit the website and subscribe in iTunes for a daily dose of Garrison Keillor.

A CELEBRATION OF THE CHAPBOOK

2012-02-09T12:50:00.005-05:00

Thu-Fri, Mar 29-30

New York, NY

Now in its third year, the festival features a two-day bookfair with chapbook publishers from around the country, workshops, and the reading of the 2011 Poetry Society of America Chapbook Fellows.

Free and open to the public.

PSA Chapbook Fellows Reading
Friday, March 30th, 7:00 PM

2011 PSA Chapbook Winners: EJ Garcia, Angela Veronica Wong, Alison Roh Park, Marni Ludwig.
Introduced by Alice Quinn

Graduate Center, CUNY
365 Fifth Avenue, corner of 34th Street
Please visit chapbookfestival.org for further details.

Co-sponsored by the Center for Book Arts; the Center for the Humanities at The Graduate Center, CUNY; and Queens College, CUNY, MFA Program in Creative Writing and Literary Translation; Poets House; and Poets & Writers.

LITERARY LEGACY: TWO WRITERS IN CONVERSATION ON CRAFT & PROCESS

2012-02-09T12:45:00.001-05:00

Mark Doty and Tracy K. Smith

Literary Legacy invites you to engage with Mark Doty and Tracy K. Smith as they converse on topics of craft and their process. Moderated by Darrel Alejandro Holnes.

Mark Doty is the author of numerous collections of poetry, most recently Fire to Fire: New and Selected Poems (2008), which received the National Book Award; School of the Arts (2005);Source (2002); and Sweet Machine (1998).

Tracy K. Smith's first collection, The Body's Question (2003), won the Cave Canem Prize in 2002. Her second book, Duende ( 2007), won the 2006 James Laughlin Award from the Academy of American Poets. Her third collection, Life on Mars, was published by Graywolf Press in 2011.

Co-sponsored by the NYU Creative Writing Program.

Admission is free.

Friday, Feb 10, 5:00pm

New York, NY

Lillian Vernon Creative Writers House
New York University
58 West 10th Street

What is The Poetry Project?

2012-02-09T12:30:00.001-05:00

Through its live programming, workshops, publications, website and special events, The Poetry Project promotes, fosters and inspires the reading and writing of contemporary poetry by (a) presenting contemporary poetry to diverse audiences, (b) increasing public recognition, awareness and appreciation of poetry and other arts, (c) providing a community setting in which poets and artists can exchange ideas and information, and (d) encouraging the participation and development of new poets from a broad range of styles.

Bob Rosenthal at the 38th Annual New Year’s Day Marathon Benefit

2012-02-09T12:27:00.002-05:00

FIRST TUESDAYS Open Readings

2012-02-09T12:11:00.004-05:00

Do you have poetry to share? Do you love hearing great poetry?

Terraza Cafe in Jackson Heights, Queens.

All ages and levels, from beginner to published, are welcome to read!

Come at 6:45 P.M. to sign up for a spot.

Readings start at 7:00-7:30 PM and go until everyone has read.

There is a suggested donation of $5.

What is figment?

2012-02-09T12:03:00.001-05:00

Figment is a community where you can share your writing, connect with other readers, and discover new stories and authors. Whatever you're into, from sonnets to mysteries, from sci-fi stories to cell phone novels, you can find it all here.

Resources for Educators

2012-02-09T11:51:00.003-05:00

Paris Press offers books by Bryher

2012-02-09T11:44:00.003-05:00

Bryher (1894-1983)

born in England and spent most of her adult life in Territet, Switzerland and in London. Her novels and memoirs received high critical praise during her lifetime. However, nearly all of her work has been neglected during the past thirty years. Bryher was the partner of H.D., and she was the benefactor of many writers and thinkers, from Marianne Moore to Walter Benjamin. She was deeply involved in politics, film, and psychology, as well as literature. She was the publisher of Contact Publishing, Life and Letters To-day, and Close Up, and she helped to support the intellectual sanctum, Shakespeare and Company.

Entering the World of Book Clubs

2012-02-09T10:43:00.000-05:00

Guest Post: This post was written by avid book-reader, Ella Davidson. Davidson regularly contributes to the couponing website, Coupons.org. "http://www.coupons.org/" strives to provide consumers with all the necessary money-saving tools.

What is more satisfying than finishing a good book and having a great friend who you can talk about it with? This feeling is the one that inspires many book-lovers to join book clubs. Some book club members feel the urge to join because they just can't seem to finish a book they start, no matter how much they've been enjoying it; having a group of people to check-in and discuss the book with helps many readers see a book all the way through. Whatever your reason for joining, being part of a book club can be an incredibly rewarding experience that helps you engage more with the literature you enjoy, and also introduce you to a new group of friends.

A book club, essentially, is a group of readers who all decide to read one book at the same time. Often meeting once a week – or less often, depending on the group members' schedules – they determine a set number of chapters to read before the next meeting. Then, at the next meeting, the members discuss the major issues and plot developments that have taken place since they last met. Many groups follow a predetermined list of questions, though others simply let group members bring up any major plot point they wish to discuss. Readers can ask questions about passages they didn't understand, and everyone can discuss what motivations or circumstances caused a character to behave in a certain way.

For many book club members, the friendly community atmosphere created by their group enhances their enjoyment of literature. However, these groups – because of their tightly bonded nature – can seem difficult to break into. If you're interested in becoming part of a book club, consider some of these basic tips for starting out.

You basically have two options for becoming part of a book club: join an existing group or form your own. If you have a circle of friends you can interest in forming a book club with you – go for it! There are no strict rules on numbers or what kinds of books should be read; you and your group members can figure out what works for you. If you need to find a group to join, however, look for information provided by community organizations: your public library is a good place to start, but also check with your park district, local book stores, and community centers like the YMCA. These more public book clubs will more receptive to new members and have procedures for getting you involved with the group.

Once you've chosen a group to join, it's time to get started reading! Remember, book clubs are supposed to be fun, so don't feel pressured to completely understand or analyze every passage of the assigned reading. Instead, take notes as you go, either in a notebook or in the margins of your book. That way, if you have any questions or came across a major insight, you'll have them prepared for the group at the next meeting. By asking questions, you can often spark some engaging group discussions; maybe others were equally confused, or maybe everyone has a different interpretation of a particular scene. There are no right and wrong answers, and most group members are eager to hear how the book impacted you.

