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Twentieth anniversary of Junot Díaz’s Drown; Turkish government shuts down twenty-nine publishers following coup attempt; Anne Frank in contemporary fiction; and other news.
“I wanted it to be very clear, all of the ways that slavery has come to leave a lasting legacy on American history, on Ghanaian history, and on many other countries’ histories.” Yaa Gyasi joins host Shad on CBC Radio to speak about exploring slavery and history through the individual characters in her debut novel, Homegoing (Knopf, 2016). Gyasi is featured in "First Fiction 2016" in the July/August issue of Poets & Writers Magazine and can be heard in the eighth episode of Ampersand: The Poets & Writers Podcast.
Learning to love a non-native language; fiction writer Brian Evenson on narrative uncertainty; the U.S. Constitution becomes best-seller following Khizr Khan’s DNC speech; and other news.
This clip features the trailer for The Little Prince, the first animated feature film adaptation of the classic 1943 French novella, Le Petit Prince, by Antoine de Saint-Exupéry. Directed by Mark Osborne and voiced by actors including Jeff Bridges, Marion Cotillard, Benicio del Toro, James Franco, Rachel McAdams, and Paul Rudd, the film premiered at the Cannes Film Festival in 2015 and will be released in the U.S. on August 5.
Submissions are open for Radar Poetry’s Coniston Prize, given annually for a group of poems by a female poet. The winner receives $1,000 and publication in Radar. Gabrielle Calvocoressi will judge.
Using the online submission system, submit three to six poems of any length with a $15 entry fee by September 1. The Radar editorial staff suggests that the poems should be “intentionally cohesive in some way, whether connected by subject matter, theme, voice, style, or imagery.” Ten finalists will be published along with the winner in the October issue of Radar. Visit the website for complete guidelines.
Judge Gabrielle Calvocoressi has published two poetry collections, Apocalyptic Swing Poems and The Last Time I Saw Amelia Earhart, both with Persea Books. Her third collection, Rocket Fantastic, is forthcoming. The senior poetry editor at the Los Angeles Review of Books, Calvocoressi teaches in the MFA program at Warren Wilson College and at the University of North Carolina in Chapel Hill.
Published quarterly, Radar is an online poetry journal focused on the “interplay between poetry and visual media.” Edited by Rachel Marie Patterson and Dara-Lyn Shrager, each issue of the journal pairs poetry with artwork.
Alexandra Lytton Regalado won last year’s prize, which was judged by Lynn Emanuel. Flower Conroy was selected for the 2014 prize by Mary Biddinger.
Photo: Gabrielle Calvocoressi
James Patterson tops highest paid authors for third year in a row; America’s most beautiful libraries; Harry Potter and the Cursed Child sells two million copies in three days; and other news.
“If you look at the Greek myths, they’re always about unhappy families; Aristotle told us that politics starts in the family—I think that’s true.” Deborah Levy, whose most recent novel, Hot Milk (Hamish Hamilton, 2016), is shortlisted for the 2016 Man Booker Prize, talks about the elements of family in Hamlet that have always haunted her. This video is part of the Hay Festival: Talking About Shakespeare video series celebrating William Shakespeare’s four hundredth anniversary.
Last month, French president Francois Hollande’s hair made the news when it was revealed that its maintenance requires a personal, on-call hairdresser who is paid a salary equivalent to almost eleven thousand dollars per month. Write an essay about the care—whether it’s a lot, a little, or none—that you put into your own hair. Do you prioritize practicality or aesthetics? Have there been phases in your life when you had particularly memorable haircuts? Are your hairstyles representative of that time in your life?
Comedian Patton Oswalt to publish late wife’s unfinished book; poet Tyehmbia Jess on performance and exploitation; musician Jeff Tweedy composes song for poet Carl Sandburg tribute album; and other news.
“I think that with writing, it’s really a space that you own...this sort of free space where you’re really sure of what you’re doing and it doesn’t matter what anyone else thinks or what sorts of boxes even exist out there.” Amanda Lee Koe, author of Ministry of Moral Panic (Epigram Books, 2013) and winner of a 2016 PEN/Heim Translation Fund Grant for Ten Years of Marriage by Su Qing, talks about the relationship between her creative process and inspirations, which include the city of Singapore.
