"Human Events"
In this Single Sentence Animation for Electric Literature, Martha Colburn animates "Human Events" by Stephen O'Connor. Music by Thollem McDonas.
Daydream Believer
Spring can at times seem like one long daydream. Does one of your characters have the habit of drifting off into a fantasy world? This week, write out one of these daydreams. Use plenty of surreal elements that make it clear this is a fantasy sequence and not just the character re-imagining a scenario working out a different way. "The Secret Life of Walter Mitty" by James Thurber is a perfect example.
Gravity Author Sues Warner Bros., Professor Protests National Poetry Month, and More
Idaho parents call police on teen for distributing a banned book to other students; Dave Eggers's original, and less than flattering, review of Infinite Jest; state attorneys accuse Apple of evading trial; and other news.
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Harper Lee Permits To Kill a Mockingbird E-book, the Search for Miguel de Cervantes, and More
Bear Grylls to pen thrillers; “ambush poetry” in Las Vegas; the trouble with labeling women’s writing; and other news.
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Dialect
Take a moment to think about where you are from. If that's not so easy to pin down, think instead about a place that's had an impact on you, a place in which you've spent a relatively long time, or the place you live now. Now think about how the people talk there. What are the phrases or cadences that color their speech? Take this local voice and use it in a poem about the place you are thinking of. For example, write a poem about going to summer camp in Maine using the Mainer accent, or about moving to New Orleans in the voice of a Louisiana native.
Elizabeth Gilbert
In this video from a TED conference in March, Elizabeth Gilbert reflects on why success can be as disorienting as failure and offers a simple—though hard—way to carry on, regardless of outcomes.
Mary Roach
The author of five books, including her most recent, Gulp: Adventures on the Alimentary Canal, talks about her favorite authors, how she chooses what to write, where she finds her subjects, and whether writing her new book changed the way she eats.
Amazon Announces 23 Percent Sales Increase, The Ten Best Sentences in English Literature, and More
An Orlando-based bookstore goes local; Margaret Atwood and Dave Eggers in comics; Urban Dictionary’s take on Virginia Woolf; and other news.
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Some Thoughts on Kindness
"I'd say, as a goal in life, you could do worse than 'Try to be kinder.'" In May 2013 George Saunders gave a commencement speech at Syracuse University. It was recently published as a book, Congratulations, by the Way: Some Thoughts on Kindness, published earlier this month by Random House, as well as, in abbreviated form, this animated video, narrated by Saunders himself.
Deadline Approaches for Paris Review Writer-in-Residence
Submissions are currently open for the Paris Review's Writer-in-Residence program. Cosponsored by the Standard’s East Village hotel in New York City, the three-week residency, valued at $7,500, is given to a poet, a fiction writer, or a creative nonfiction writer with a book under contract. The resident will receive a room free of charge at the Standard’s East Village hotel for the first three weeks in July, as well as breakfasts, unlimited coffee, and a small reception at the end of the residency.
To apply, submit a description and sample of the work-in-progress totaling no more than 50 pages, a letter from the publisher confirming that the work is under contract, a brief letter of intent, and an optional sample of previous work totaling no more than 50 pages by May 1. All materials must be submitted electronically to residency@theparisreview.org. The editors of the Paris Review and Standard Culture will judge.
The residency program was launched in the fall of 2013. The inaugural resident, fiction writer Lysley Tenorio of San Francisco, spent three weeks in January at the Standard’s East Village hotel working on his novel.
The winner will be announced on June 7, 2014.
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