Speaking of “no right and wrong answers”, there is a certain amount of book club etiquette that must be practiced in order for the experience to be positive for all members. Keeping an open mind to every group member is absolutely essential; having a lively discussion with other group members who disagrees with your interpretation can be fun and informative, but being combative and telling someone their thoughts are invalid is completely unacceptable. Book clubs are not about winning or “getting it” the most. Express your opinions, and let your club-mates express theirs.

Some book club members have the opposite problem of bring too timid to express an opinion. Don't make the other members do all the work! The enjoyment of book clubs for most members is not just getting to share their own thoughts, but getting to hear everyone else's as well. What makes book clubs so special is the amalgamation of many voices and ideas. An idea you have that you think is either bad or stupid, might be just the one to spark everyone else's interest and begin a great discussion. Participation is absolutely necessary for being a positive member of a book club.

Being in a book club can be a hugely rewarding experience, so if you're interested – get out there and join! You'll come out with some great books under your belt and, most likely, some good friends too.

20 American Poems Every Student Should Know

2012-02-05T12:28:00.001-05:00

Like all the literary, visual and performing arts, great poetry simultaneously reflects deeply personal and staggeringly universal themes and images. And, of course, also remains firmly rooted in the creators’ time and place, despite often possessing a transcendent nature. A delicate balance, to be certain, but understanding the balance results in influential, lasting works. Small shards of history for studying and sharing. Obviously, the entirety of the American poetry scene can’t be distilled into only 20 works, and the Internet masses should probably check themselves before they wreck themselves over inclusions and exclusions. Creative pieces are always subjective, but this happens to be one writer’s opinion of a few worth exploring because of their historical, cultural, and/or technical merit.

Of Mice and Men, by John Steinbeck

2012-02-05T12:24:00.002-05:00

Banned in Ireland (1953); Syracuse, IN (1974); Oil City, PA (I977); Grand Blanc, MI (1979); Continental, OH (1980) and other communities. Challenged in Greenville, SC (1977) by the Fourth Province of the Knights of the Ku Klux KIan; Vernon Verona Sherill, NY School District (1980); St. David, AZ (1981) and Tell City, IN (1982) due to "profanity and using God's name in vain." Banned from classroom use at the Scottsboro, AL Skyline High School (1983) due to "profanity." The Knoxville, TN School Board chairman vowed to have "filthy books" removed from Knoxville's public schools (1984) and picked Steinbeck's novel as the first target due to "its vulgar language." Reinstated at the Christian County, KY school libraries and English classes (1987) after being challenged as vulgar and offensive. Challenged in the Marion County, WV schools (1988), at the Wheaton Warrenville, IL Middle School (1988), and at the Berrien Springs, MI High School (1988) because the book contains profanity. Removed from the Northside High School in Tuscaloosa, AL (1989) because the book "has profane use of God's name." Challenged as a summer youth program reading assignment in Chattanooga, TN (1989) because "Steinbeck is known to have had an anti business attitude." In addition, "he was very questionable as to his patriotism." Removed from all reading lists and collected at the White Chapel High School in Pine Bluff, AR (1989) because of objections to language. Challenged as appropriate for high school reading lists in the Shelby County, TN school system (1989) because the novel contains "offensive language." Challenged, but retained in a Salina, KS (1990) tenth grade English class despite concerns that it contains "profanity" and "takes the Lord's name in vain." Challenged by a Fresno, CA (1991) parent as a tenth grade English college preparatory curriculum assignment, citing profanity" and "racial slurs." The book was retained, and the child of the objecting parent was provided with an alternative reading assignment. Challenged in the Rivera, TX schools (1990) because it contains profanity. Challenged as curriculum material at the Ringgold High School in Carroll Township, PA (1991) because the novel contains terminology offensive to blacks. Removed and later returned to the Suwannee, FL High School library (1991) because the book is "indecent" Challenged at the Jacksboro, TN High School (1991) because the novel contains "blasphemous" language, excessive cursing, and sexual overtones. Challenged as required reading in the Buckingham County, VA schools (1991) because of profanity. In 1992 a coalition of community members and clergy in Mobile, AL requested that local school officials form a special textbook screening committee to "weed out objectionable things." Steinbeck's novel was the first target because it contains "profanity" and "morbid and depressing themes." Temporarily removed from the Hamilton, OH High School reading list (1992) after a parent complained about its vulgarity and racial slurs. Challenged in the Waterloo, IA schools (1992) and the Duval County, FL public school libraries (1992) because of profanity, lurid passages about sex, and statements defamatory to minorities, God, women, and the disabled. Challenged at the Modesto, CA High School as recommended reading (1992) because of "offensive and racist language." The word "nigger" appears in the book. Challenged at the Oak Hill High School in Alexandria, LA (1992) because of profanity. Challenged as an appropriate English curriculum assignment at the Mingus, AZ Union High School (1993) because of "profane language, moral statement, treatment of the retarded, and the violent ending." Pulled from a classroom by the Putnam County, TN school superintendent (1994) "due to the language." Later, after discussions with the school district counsel, it was reinstated. The book was challenged in the Loganville, GA High School (1994) because of its "vulgar language throughout." Challenged in the Galena, KS school library (1995) because of the book's language and social implications. Retained in the Bemidji, MN schools (1995) after challenges to the book's "objectionable" language. Challenged at the Stephens County High School library in Toccoa, GA (I995) because of "curse words." The book was retained. Challenged, but retained in a Warm Springs, VA High School (1995) English class. Banned from the Washington Junior High School curriculum in Peru, IL (1997) because it was deemed "age inappropriate." Challenged, but retained, in the Louisville, OH high school English classes (1997) because of profanity. Removed, restored, restricted, and eventually retained at the Bay County schools in Panama City, FL (1997). A citizen group, the 100 Black United, Inc., requested the novel's removal and "any other inadmissible literary books that have racial slurs in them, such as the using of the word 'Nigger.'" Challenged as a reading list assignment for a ninth grade literature class, but retained at the Sauk Rapids Rice High School in St. Cloud, MN (1997). A parent complained that the book's use of racist language led to racist behavior and racial harassment. Challenged in O'Hara Park Middle School classrooms in Oakley, CA (1998) because it contains racial epithets. Challenged, but retained, in the Bryant, AR school library (1998) because of a parent's complaint that the book "takes God's name in vain 15 times and uses Jesus's name lightly." Challenged at the Barron, WI School District (1998). Challenged, but retained in the sophomore curriculum at West Middlesex, PA High School (1999) despite objections to the novel's profanity. Challenged in the Tomah, WI School District (1999) because the novel is violent and contains obscenities. Challenged as required reading at the high school in Grandville, MI (2002) because the book "is full of racism, profanity, and foul language." Banned from the George County, MS schools (2002) because of profanity. Challenged in the Normal, IL Community High Schools (2003) because the books contains "racial slurs, profanity, violence, and does not represent traditional values." An alternative book, Steinbeck's The Pearl, was offered but rejected by the family challenging the novel. The committee then recommended The House on Mango Street and The Way to Rainy Mountain as alternatives. Retained in the Greencastle-Antrim, PA (2006) tenth-grade English classes. A complaint was filed because of “racial slurs” and profanity used throughout the novel. The book has been used in the high school for more than thirty years, and those who object to its content have the option of reading an alternative reading. Challenged at the Newton, IA High School (2007) because of concerns about profanity and the portrayal of Jesus Christ. Newton High School has required students to read the book since at least the early 1980s. In neighboring Des Moines, it is on the recommended reading list for ninth-grade English, and it is used for some special education students in the eleventh and twelfth grades. Retained in the Olathe, KS ninth grade curriculum (2007) despite a parent calling the novel a “worthless, profanity-riddled book” which is “derogatory towards African Americans, women, and the developmentally disabled.”

