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Eight thousand volumes of centuries-old texts were saved from destruction during the recent fighting in Timbuktu; Nathan Bransford is hosting a contest to win a chance to have part of your manuscript read by InkWell literary agent Catherine Drayton; the Believer and Los Angeles NPR station KCRW have launched a podcast called the Organist; and other news.
Alice Walker, Ishmael Reed, N. K. Jemisin, Virginia Hamilton, and David Halberstam discuss the legacy and contributions of African American writers to the Western canon in this video from Open Road Media.
A. N. Devers looks at how the home of the Baltimore Ravens has treated the Poe House and Museum; the cover of fiftieth anniversary edition of Sylvia Plath's The Bell Jar has been lampooned; Benjamin Nugent considers the upside of writerly distraction; and other news
Our Writers Retreats Issue features a special section on inspiring conferences, residencies, and book festivals; a literary report from the front lines in Egypt; an interview with six new parents on how they balance writing and family; plus a profile of Pulitzer Prize-winning poet Rae Armantrout, tips on how to crowdfund your next book project, taking advantage of Pinterest, and much more.
Broadcast in late July 1969, this piece by poet and novelist James Dickey was commissioned by the television network ABC on the occasion of the Apollo 11 moon landing.
GalleyCat casts a sober eye on economics for genre authors; gridiron poetics for Super Sunday; Ann Patchett explains that bookstores are not dead; and other news.
In this animation for the free fiction magazine Recommended Reading, Myles David Jewell animates the following sentence from "Tributaries" by Ramona Ausubel: "Though the girls know many two-armers, even some that seem happy and in love, what they talk about are those with love-grown arms."
Claremont Graduate University has announced the finalists for the 2013 Kingsley Tufts Poetry Award. Given annually for a book published in the previous award year by a poet in midcareer, the Tufts Award is one of the most prestigious prizes given to an American poet. The winner receives $100,000.
The finalists are Marianne Boruch for The Book of Hours (Copper Canyon Press), Edward Haworth Hoeppner Blood Prism (Ohio State University Press), and Paisley Rekdal for Animal Eye (University of Pittsburgh Press).
Boruch is the author of eight previous collections, including most recently Grace, Fallen from (Wesleyan, 2008), and a memoir, The Glimpse Traveler (Break Away Books, 2011). She is a professor of creative writing and poetry at Purdue University. Hoeppner is the author of two previous collections, including Rain Through High Windows (New Issues, 2000). He directs the creative writing program at Oakland University in Rochester, Michigan. Rekdal is the author of three previous collections, including most recently The Invention of the Kaleidoscope (University of Pittsburgh Press, 2007). She is an associate professor of English at the University of Utah.
Claremont also announced the finalists for the 2013 Kate Tufts Discovery Award, a prize of $10,000 given annually for a debut poetry collection. The finalists are Rebecca Morgan Frank for Little Murders Everywhere (Salmon Poetry), Francine J. Harris for Allegiance (Wayne State University Press), and Heidy Steidlmayer for Fowling Piece (Triquarterly Books).
This year's panel of judges for both awards includes Linda Gregerson, David Barber, Kate Gale, Ted Genoways, and Carl Phillips. Winners will be announced in March and recognized during a ceremony at Claremont Graduate University in April.
Timothy Donnelly of Brooklyn, New York, received the 2012 Kingsley Tufts Poetry Award for The Cloud Corporation (Wave Books). Katherine Larson received the Kate Tufts Discovery Award for Radial Symmetry (Yale University Press).
Authors, editors, and publishers may submit books for consideration for both the Kate and Kingsley Tufts Awards. For the 2014 awards, books published between September 1, 2012, and August 31, 2013, are eligible, and must be postmarked by September 15. Visit the website for more information and complete submission guidelines.
Scribner named Colin Harrison its new editor-in-chief; a new translation of James Joyce's Finnegans Wake made the bestseller list in China; F. Scott and Zelda Fitzgerald's Baltimore townhouse is for sale; and other news.
In honor of the 100th anniversary on February 1 of New York City's famed Grand Central Station, write an essay about a time in your life when you travelled—it could be daily travel, such as the commute to and from a job; seasonal travel, such as heading to a beach community every summer; or a vacation, such as a trip to a foreign country. Focus on what compelled you to go and the transition of leaving one place and arriving in another.
