Jump to navigation Skip to content
When a group of students at New York's Xavier High School wrote to their favorite authors back in 2006, only one responded: Kurt Vonnegut. Dogtooth Films created this video, featuring students at Hove Park School in the UK, to celebrate the late author's inspirational letter to the students, which urges them to make art for its own sake and to "make your soul grow."
An Alice Munro short story becomes a film; a novelist gains new perspective on her husband’s disappearance; a new book on Barney Rosset; and other news.
In telling the story of the whaleship Essex, which was attacked and sunk by a sperm whale in the southern Pacific Ocean in 1820, novelist Karen Thompson Walker (The Age of Miracles) shows how fear propels imagination, as it forces us to imagine the possible futures and how to cope with them.
Writers at the Atlantic look at writing and marriage; the effects of Karl Ove Knausgaard’s writing on his personal life; the death of Michael Rockefeller; and other news.
The Griffin Trust for Excellence in Poetry announced the shortlist for its 2013 Griffin Poetry Prize on Tuesday. Two awards of $65,000 CAD (approximately $59,253) each are given annually for poetry collections published during the previous year, one by a poet living in Canada and another by a poet living internationally.
The international finalists include Rachel Boast for Pilgrim’s Flower (Picador), Brenda Hillman for Seasonal Works with Letters on Fire (Wesleyan University Press), Carl Phillips for Silverchest (Farrar, Straus and Giroux), and Mira Rosenthal for her translation from the Polish of Tomasz Rózycki’s Colonies (Zephyr Press). The Canadian finalists include Anne Carson for Red Doc> (Knopf), Sue Goyette for Ocean (Gaspereau Press), and Anne Michaels for Correspondences (Knopf).
The seven finalists will each receive $10,000 CAD (approximately $9,114) and will be invited to read on June 4 at the Royal Conservatory in Toronto. The winners, who will each receive $65,000 CAD (approximately $59,253), will be announced on June 5 at the Griffin Poetry Prize Awards ceremony.
The 2014 judges, chosen by the Griffin Trust trustees, are Robert Bringhurst of Canada, Jo Shapcott of the United Kingdom, and C. D. Wright of the United States. They read 539 poetry collections, including 24 translations, from 40 countries.
Based in Toronto, the Griffin Trust for Excellence in Poetry was founded in 2000 by chairman Scott Griffin and trustees Margaret Atwood, Robert Hass, Michael Ondaatje, Robin Robertson, and David Young. Carolyn Forché joined as a trustee in 2004.
Publishers may submit books for consideration by the annual deadline of December 31. Visit the Griffin Trust website for more information and complete guidelines.
Fady Joudah and Candian poet David W. McFadden won the 2013 Griffin Poetry Prizes. Joudah won for his translation from the Arabic of Palestinian poet Ghassan Zaqtan's Like a Straw Bird It follows Me (Yale University Press); McFadden won for his collection What's the Score (Mansfield Press).
Phillips: Dinty W. Moore; Carson: Peter Smith.
"The struggle for true openness and intimacy is a lifelong struggle for all of us, gay and straight alike," wrote Paul Monette in Last Watch of the Night: Essays Too Personal and Otherwise. In 1992, three years before his death, Monette won the National Book Award in nonfiction for Becoming a Man: Half a Life Story, an autobiography detailing his early life and his struggles with his sexuality. Authors David Groff and Carol Muske-Dukes speak about Monette's literary and cultural legacy in this clip from Open Road Media.
There are certain events and activities that can feel odd to do alone. Going to the movies, attending a concert, and eating in a restaurant are common things that people would rather do with a buddy. But what about the times when you simply can’t find anyone to go with you, for whatever reason, or when your buddy backs out at the last minute? Write about an experience you’ve had when going by yourself was the only option. How did it make you feel? Did it turn out all right in the end? If going to an event or engaging in a typically social activity by yourself is not a big deal, or you happen to prefer it, write about a specific instance that exemplifies why you feel this way.
A twenty-four-hour bookstore in Beijing; Dylan Thomas Centre to receive grant; Naomi Shihab Nye on reading poetry out loud; and other news.
Dieting is the most common New Year’s resolution, and the most difficult to stick to. Sure, we essentially know what’s healthy and what to avoid overindulging in, but when a doctor or nurse tells you to change your eating habits it weighs much heavier on your conscience. Does one of your characters have a diet that is putting his health in jeopardy? Try writing a scene in which that character is told by a healthcare professional to overhaul his eating habits. How does this character react? If this character can no longer have some of his favorite foods, how does this affect his mood and his day-to-day routine?
"I breathe in infinite curiosity and I write because I must." This short documentary by Jake Cushnir shows poet Gabe Kittle as he writes poems on his Royal typewriter at a Boston subway station.