Santi Buscemi

2012-02-05T12:15:00.002-05:00

On Saturday, February 11, 2012, the Italian American Writers Association (IAWA) presents a lively evening that will include a bilingual reading of Capuana's The Interrogation and...

Boston Review Books

2012-02-05T12:01:00.000-05:00

Boston Review Books are accessible, short books that take ideas seriously. They are animated by hope, committed to equality, and elude political categories. The editors aim to establish a public space in which people can loosen the hold of conventional preconceptions and start to reason together across the lines others are so busily drawing. The series is published by MIT Press.

THE SOUTHERN LITERARY TRAIL

2012-02-05T11:56:00.003-05:00

THE SOUTHERN LITERARY TRAIL connects southern places in Alabama, Georgia and Mississippi that inspired great American writers to create classic fiction and plays. The inspiration continues. Every two years, the Trail's organizers host Trailfest, the only tri-state literary festival in the United States with free events, theatrical performances and heritage tours.

2012 Next Generation Indie Book Awards

2012-02-03T18:48:00.002-05:00

NEXT GENERATION INDIE BOOK AWARDS
$75 ENTRY FEE ($50 for subsequent entries).
Open to all indie book authors and publishers – including small
presses, mid-size independent publishers, university presses,
e-book publishers, and self-published authors.
Entry Deadline
February 24, 2012.
$1,500 cash prize and trophy awarded to the best Fiction Book
and Non-Fiction Book

$750 cash prize and trophy awarded to the second best Fiction
Book and Non-Fiction Book
$500 cash prize and trophy awarded to the third best Fiction
Book and Non-Fiction Book

$250 cash prize and trophy awarded to the Best Design Book
$100 Cash Prize and a Gold Medal awarded to the winner of
each of the 60 categories
Finalist Medals will be awarded to up to four finalists in
each of the 60 categories.
For details, please visit http://www.IndieBookAwards.com

Working collaboratively with writers, artists, and researchers.

2012-02-03T18:41:00.000-05:00

Triple Canopy is an online magazine, workspace, and platform for editorial and curatorial activities. Working collaboratively with writers, artists, and researchers, Triple Canopy facilitates projects that engage the Internet’s specific characteristics as a public forum and as a medium, one with its own evolving practices of reading and viewing, economies of attention, and modes of interaction. In doing so, Triple Canopy is charting an expanded field of publication, drawing on the history of print culture while acting as a hub for the exploration of emerging forms and the public spaces constituted around them. Triple Canopy is a nonprofit 501(c)3 organization.

Triple Canopy accepts works in progress and proposals on equal footing, and on an ongoing basis. For more information, see the submission guidelines.

Sunday, February 5th @ 2:30PM – FreeFeminist Book Club: “The Revolution Starts at Home”

2012-02-03T18:27:00.005-05:00

The Feminist Book Club reads and discusses feminism. We make no claims to any particular feminist platform. Rather, we rely on feminism(s). We read theoretical texts, literature and primary works. All are welcome regardless of gender, political persuasion, and familiarity. We meet on the first Sunday each month.

For more information, email feministbookclubnyc@gmail.com. This month’s book (available at Bluestockings) is “The Revolution Starts at Home: Confronting Intimate Violence Within Activist Communities” edited by Ching-In Chen, Jai Dulani, and Leah Lakshmi Piepzna-Samarasinha.

PoetsWednesday

2012-02-03T18:07:00.002-05:00

582 Rahway Ave., Woodbridge, NJ

732-634-0413

Featuring

Diane Lockward

8:00 PM

Wednesday, February 8, 2012

Open Reading to Follow

Workshop at 7:00 PM

Workshop Facilitator: Deborah LaVeglia

PoetsWednesday Site: http://wednesdaypoet.typepad.com/

Academy of American Poets Unveils the Official 2012 National Poetry Month Poster

2012-02-01T18:36:00.003-05:00

Each April, the Academy of American Poets creates and distributes—for free—almost 200,000 copies of the current National Poetry Month posters to U.S. schools, libraries, bookstores, and community centers to help promote the month-long celebration and to increase poetry awareness.

Request a free poster for April 2012

Sarah Carson

2012-02-01T18:14:00.003-05:00

Sarah Carson was born and raised in Flint, Michigan but now lives in Chicago where she is an associate editor at RHINO. Her poetry has appeared in Poet Lore, Barrow Street, Cream City Review, Cutbank, Diagram, Epiphany,and Strange Machine, among others. She is the author of two chapbooks, Before OnStar (Etched Press, 2010) and Twenty-Two (Finishing Line Press, 2011).Listen to Sarah Carson read “How I Wanted You to Find Me and What You Have in Common with God”.

Come In and Cover Me by Gin Phillips

2012-01-31T18:34:00.000-05:00

Thirty-nine-year old Ren is working on a dig in New Mexico, searching for Mimbres pottery that dates back to the 12th-century when she meets Silas, a fellow archaeologist whose methods are radically different that hers. While Silas dates objects by, say, counting the carbon in preserved prehistoric corn, Ren relies on a slightly less scientific method—visitations by tribal ghosts who show her how the bowls and jars were created. Novelist Phillips brings the culture and lives of these ancient people to life, as well as the fascinating details about the art of archaeology—from how a fallen bit of adobe can preserve a parrot feather to why coroners are required to examine bodies that date back 800 years. Interestingly, though, it's the personal details in this book that resonate. Ren's relationship with the past is more than professional: Her brother's death during her childhood has left her unable to connect to others, even Silas who, if things were different, she might be able love. It's this tension—between her belief that "The past was solid, weighable as cement...that it was done and over, and could be wrapped and stored without fear of it ever changing" and her awareness that she must re-examine what really happened 20 years ago in order create some kind of future for herself—that connect you to the book, both due to the subtle, evocative flashbacks and the relief at seeing for once, a woman character who is emotionally unavailable and a man who has to crack her tough shell, instead of the other way around.

