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Michelle Dean considers the unpublished erotica of Edith Wharton; the former publisher of McSweeney's has created a mobile app that will deliver a geo-located story; the California Repertory Company intends to mount a production of the work of the poet Charles Bukowski and composer Stephen Sondheim; and other news.
P&W–sponsored poet Randall Horton writes about forming relationships with venues. Horton is the recipient of the Gwendolyn Brooks Poetry Award, the Bea Gonzalez Poetry Award, and the National Endowment of the Arts Fellowship in Literature. A Cave Canem Fellow and member of Affrilachian Poets, Horton's lastest poetry collection Pitch Dark Anarchy will be published by Northwestern University Press in Spring 2013.
Before the publication of my first poetry collection,The Definition of Place, the idea of performing my writing never crossed my mind. I'd been active in several poetry communities, but it wasn't until the book arrived and I held it in my hands that I realized the promotion of it would be a task to which I was not accustomed. It was the early grant support Poets & Writers gave me to go out and read my work that enabled me to introduce myself to a larger and varied audience—and to nurture relationships—especially on the East Coast, which is where I am based. I think it is important that beginning poets understand that the Readings/Workshops Program at Poets & Writers can help provide these opportunities to writers.
With the help of many friends and poets, including the late Adarro Minton, Lita Hooper, and Fred Joiner, I was given a platform to reach an audience at a range of poetry venues including the Social Justice Center in Albany, the YMCA Downtown Writer's Center in Syracuse, headed by the poet Phil Memmer, The Revolving Door Series in Chicago, hosted by Jennifer Steele, the Southwest Arts Center in Atlanta, as well as the American Poetry Museum in Washington, D.C.
I would like to think all artists pursue their art only to express their passion and creativity, but the reality is it helps to be financially compensated for the work we do. Receiving grants from Poets & Writers makes poets feel worthy, if only in small way, which in turns helps to feed our art. These opportunities also help us reach a larger audience. My advice to beginning poets is to continue to cultivate relationships with venues where you read, and make them aware that funding through Poets & Writers is available, because we all want to feel appreciated, if only for a moment.
Photo: Randall Horton. Photo credit: Rachel Eliza Griffiths
Support for Readings/Workshops in New York City is provided, in part, by public funds from the New York State Council on the Arts, and the Department of Cultural Affairs, with additional support from the Louis & Anne Abrons Foundation, the Axe-Houghton Foundation, the A.K. Starr Charitable Trust, and Friends of Poets & Writers.
Back in January we posted William Joyce and Branden Oldenburg's animated short film, The Fantastic Flying Books of Mr. Morris Lessermore. Now there's an interactive app that appears to capture all the magic and fascination of that beautiful story "of people who devote their lives to books and books who return the favor."
Melville House has a breakdown of the latest news in the Department of Justice's antitrust lawsuit; Jackson prize-winning poet Henri Cole visits the family burial plot of Hart Crane; novelist Jami Attenberg explains what to expect after your first book is published; and other news.
Hey, is that Bob Dylan? No, it's Dale Peck summoning his Subterranean Homesick Blues for the trailer for his novel The Garden of Lost and Found, the story of a young man who discovers he's inherited a building in New York City after the death of his mother, forthcoming from Mischief and Mayhem Publishing on August 15.
A twenty-seven year old Australian, Hannah Kent, has sold the North American rights to her first novel, Burial Rites, to Little, Brown, in a seven-figure two-book deal; HarperCollins announced yesterday author Neil Gaiman has contracted to write five books for kids; the women's online writing network She Writes has launched a publishing company, She Writes Press; and other news.
Describe one of your earliest recollections of fear. What caused you to be afraid? What sensations—physical, mental, emotional—do you recall? How did you react? Next, describe a similar experience you've had as an adult. In what ways have your responses to fear changed since you were young? In what ways have they remained the same?
Wool, a science fiction series self-published last year by Hugh Howey and subsequently acquired by Random House UK for publication next January and optioned for film by director Ridley Scott and producer Steve Zaillian, is "the story of mankind clawing for survival, of mankind on the edge." The folks at Random House UK put together a pretty slick trailer; check it out.
Jamie McGuire's Beautiful Disaster, the lead title from GalleyCat's self-published best-sellers list, will be published by Simon & Schuster’s Atria imprint; a twelfth-century manuscript stolen last year has been found; the late Christopher Hitchens on the life and work of George Orwell; and other news.
On December 17, 1977, Charles Bernstein read poems from Senses of Responsibility and Shade on Public Access Poetry, a cable television series that aired in 1977 and 1978. While the quality isn't great in places (it was the seventies, after all), this and dozens of other clips offer a unique glimpse of poets such as Bernstein, Alice Notley, Ted Berrigan, Ron Padgett, and Bob Holman thirty-five years ago.
