The Book of Aron
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"My father said they should have named me What Have You Done." The opening lines of Jim Shepard's novel The Book of Aron, published by Knopf, are featured in this animated video by Drew Roberts.
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Genre: Fiction
Unfamiliar Acquaintances
Every so often, we run into people we recognize but can’t quite place. Perhaps you catch sight of a strangely familiar face at your favorite coffee shop, and then later at a diner while visiting family out of town, and are puzzled by the coincidence. Write a story in which two of your characters keep crossing paths, either accidentally or because of particular circumstances. What keeps them from properly introducing themselves? Could they become good friends, or will they become adversaries?
Inside Writing
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"The fact that you don't like something about your work... actually means that you know something about it." In this episode of Faber Academy's podcast Inside Writing, Erica Wagner offers encouraging words for writers feeling discouraged or stuck in their writing.
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Deadline Approaches for Bard College Fiction Prize
Submissions are currently open for the Bard College Fiction Prize, given annually to a fiction writer under the age of 40 who has published at least one full-length work of fiction. The winner will receive $30,000 and a one-semester appointment as writer-in-residence at Bard College in Annandale-on-Hudson, New York. The recipient must give at least one public lecture and meet informally with students but is not expected to teach traditional courses.
Submit three copies of a published book of fiction, a cover letter, and a curriculum vitae by June 15. There is no application fee. Submissions can be made via postal mail to P.O. Box 5000, Bard College, Annandale-on-Hudson, NY 12504. Visit the website for complete guidelines.
Established in 2001, the Bard Fiction Prize is “intended to encourage and support young writers of fiction to pursue their creative goals and provide an opportunity to work in a fertile and intellectual environment.” Recent recipients include Laura van den Berg for her second story collection, The Isle of Youth (Farrar, Straus and Giroux, 2013); Bennett Sims for his debut novel, A Questionable Shape (Two Dollar Radio, 2013); Brian Conn for his debut novel, The Fixed Stars (Fiction Collective 2, 2010); and Benjamin Hale for his debut novel, The Evolution of Bruno Littlemore (Twelve, 2011).
The Bard College Written Arts department offers an undergraduate major but no graduate degree in creative writing. Core faculty members include Benjamin Hale, Michael Ives, Porochista Khakpour, Ann Lauterbach, Joseph O’Neill, Susan Fox Rogers, and Mona Simpson.
Jacqueline Woodson
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"Brown Girl Dreaming is in verse because that's the way memory comes." Jacqueline Woodson speaks about her autobiographical novel, published by Nancy Paulsen Books last August, winner of the 2014 National Book Award in young people’s literature. Woodson was named the new young people’s poet laureate by the Poetry Foundation last week.
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Specialty Dishes
Cooks usually have a specialty dish that is made with pride—one that is requested by friends and family for special events and holiday gatherings. This week, write about a character who is known for his or her specialty dish. It could be as basic as chocolate chip cookies, or perhaps he or she has invented an original dish with unheard-of ingredients. Has this character's culinary genius been influenced by a family member? Is this cook a raw talent?
Find Your Story in a Book
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In this video series from Penguin Random House, readers on the streets of New York are asked for their thoughts on books and reading. Malik from Long Island shares why John Green's Paper Towns (Dutton Books, 2008) is his favorite book.
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The Hopeful
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Tracy O'Neill's debut novel, published by Ig Publishing, explores the life of a sixteen-year-old ice skating prodigy after a traumatic injury. O'Neill is one of the National Book Foundation's 5 Under 35 for 2015.
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Deadline Approaches for Midway Journal Contest
Submissions are currently open for Midway Journal’s Monstrosities of the Midway Contest. A prize of $1,000 and publication in Midway Journal will be given for a single poem, a group of poems, a short story, or a work of nonfiction. Midway’s editorial staff will select a group of finalists, and award-winning poet Dorianne Laux will select the winner.
Writers are encouraged to submit work that “complicates issues of performance and identity.” Using the online submission manager, send up to five unpublished poems of up to twenty pages, or a piece of fiction or nonfiction of up to six thousand words, along with a $15 entry fee by this Sunday, May 31. Multiple entries will be accepted for publication. Visit the website for complete guidelines.
Launched in 2007, Midway Journal is a Minnesota-based quarterly that aims to “act not only as a bridge between aesthetics (and maybe even coasts), but…to create a sense of place as well. And like any good fair, place is a relative term as the contents and attractions change frequently.”
The End of the Tour
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Based on David Lipsky’s book Although Of Course You End Up Becoming Yourself: A Road Trip with David Foster Wallace (Broadway Books, 2010), this forthcoming film follows Lipsky's five-day interview with David Foster Wallace just after the publication of his book Infinite Jest (Little, Brown, 1996). The film is directed by James Ponsoldt with a screenplay by Donald Margulies.
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