Read more: http://www.oprah.com/blogs/Book-of-The-Week-Come-In-And-Cover-Me#ixzz1l58WtvIT

What is The Bat Segundo Show?

2012-01-31T18:27:00.004-05:00

The Bat Segundo Show is a cultural and literary podcast that involves very thorough long-form interviews with contemporary authors and other assorted artists. Standard questions that have been asked of guests over and over are avoided, whenever possible.

The show is updated (ideally) every week and sometimes every two weeks. There are at least five podcasts unveiled to the listening public every month and, more often than not, considerably more.

Event at McNally Jackson with Stewart O'Nan

2012-01-31T18:25:00.000-05:00

Stewart O'Nan in conversation with Edward Champion
The great Stewart O'Nan has been on our program before. (And, last year, we ended up in a protracted email interview volley with him.) But on February 16, 2012, O'Nan will be making a New York City appearance at McNally Jackson to discuss his latest novel, The Odds. Our Correspondent and O'Nan will discuss vital questions about human togetherness and the allegorical value of celebrity marriages. The event is free! Don't miss it!

Everyone loves "The Great Gatsby"

2012-01-30T18:27:00.001-05:00

Your Favorite Authors’ Favorite Books of All Time

READING: PICO IYER AND REBECCA SOLNIT

2012-01-30T18:22:00.002-05:00

An Evening with David Sedaris

2012-01-29T14:11:00.004-05:00

His newest book, a collection of fables entitled Squirrel Seeks Chipmunk: A Modest Bestiary (with illustrations by Ian Falconer), was released in September 2010 and immediately hit the New York Times bestseller fiction list.

Sedaris visits Brooklyn for two nights only, featuring all-new readings of his work and a book signing.

BAM Howard Gilman Opera House

Tickets start at $49

NYC Books Through Bars

2012-01-29T13:49:00.000-05:00

Started in 1996, NYC Books Through Bars sends thousands of books to prisoners across the nation each year. Cleaning out your shelves? Looking to donate your unwanted books to a local organization that sends books to prisoners? Look no further! New York City Books Through Bars does just that!

How to Write Poetry

2012-01-29T13:38:00.004-05:00

10 Cult Literary Traditions for Truly Die-Hard Fans

2012-01-29T13:20:00.003-05:00

Hemingway Look-alike Contest

2011 James Laughlin Award Winner

2012-01-22T18:57:00.001-05:00

Interview on “Cross Cultural Poetics” with Leonard Schwartz

(Episode #228; February 17, 2011) XCP_232_Moschovakis_2-17-11 complete recording (29:15)

Anna Moschovakis

2012-01-22T18:55:00.000-05:00

Anna Moschovakis Reads from You and Three Others Are Approaching a Lake
(Feb. 2011, Coffee House Press)

New York Diaries: 1609-2009

2012-01-21T11:06:00.002-05:00

When Simone de Beauvoir, the French existentialist, first tried to smoke marijuana, she, like Bill Clinton, did not inhale.

Author Clifford A. Wallach signs his new book A Legacy in Tramp Art

2012-01-18T21:01:00.002-05:00

Adam Levin

2012-01-18T20:46:00.000-05:00

VOTED ONE OF THE MOST ANTICIPATED BOOKS OF 2012 BY FLAVORWIRE AND THE MILLIONS

Toi Derricotte, Jane Hirshfield, and Arthur Sze Elected Chancellors of the Academy of American Poets

2012-01-18T20:38:00.004-05:00

Each of the new Chancellors will have a poem featured in the Academy's Poem-A-Day program. To sign up, visit www.poets.org/poemaday.

Daniel Bourne

2012-01-18T19:56:00.000-05:00

Guernica / The Last Bestiary

Where reading, writing and free speech come together.

2012-01-18T19:45:00.001-05:00

Free Word brings together literature, literacy and free expression. Home to nine resident organisations and over 25 associates, it is a dynamic and international production house for literary culture, politics and ideas.

New Leonard Cohen Song to Be Streamed by The New Yorker

2012-01-17T18:50:00.001-05:00

New Yorker poetry editor Paul Muldoon, who has been listening to Cohen since 1967, said that he is "thrilled" this will be happening in the magazine, which has recently been acknowledging the great power and achievement of singer-songwriters. ...
See all stories on this topic »

Tyrant Reading

2012-01-15T12:13:00.002-05:00

A New York Tyrant party with readings from Daniel Long, Michael Bible, and Chiara Barzini, followed by Tao Lin and Giancarlo DiTrapano doing a special one-time double-reading of “Andrew: A Dialogue of Texts in the Year of Drugs and Kindness,” from Vice Magazine, a piece that’s been called “incendiary,” and “this year’s best online writing,” and “this is stupid.”

7:00 January 21st 2012

"Norwegian Wood" is the best selling novel from cult Japanese novelist Haruki Murakami.

2012-01-15T12:03:00.001-05:00

Books with Reading Group Guides

2012-01-15T11:56:00.004-05:00

The guides are arranged alphabetically by author's last name.

The Best of It: New and Selected Poems by Kay Ryan

2012-01-15T11:50:00.003-05:00

Convenience by W.S. Merwin | The New York Review of Books

2012-01-15T11:41:00.000-05:00

Convenience by W.S. Merwin | The New York Review of Books

Conversation Starters: 2011's Top 5 Book Club Picks by LYNN NEARY

2012-01-15T11:38:00.003-05:00

A boxed set of postcards, depicting 100 iconic Penguin Classic paperback bookcovers.

2012-01-15T11:22:00.004-05:00

This set is the perfect gift for readers, writers and graphic designers.

CHIARA BARZINI

2012-01-14T21:29:00.002-05:00

Calamari Press is pleased to announce the release of a debut collection of short fictions by Chiara Barzini: SISTER STOP BREATHING.

