Natalie Diaz
The author of When My Brother Was an Aztec (Copper Canyon Press, 2012) and one of the twelve debut poets selected by Rigoberto González to be featured in the current issue of the magazine, reads a poem on the PBS NewHour.
Jennifer Egan Leaves Alfred A. Knopf for Scribner, Long March of Year-End Lists, and More
Jennifer Egan, who won a Pulitzer Prize for her last novel, A Visit From the Goon Squad, has left Knopf, and joined Scribner, which reportedly offered Egan seven figures for her next two books; Patti Smith intends to write a sequel to Just Kids; Elissa Schappell lists her favorite books of 2012; and other news.
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You and Yours
Write a story using second-person narration. For an example of the use of second-person narration, read the opening lines of Jay McInerney's novel Bright Lights, Big City.
Man Asian Literary Prize Announces Long List
The Hong Kong-based Man Asian Literary Prize recently announced the long list for its 2012 prize. The international award is given annually for a novel by an Asian writer, written in or translated into English and published during the previous year. The winner, who will be announced in March, will receive $30,000.
The list includes Goat Days (Penguin Books India) by Benyamin of India; Between Clay and Dust (Aleph) by Musharraf Ali Farooqi of Pakistan; Another Country (Fourth Estate) by Anjali Joseph of India; The Briefcase (Counterpoint Press) by Hiromi Kawakami of Japan;Thinner Than Skin (HarperCollins Canada) by Uzma Aslam Khan of Pakistan; Ru (Clerkenwell Press) by Kim Thúy of Vietnam and Canada; Black Flower (Houghton Mifflin Harcourt) by Young-Ha Kim of South Korea; Island of a Thousand Mirrors (Perera Hussein) by Nayomi Munaweera of Sri Lanka; Silent House (Knopf) by Orhan Pamuk of Turkey; Honour (Viking) by Elif Shafak of Turkey; Northern Girls (Penguin China) by Sheng Keyi of China; The Garden of Evening Mists (Myrmidon Books) by Tan Twan Eng of Malaysia; The Road To Urbino (Abacus) by Roma Tearne of Sri Lanka and the United Kingdom; Narcopolis (Faber and Faber) by Jeet Thayil of India; and The Bathing Women (Blue Door) by Tie Ning of China.
Thúy and Tearne were eligible this year under the Prize’s new rule regarding writers who have lost their Asian nationality through state action.
In a press release, David Parker, executive director of the prize, said: “This list testifies to the strength and variety of new writing coming out of a culturally emergent Asia. It is full of stories the world hasn’t heard before and which the world needs to hear. It brings together seven books in English translation, which means that, as well as introducing exciting debut novelists, the Prize is also bringing to international attention some best-selling and important writers who are little known outside their own language communities.”
The chair of judges, international journalist and cultural critic Maya Jaggi, is joined by Vietnamese American novelist Monique Truong and award-winning Indian novelist Vikram Chandra.
The fifteen long-listed candidates will be narrowed down to a shortlist on January 9, and the winner will be announced on March 14 at a celebratory dinner in Hong Kong.
Established in 2007, the Man Asian Literary Prize is sponsored by the Man Group, which also oversees the Man Booker Prize for British literature and the Man Booker International Prize. The 2011 winner of the Asian Literary Prize was South Korean writer Kyung-sook Shin for her novel Please Look After Mom (Knopf). She was the first woman and first South Korean writer to win the prize.
Visit the Man Asian Literary Prize website for more information and submission guidelines, and to find out more about the long-listed novelists.
In the video below, watch the longlist announcement from David Parker and a Q&A with Maya Jaggi.
Pitch Letters to Literary Agents That Succeeded, Zadie Smith on Joy and Sorrow, and More
GalleyCat rounds up several pitch letters that succeeded in landing a literary agent; the New York Times reports small bookstores appear to be thriving; the Wall Street Journal picks its favorite novels of 2012, including Shani Boianjiu's The People of Forever Are Not Afraid; and other news.
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Write an Elegy
Today, write an elegy, a poem that is a lament for the dead. For more information about the poetic form, read the Academy of American Poets' description and examples of the elegy.
Elie Wiesel
"We must choose between the violence of adults and the smiles of children, between the ugliness of hate and the will to oppose it," writes the Nobel Prize winner and Holocaust survivor. "Even in darkness it is possible to create light and encourage compassion. There it is. I still believe in man in spite of man."
W11-08-12BardCollege-Grande
“Reyna Grande’s story resonates with members of our community. She was a warm, engaging, generous speaker…. Over and over we hear a version of this remark: ‘Delano needs more events like this.’ Poets & Writers’ support and the success of our event inspire us to organize more events like this.”
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Julia Bloch of Bard College after a creative nonfiction and fiction reading by Reyna Grande in Delano, California
A Tour of Literary Manhattan, Ayana Mathis's Call From Oprah Winfrey, and More
Ayana Mathis tells Salon what it was like to receive a career-changing phone call from Oprah Winfrey; critic Dwight Garner tours literary Manhattan; Graywolf Press will publish the first full-length poetry collection by actor James Franco; and other news.
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Jake Adam York
In this clip from 2011, Jake Adam York reads from "Collect," which appears in his third poetry collection, Persons Unknown, published by Southern Illinois University Press in 2010. York, who was the editor of Copper Nickle as well as a contributing editor of Shenandoah, passed away on Sunday. He was forty years old.
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