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"That little sliver of territory between truth and fiction is kind of where I want to put all my stories." Reif Larsen introduces his new novel, I Am Radar (Penguin Press, 2015), which is featured in Page One in the March/April issue of Poets & Writers Magazine.
Author Laura van den Berg discusses her short story collection The Isle of Youth (FSG, 2013) with Sloane Crosley and musician Steve Gunn. Van den Berg's new novel, Find Me, was published this month by FSG. She is featured in "The Moment of Truth: Eleven Authors Share Stories of Life-Changing Retreats" in the current issue of Poets & Writers Magazine.
“Pick Your Price for Poetry” promotion; Auden and politics; Rita Dove and Toni Morrison to attend NBCC awards; and other news.
The term “ultracrepidarianism,” or the habit of giving opinions and advice on issues outside one’s scope of knowledge, comes from a comment made by Greek artist Apelles to a shoemaker who criticized one of the artist’s paintings. The phrase “Sutor, ne ultra crepidam,” essentially means that the shoemaker should not judge beyond his own soles. This week, write an essay on the value of voicing opinions regardless of your expertise on the subject matter.
Writers’ egos and sensitivities; Boston’s library vigilante; Amiri Baraka tribute; and other news.
"I like movies a lot and I like novels a lot, and I like the sort of space that they inhabit when they overlap." Eleanor Henderson, an assistant professor of writing at Ithaca College, speaks about the film adaptation of her novel Ten Thousand Saints (Ecco, 2011). Henderson is featured in "Going Hollywood: The Business of Film Adaptations" by Michael Bourne in the new issue of Poets & Writers Magazine.
So many great films have been released over the past year, many of which have been adapted for the screen from works of fiction and creative nonfiction. This week, think of a movie you love that isn’t based on a book and try to write a short story version of it. Examine the types of shots used, the lighting, how scenes are staged, and try to translate these visuals into the structure of your story. For inspiration, read this article in Electric Literature.
College students prefer print over digital; Neruda’s body returned to his grave; Lydia Davis’s writing advice; and other news.
The winners of the 2015 Windham Campbell Prizes for Literature were announced at a press conference this morning at Yale University. The international awards, administered by Yale's Beinecke Rare Book & Manuscript Library, are given to English-language writers of fiction, nonfiction, and drama for a body of work or extraordinary promise. Each winner receives $150,000.
The 2015 winners are, in fiction: Teju Cole (U.S./Nigeria), Helon Habila (Nigeria), and Ivan Vladislavić (South Africa); in nonfiction: Edmund de Waal (U.K.), Geoff Dyer (U.K.), and John Jeremiah Sullivan (U.S.); and, in drama: Jackie Sibblies Drury (U.S.), Helen Edmundson (U.K), and Debbie Tucker Green (U.K). Read complete bios of each winner here.
The Windham Campbell Prizes were established in 2013 by Donald Windham and Sandy M. Campbell to call attention to literary achievement and provide writers with the opportunity to focus on their work independent of financial concerns. There is no submission process, and winners are determined by an international group of invited nominators, a jury in each category, and an anonymous selection committee.
In September, the winners will gather from around the world at Yale for an international literary festival celebrating their work. All events are free and open to the public.
“The Windham Campbell Prizes were created by a writer to support other writers," said Michael Kelleher, director of the program. “Donald Windham recognized that the most significant gift he could give to another writer was time to write. In addition to the recognition prestige it confers, the prize gives them just that—with no strings attached."
Yale’s Beinecke Rare Book & Manuscript Library houses the Donald Windham and Sandy M. Campbell Papers. For more information about the awards and winners, visit windhamcampbell.org.
Photos: Teju Cole, Geoff Dyer, John Jeremiah Sullivan.
"What are the terms of understanding that we come to?" Ruth Ellen Kocher reads a poem about the loss of her mother in this short film. Kocher, the author of six poetry collections, including Ending in Planes (Noemi Press, 2014), is featured in "The Moment of Truth: Eleven Authors Share Stories of Life-Changing Retreats" in the new issue of Poets & Writers Magazine.