The book is available now through Small Press Distribution (& soon from Amazon) & also as an Ebook: http://www.calamaripress.com/Sister_Stop_Breathing.htm

Chiara will be in NYC this month doing a number of readings to launch the book:
• Jan 21 at KGB Bar with Daniel Long, Michael Bible, Tao Lin & Giancarlo DiTrapano
• Jan 23 at Unnameable Books with Kate Schatz & Iris Smyles

Uljana Wolf & Deborah Poe at The Poetry Project

2012-01-14T21:09:00.000-05:00

131 E. 10th St., New York, NY

Monday, January 23, 2012, 8:00 pm

Submissions Open: Awards for Poetry in Translation

2012-01-14T20:38:00.003-05:00

Keith Waldrop will judge this year's$1,000 Harold Morton Landon Translation Award for books of poetry translated from any language into English, published in 2011. Submissions are now open.

Also, The Academys $10,000 Raiziss/de Palchi Book Prize is accepting submissions for translations into English of modern Italian poetry. Books may have been published anytime in the past (not necessarily 2011).

The postmark deadline for both awards is January 31, 2012.

On the web at: www.poets.org/landon &www.poets.org/italian

A poet you should be reading is...

2012-01-14T20:36:00.001-05:00

Kyle McCord

Galley of the Beloved in Torment was the winner of the 2008 Orphic Prize. His second book, co-written with poet Jeannie Hoag, is a book of epistolary poems entitled Informal Invitation to a Traveler. His work has been featured in Boston Review, Columbia Poetry Journal, Gulf Coast, Third Coast, Volt, and elsewhere. He co-edits iO: A Journal of New American Poetry.

Eat, Drink & Be Literary is presented in partnership with the Brooklyn Academy of Arts.

2012-01-14T20:20:00.002-05:00

Russell Banks
Thu, Feb 2, 2012 at 6:30pm
Doors open at 6pm

Moderated by Francine Prose

For more information, visit www.bam.org.

Innovations in Reading Prize, 2012

2012-01-14T20:15:00.001-05:00

Each year, the National Book Foundation awards a number of prizes of up to $2,500 each to individuals and institutions—or partnerships between the two—that have developed innovative means of creating and sustaining a lifelong love of reading. Details about the complete application process are available here.

Greenlight Bookstore at BAM

2012-01-14T20:10:00.001-05:00

Greenlight Bookstore, Fort Greene's much-loved independently owned bookseller, brings a curated selection of books and BAM gifts to BAM lobbies during live performances. For a full selection of merchandise, visit Greenlight Bookstore just a few blocks from BAM (686 Fulton St) or greenlightbookstore.com, where BAM members receive 20% off.

A Technology project in Brooklyn, NY by The Booklyn Artists Alliance

2012-01-14T20:06:00.000-05:00

Writer's Remedy: Magnetic Poetry

2012-01-14T20:00:00.002-05:00

Packaged in an elegant apothecary glass bottle with stopper, Writer's Remedy sits 3 1/2 inches tall and makes a unique gift for people who like to write.

Jennifer Egan, Dave Eggers and Elizabeth Gilbert

2012-01-14T19:43:00.003-05:00

The Moment: Wild, Poignant, Life-Changing Stories from 125 Writers and Artists Famous & Obscure

Click here for upcoming events.

Flavorpill’s Most Anticipated Books of 2012 by Emily Temple

2012-01-07T18:13:00.001-05:00

Stereotyping You by Your Favorite Book of 2011 by Emily Temple

2012-01-07T18:08:00.003-05:00

Books, Booze, and Beds: 10 Legendary Haunts of Artists and Writers by Emily Temple

2012-01-07T18:02:00.000-05:00

Falling For Me, Anna David

2012-01-07T17:56:00.000-05:00

Like most women, whether they’ve chosen the Fortune 500 career path or have had five kids by 35, Anna David wondered if she’d made the right choices. Then she came upon the book Sex and the Single Girl by Helen Gurley Brown,Cosmopolitan’s fearless leader from the mid-sixties to the late nineties. Immediately connecting with Gurley Brown’s unique message of self-empowerment combined with femininity, Anna vowed to use Sex as a lesson plan, venturing out of her comfort zone in the hope of overcoming the fears and insecurities that had haunted her for years. Embarking on a journey both intensely personal and undeniably universal, she becomes adventurous and spontaneous—reviving her wardrobe and apartment, taking French lessons, dashing off to Seville, and whiling nights away with men she never would have considered before. In the process, she ends up meeting the person really worth changing for: herself.

Post-it Note Diaries: 20 Stories of Youthful Abandon, Embarrassing Mishaps, and Everyday Adventure, Arthur Jones

2012-01-07T17:48:00.001-05:00

Everyone has time to read a Post-It, right? Based on Arthur Jones’ popular Post-It note reading series, this book collects 20 weird, hilarious and true personal stories from people like John Hodgman, Chuck Klosterman, Kristen Schaal, Mary Roach, and Andrew Bird, and illustrates them all out on Post-It notes. It’s a fun and fresh take on the graphic novel — though, if any of your friends have severe office shell shock this holiday season, we might suggest something that doesn’t involve the little yellow stickies.

Vicky Swanky Is a Beauty by Diane Williams

2012-01-07T17:45:00.000-05:00

"She is one of the very few contemporary prose writers who seem to be doing something independent, energetic, heartfelt."
—Lydia Davis

"The uncanny has met its ideal delivery system: the stories of Diane Williams."
—Ben Marcus

"These stories are the Giacometti walking man, the Cornell box, that extraordinary object born out of a genius for expressing the inner murmur of the mind. Each page is like throwing open the window in an electrical storm—strange sky, air full of voltage, and inside, a square of brave. Diane Williams is hilarious, brilliant, eccentric, powerful, and, luckily, ours."
—Deb Olin Unferth

McMullens Subscription

2012-01-07T17:38:00.000-05:00

This subscription will begin with Matt Furie's The Night Riders, and will continue with seven more books sent directly to your door. $80, shipping included. And to catch up on the first four books in the imprint, at more-or-less subscription price, head on over to the McMullens Bundle .

I Found This Funny (paperback) Edited by Judd Apatow

2012-01-07T17:35:00.000-05:00

Table of Contents

1. Carson McCullers, "The Jockey."

2. Raymond Carver, "The Elephant."

3. Ian Frazier, "Coyote v Acme."

4. James Agee, "A Mothers Tale."

5. F. Scott Fitzgerald, "Pat Hobby and Orson Welles."

6. Faye Fiore, "Picture of Elvis and Nixon."

7. Simon Rich, "If Life Were Like Middle School "Five Greatest Boyfriends", "My Friend's New Girlfriend," "Columbian Tourism", and "Love Coupons."

