Book Dominoes
The arts collective Responsible Fishing UK took over a lecture hall at the Barnsley Library in South Yorkshire, England, last March to attempt a world-record "Domino Topple" using discarded hardcover library books.
Applying to a Writers Residency: An Expert Breakdown of the Requirements
Administrators offer insight into the mystifying process of applying to a writing retreat by answering some common questions: How do residency juries weigh a work plan? Would your boss make a better reference than a former writing teacher? Is published or unpublished work more desirable in a writing sample?
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Digital Digest: New Tools Transform Self-Publishing
Thanks to the accessibility of new digital tools offered by booksellers such as Amazon and Barnes & Noble, self-publishing is loosing its stigma and holds new promise for writers venturing out on their own.
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The Library as Incubator Project
In the midst of the political protests that were escalating in Wisconsin last winter, three library science majors at the University of Wisconsin devised the Library as Incubator Project, a website for writers, artists, and librarians to share their creations and ideas in one collaborative space.
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Szymborska's Will Calls for New Literary Prize
Some details of the legacy late Polish poet Wisława Szymborska hoped to leave writers of the future were revealed yesterday at the opening of her will in Krakow. According to Michal Rusinek, Szymborska's personal secretary, the Nobel Prize-winning poet had called for the establishment of a foundation, among the tasks of which would be to facilitate the creation of a new literary prize.
The nature of the prize was not illustrated in Szymborska's will. The foundation, which will assume care of Szymborska's papers and possessions, will be responsible for determining the type of prize and to whom it might be given.
Szymborska, whose last collection, Here (Houghton Mifflin Harcourt), was published in the United States in 2010, died on the first of this month at the age of eighty-eight.
The video below is an animated adaptation of Szymborska's poem "Advertisement," translated by Stanisław Barańczak and Clare Cavanaugh.
VIDA's 2011 Count, Alexander Chee's iPad, and More
Publication statistics for 2011 have been compiled and released by VIDA: Women in Literary Arts; the Paris Review Daily looks at the twenty-five year friendship between Vladimir Nabokov and Edmund Wilson; Filmmaker Scott Teems remembers his friend and collaborator, the novelist William Gay; and other news.
Loud Dreaming in a Quiet Room
This animated film for Betsy Wheeler's poetry collection Loud Dreaming in a Quiet Room (National Poetry Review Press, 2012) features art and animation by Luca Depierro and music by Stephen Barnard.
The Ten Things
Write a list titled "The Ten Things I Will Not Think About in My Last Seconds of Life." Give yourself ten minutes to freewrite the list, then turn the list into an essay. It can be funny, serious, or strange; the points may be connected or not. The important part is to allow yourself to linger on each item in your list and let it grow into its full potential, perhaps keeping it mind for an essay of its own. For this assignment, make sure to incorporate all ten things from the list into your essay.
Alone in the Woods
Write a story in which a character lives alone in a desolate environment—the woods, the desert, the mountains. Describe your character going about the day, and use that action as a backdrop for revealing the reason why he or she has chosen to retreat from the world. Then, have another character enter the scene, describing how he or she arrives. What happens next?
John D’Agata Controversy, AWP Bingo, and More
The Big Think examines how new generations of readers respond to J. D. Salinger's infamous Holden Caulfield; the Examiner reports of a shake-up at the Columbia College Chicago writing program; Dinty W. Moore weighs in on the controversy surrounding John D’Agata; and other news.
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