8. Paul Simms, "For Immediate Release."

9. Dan Chaon, "I Demand to Know..."

10. Jon Stewart, "Lenny Bruce: The Making of a Sitcom."

11. Judd Apatow, "How I Got Kicked Out of High School."

12. Michael Chabon , "Ocean Avenue"

13. David Sedaris, "Go Carolina."

14. Adam McKay, "Buckwell's Follies."

15. Adam Sandler, "Canteen Boy"

16. Paul Feig, "And Now a Word from the Booth"

17. Philip Roth, "The Conversion of the Jews."

18. Jonathan Ames, "No Contact, Asshole."

19. Flannery O'Conner, "Good Country People."

20. Ernest Hemmingway, "The Killers."

21. Andre Dubus, "All The Time In The World."

22. Jonathan Franzen, "Two Ponies."

23. Poetry of Tony Hoagland

24. John Lahr, "The Goat Boy Rises."

25. Rodney Rothman, "Vivian."

26. Conan O'Brian, "Lookwell." (TV pilot)

27. Nora Ephron, "What I Wish I'd Known."

28. Lorrie Moore, Four Calling Birds, "Three French Hens."

29. Cartoons of Hugleikur Dagsson

30. Miranda July, "Majesty."

31. Alice Monroe, "Material."

32. Steve Martin, "In the Birdcage."

33. Dave Eggers, "Your Mother and I."

34. Amy Bloom, "Love Is Not a Pie."

35. Tobias Wolf, "Hunters In the Snow."

The Keep Your House In Order Planner by Heidi Meredith

2012-01-07T17:32:00.000-05:00

A die-cut booklet, small enough to carry around, big enough to plan your life.

Product Code: HM01

Regular Price: $12.00 Sale Price: $10.00

Haruki wasn’t the only Murakami to come out with a fantastic novel this year.

2011-12-30T10:14:00.000-05:00

The Most Criminally Overlooked Books of 2011

Tell Them I'm Not Home - a memoir by Pete Byrne

2011-12-24T17:18:00.000-05:00

'Tell Them I’m Not Home' is a lightly fictionalized memoir of growing up in the Olney section of North Philadelphia in the decade following World War II, a place not unlike Jean Shepherd’s Hammond, Indiana of a decade earlier. The close-quarters life in a blue-collar neighborhood of row-house streets provided the author with a cast of characters, many funny, some scary, as well as a near-endless litany of stories. 'Tell Them I’m Not Home' is a ticket back to the Olney & Philadelphia of the late 1940s and early 1950s, a place as singular, colorful and as lost to today as Hapsburg Vienna or tenement New York.

Pete Byrne is a retired corporate and advertising copywriter living in New Jersey. He’s a parent, grandparent, music enthusiast, a sometime painter and a snowboarder, not necessarily in that order.

Buy The Book:
Paperback:
Amazon
Barnes & Noble

E-Book:
Amazon (Kindle)
Barnes & Noble (Nook)

An Interview with Pete Byrne

2011-12-24T17:10:00.000-05:00

What inspired you to write your first book?

Well into my sixties, I found myself trying to answer the question posed by David Byrne (no relation) "...How did I get here?" The gulf between my coming-of-age in the decade between 1945 and 1955 and the early Twenty-First Century seemed unbridgeable in any way other than a book.

Is there a message in your novel that you want readers to grasp?

That a reader will take away some authentic feeling or insight into a recent but already unknowable past, a singular, specific past in an urban, blue-collar, Roman Catholic world in the years following World War Two. I don't have a nostalgic bone in my head, and the book is, I believe, absent any of the "Happy Days," "good old days" nonsense that seems to pervade so much of 1950's memory. Then as now, coming of age, despite the material differences, remains pretty much a process of "working on mysteries without any clues."

Is there any special method to your writing?

Initially structure proved the most difficult barrier to getting the book written. It was only when I set the chronological boundaries of 1945 and 1955 that I was able to harness and winnow out the material. I used chronology, the boundaries of the neighborhood and specific subject matter; my family, people in the neighborhood and mostly myself and my memories of how I felt about what was taking place. I used cars, clothes, streets, corners, etc., to organize the flow of the narrative. Each chapter is almost a stand-alone piece, but if the book is read sequentially it does form a coherent whole.

How many hours a day do you spend reading /writing.

Constantly. Like most people who write, I'm a printed word obsessive. I read, often to the detriment of more pressing matters. I've written for a living. I've journaled compulsively for over forty years and the journals serve as a place to try things out. I've also been blogging at "The Compost Heap" for the past several years.

What books have most influenced your life?

Wow! From Harvey Kurtzman's EC Comic Books of the early 1950s to the academic canon; Joyce, the Russians, Eliot. Then there's everything Graham Greene and Evelyn Waugh have written. Russell Banks, John Banville and Richard Russo are on my lists, as are W. G. Sebald and John Gardner. I was a History major and I gravitated toward the more literate historians, both academic and popular; John Lukacs, Max Hastings, Fritz Stern, Antony Beevor and on and on and on. At this writing, I'm two-thirds through Jonathan Lethem's "The Ecstasy of Influence," and I hope that Lethem's terrific writing, like the writing of every author I've ever read and liked, will in some conscious or unconscious way influence my own writing.

If you could be the author of any novel, which would it be and why?

Evelyn Waugh's Second World War trilogy, "Sword of Honor." Even his active service in something as overwhelming as a world war couldn't tarnish his powers of observation or his withering wit. The series also communicates, sadly and gently, his awareness that the war will destroy everything he holds dear in English life.

What are your current projects?

There's a half-finished novel, about 60,000 words to date, on a working life in the belly of a major American corporation. Again referencing Waugh, It' s general tone so far is one of benign if grotesque comedy. There is also a stack of unpublished short pieces that I hope to develop into a short story collection.

826 National

2011-12-04T13:11:00.001-05:00

If you’re looking for any last-minute gifts check out 826 National’s whimsical and creative gifts for your literary friends or readers! How about "Are You Ready To Publish Your Novel" poster, a spirit-boosting Motivational Postcard for Writers Who Need a Little Motivation ("That Thing You're Writing Is Awesome"), or both in the Emergency Novel-Finishing Kit. With these by your computer, that novel will basically write itself, and — best of all — all proceeds go directly to the eight 826 writing centers for under-resourced youth. Check out 826 National's store out for other whimsical and creative gift ideas!

Emily Dickinson Doll

2011-12-04T13:03:00.001-05:00

Jack Kerouac's 'The Sea Is My Brother' And Other Lost Novels

2011-12-04T13:01:00.001-05:00

Dog’s Walking Song by José Luis Rey, translated from the Spanish by David Francis December 2011

2011-12-04T12:57:00.001-05:00

I will eat clouds with you, my famous Verónica.
It will be the night of sirens, of police searching
empty apartments for a starfish,
of the bird that wanted to be a girl.
It will be the day when the school flew.
The bicycles, the rollerblades
have worn down the moon and you don’t come
for teatime at home when it snows. Don’t you know?
I see a forest spinning in the washing machine.
But whenever you want, when you say so,
I will eat with you the hot apples
that tell us: time is a dream, too, the lost fisherman
who in the heavens made of linen wouldn’t know how to read my cards anymore.
Just a bit, a story, a small fragment.
That’s what we are,
drifting cupcakes.
But OK, what are you saying, so solemnly.
Now it doesn’t tend to rain and sunshine doesn’t come in: everything’s different,
say it like this,
everything’s in a different way.
It’s OK, it’s OK, what I want to say
is that we’ve seen things no one would believe:
for example, the harbor on the roof of the room.
I remember vaguely having once gone ashore there,
and everything was orange, the cars, the merchants shouting,
and the machines’ cranes cawing, and mosques in flames, insurrections perhaps.
No one knew to tell me: so many people in turbans.
What will I do with these fragments,
this work of burying bones.
There’s an antique piano on the hill.
When you return Ornella. The privateer plunders the Estate
Delegations in each village.
That’s also how I remember being happy
and another way was by invading the freshness, the years
were leaping forward like trout, the crystal was breaking
and that was our fortune. You came singing in the avalanche.
And now you already see it: inclined this way, I couldn’t spread the morning over us,
the yellow rollerblade that was scraping lines on life.
Oh llamando, llamando, llamando. This is the voice of the shepherds calling.
I wanted to live there and solitude
would ring out at times because you
were speaking or returning from work. And the children tell me
about our trip from yesterday, the moments never
will return and they are mine.
Perhaps our home wasn’t beautiful, deserted in twilight,
with the centuries breaking in like branches?
Do you like this outfit?
I will open the walnut shell’s windows.
With perhaps a little bit of our childhood, with a rusty gesture,
with the white words of winter, with the longing to be
fugitives and young, learning to swim in the adventure,
with that living moment, with the moss on my snout,
traveling through the land from rooftop to rooftop,
with some sort of smile, with the first months of love,
with the days that fall from our ellipse,
with your embrace, which is water, with the things we were,
binding all of this, who knows,
perhaps we have a satchel,
a happy satchel and to walk, to walk.

Robert Frost Ruled Notebook

2011-12-04T12:39:00.001-05:00

And I could tell

What form my dreaming was about to take.

The person on your list a big reader?

2011-12-04T12:34:00.001-05:00

Send them some Dzanc titles. Buy One, Get One Free for the Holidays. Simply order one, and enter a note with the title of your free title (of equal or lesser pricing)--this works for both print and eBooks. And as a shopping bonus, every print book you buy (including your free one) that has an eBook available will see you getting that eBook emailed to you immediately. There are additional deals on books at the site via thisÂ link. And if you buy books written by Jeff Kass, Kyle Minor, Michael Czyzniejewski, Matt Bell, Peter Markus, or Steven Gillis, you can even get them signed for that special person you are buying for!!! Any orders of their books will receive the eBooks by email with a question of how you want the print books signed.

For your holiday shopping. Available exclusively from Poets.org

2011-12-04T12:20:00.001-05:00

This outfit is perfect for the next generation of poets and future readers in your life, for all to whom Whitman writes: "I consider'd long and seriously of you before you were born."

News from DISQUIET

2011-12-04T12:12:00.001-05:00

The second annual DISQUIET: Dzanc Books International Literary Program in Lisbon, Portugal is now accepting applications and the contest and scholarship competitions are open!

We also have a brand new website: www.disquietinternational.org

2012 guest writers and faculty include: Junot Diaz, Denise Duhamel, John Frey, Robert Olmstead, Anthony De Sa, George Saunders, Richard Zenith, Kim Addonizio, Sally Ashton, Dan Bern, Deanne Fitzmaurice, Frank X. Gaspar, Philip Graham, Christine Hume, Joshua Knelman, Horacio Castellanos Moya, Josip Novakovich, Deb Olin Unferth, Terri Witek, Luísa Costa Gomes, valter hugo mãe, José Luís Peixoto, Jacinto Lucas Pires, Patrícia Reis, Gonçalo M. Tavares, Rui Zink, editors from Dzanc Books, Guernica, and Open Letter, and many others.

This year, in addition, to workshops in Fiction, Nonfiction, and Poetry, we're offering workshops in Songwriting with Dan Bern; Photo-Documentary Storytelling with Pulitzer-Prize winning Photojournalist Deanne Fitzmaurice; and Book Arts with Portland's Independent Publishing Resource Center.

Last year's inaugural program was a resounding success, with more than fifty North American writers gathering in Lisbon for workshops, seminars, talks, and frivolity with contemporary Portuguese writers and artists.

This year's program will take place from July 1 - July 13, 2012 and will include, in addition to the workshops, literary walks and other excursions, craft talks and readings from North American and Portuguese writers.

The International Literature Award: A full scholarship (airfare, tuition and lodging) is available for the winner of the Dzanc Books / Guernica International Literature Award, judged this year by Colson Whitehead. This multi-genre contest seeks poetry, fiction, or non-fiction that broadens the landscape of North American literature beyond the boundaries of North America. The winning work will also be published in Guernica, one of the best literary and cultural magazines on the web.

Full and partial scholarships are also available through a partnership with the Luso-American Development Foundation for North American writers of Portuguese or Luso descent.

The deadline for contest and scholarships is January 31, 2012.

Further details available at our website, http://disquietinternational.org. Please direct any questions to disquietinternational@gmail.com. Join our Facebook Group. And/or like us!

Interesting reading: The Academy of Urbanism in the UK recently voted Lisbon the European City of the Year.

We look forward to seeing you in Lisbon!

The DISQUIET Staff

The real Cormac McCarthy is out there somewhere pulling a novel out of a horse skull. This tumblr is the work of EDW Lynch.

2011-11-20T09:49:00.001-05:00

EDW Lynch, this is amazing!

A blog that answers the question on everyone’s minds: What if Cormac McCarthy was on Yelp?

Answer: chaparral.

The 2011 National Book Award Winners

2011-11-20T09:41:00.001-05:00

FICTION: Jesmyn Ward, Salvage the Bones (Bloomsbury USA)

NONFICTION: Stephen Greenblatt, The Swerve: How the World Became Modern (W. W. Norton & Company)

POETRY: Nikky Finney, Head Off & Split (TriQuarterly, an imprint of Northwestern University Press)

YOUNG PEOPLE'S LITERATURE: Thanhha Lai, Inside Out & Back Again (Harper, an imprint of HarperCollinsPublishers)

Video streaming by Ustream

The Marbled Swarm is Dennis Cooper’s most haunting work to date.

2011-11-20T09:37:00.001-05:00

Book Description

In secret passageways, hidden rooms, and the troubled mind of our narrator, a mystery perpetually takes shape—and the most compelling clue to its final nature is “the marbled swarm” itself, a complex amalgam of language passed down from father to son.

Cooper ensnares the reader in a world of appearances, where the trappings of high art, old money, and haute cuisine obscure an unspeakable system of coercion and surrender. And as the narrator stalks an elusive truth, traveling from the French countryside to Paris and back again, the reader will be seduced by a voice only Dennis Cooper could create.

Let's talk about books Baby...

2011-11-20T09:33:00.001-05:00

http://threeguysonebook.com/

Instructions for Killing the Jackal

2011-11-20T09:24:00.001-05:00

Erica Wright is the author of the forthcoming collection of poems Instructions for Killing the Jackal (Black Lawrence Press/Dzanc Books) and the chapbook Silt (Dancing Girl Press). She is the Poetry Editor at Guernica Magazine.

Cornel West to Take a Job in New York

2011-11-19T10:29:00.001-05:00

Cornel West, the peripatetic public intellectual and political activist, plans to finish out a teaching career that has taken him from Yale to Harvard to Princeton by moving back this coming summer to Union Theological Seminary in the City of New York, where he began as an assistant professor in 1977.

Click here for the rest of the article by Laurie Goodstein, published on November 16, 2011

Ben Balistreri

2011-11-19T10:14:00.001-05:00

DreamWorks Animation storyboard artist and character designer Balistreri is a genius! I love this artist and you need to see some of my favorite superheroes get a retro makeover by visiting his blog.

Brooklyn Fire Proof // 119 Ingraham / Morgan L

2011-11-19T10:06:00.001-05:00

FREE
November 19th
Fireside Follies, the relatively young Bushwick reading/arts series we're keeping our eye on, presents another exciting line-up of readers with Lynne Tillman, Rachel Zucker, Martin Rock, Carter Edwards, and Bianca Stone. In the past they've presented an always hip, intimate, and interesting mix of writers, musicians, and artists including Nick Zinner, Eileen Myles, Gavin McInnes, and Jeffrey Lewis. Get there early and enjoy a hot toddy or a whiskey cider in the garden.
by Rozalia Jovanovic, Flavorpill

Eat, Sleep & Read!

The Daily Beast

Poetry and Poetics

FRANKLIN PARK READING SERIES

A call for submissions from Queer writers, with a strong emphasis on Queer Canadian contributions.

A resource web site for chapbook publishers

The Association of Writers & Writing Programs

Advanc­ing works of art and elec­tronic media.

The New Inquiry is a space for discussion.

Handwritten manuscripts and journal entries...

8 Memoirs to Get You Through Hard Times

Live From Home with Josh Ritter

An Essential Postmodern Reading List

Storybook Burlesque

Read It First!

Iowa Summer Writing Festival

PoetryTodayOnline.com: Online Resource & Information for Poetry

The Writer's Almanac with Garrison Keillor

“Writing is 90 percent procrastination: reading magazines, eating cereal out of the box, watching infomercials.”

A CELEBRATION OF THE CHAPBOOK

Thu-Fri, Mar 29-30

New York, NY

LITERARY LEGACY: TWO WRITERS IN CONVERSATION ON CRAFT & PROCESS

Mark Doty and Tracy K. Smith

Friday, Feb 10, 5:00pm

New York, NY

What is The Poetry Project?

Bob Rosenthal at the 38th Annual New Year’s Day Marathon Benefit

FIRST TUESDAYS Open Readings

What is figment?

Resources for Educators

Paris Press offers books by Bryher

Entering the World of Book Clubs

20 American Poems Every Student Should Know

Of Mice and Men, by John Steinbeck

Santi Buscemi

Boston Review Books

THE SOUTHERN LITERARY TRAIL

2012 Next Generation Indie Book Awards

Working collaboratively with writers, artists, and researchers.

Sunday, February 5th @ 2:30PM – FreeFeminist Book Club: “The Revolution Starts at Home”

PoetsWednesday

Academy of American Poets Unveils the Official 2012 National Poetry Month Poster

Sarah Carson

Come In and Cover Me by Gin Phillips

What is The Bat Segundo Show?

The Bat Segundo Show is a cultural and literary podcast that involves very thorough long-form interviews with contemporary authors and other assorted artists. Standard questions that have been asked of guests over and over are avoided, whenever possible.

Event at McNally Jackson with Stewart O'Nan

Everyone loves "The Great Gatsby"

READING: PICO IYER AND REBECCA SOLNIT

An Evening with David Sedaris

NYC Books Through Bars

How to Write Poetry

10 Cult Literary Traditions for Truly Die-Hard Fans

2011 James Laughlin Award Winner

Anna Moschovakis

New York Diaries: 1609-2009

Author Clifford A. Wallach signs his new book A Legacy in Tramp Art

Adam Levin

Toi Derricotte, Jane Hirshfield, and Arthur Sze Elected Chancellors of the Academy of American Poets

Daniel Bourne

Where reading, writing and free speech come together.

New Leonard Cohen Song to Be Streamed by The New Yorker

Tyrant Reading

"Norwegian Wood" is the best selling novel from cult Japanese novelist Haruki Murakami.

Books with Reading Group Guides

The Best of It: New and Selected Poems by Kay Ryan

Convenience by W.S. Merwin | The New York Review of Books

Conversation Starters: 2011's Top 5 Book Club Picks by LYNN NEARY

A boxed set of postcards, depicting 100 iconic Penguin Classic paperback bookcovers.

CHIARA BARZINI

Uljana Wolf & Deborah Poe at The Poetry Project

Submissions Open: Awards for Poetry in Translation

A poet you should be reading is...

Eat, Drink & Be Literary is presented in partnership with the Brooklyn Academy of Arts.

Innovations in Reading Prize, 2012

Greenlight Bookstore at BAM

A Technology project in Brooklyn, NY by The Booklyn Artists Alliance

Writer's Remedy: Magnetic Poetry

Jennifer Egan, Dave Eggers and Elizabeth Gilbert

Advancing works of art and electronic media.