Life Work
Distinguished poet Donald Hall reflects on the meaning of work, solitude, and love in this memoir about the writing life.
PEN World Voices Lineup, Poetry and the Taliban, Texas Loves E-books, and More
Ron Silliman contemplates the end of his eight-year poetry blog; a fake Rahm Emanuel lands a book deal; the PEN World Voices Festival all-star lineup is announced; the role of poetry in the Taliban's war strategy; and other news.
D.C.'s Iconic Bookstore Finds a Buyer, Bankrupt Borders Wants to Give Bonuses, and More
Politics and Prose bookstore finds a buyer; literature's crises (and rallies) through the ages; Elizabeth Bennett may have listened to indie rock; Borders plans to pay bonuses; and other news.
Lee Chang-Dong’s Poetry
The movie Poetry, which was written and directed by South Korean filmmaker Lee Chang-Dong, recently won the Regard d'Or Award at the Fribourg International Film Festival in Switzerland. The movie, about a woman in her sixties who decides to take a poetry class at an adult-education center, also took honors for best screenplay at the 2010 Cannes Film Festival.
Zone 3 Launches Creative Nonfiction Book Award
Zone 3 Press, housed at Austin Peay State University in Tennessee, is accepting entries for a new book competition "open to anyone who can carve an artful exposition, drive a factual narrative, or strum a lyric sentence." One creative nonfiction manuscript will be selected for publication by the press, and the winning writer will receive one thousand dollars.
The judge is Baltimore poet and essayist Lia Purpura, author of the prose collections Increase (University of Georgia Press, 2000), On Looking (Sarabande Books, 2006), and Rough Likeness, which is forthcoming from Sarabande Books in 2012. Her poetry collections include The Brighter the Veil (Orchises Press, 1996) and King Baby (Alice James Books, 2008).
Eligible manuscripts should be 150 to 300 pages, and writers are encouraged to submit works that "embrace creative nonfiction’s potential by combining lyric exposition, researched reflection, travel dialogues, or creative criticism." The entry deadline is May 1. Complete deadlines can be found on the press's Web site.
In the video below, Purpura, whose prose works have been referred to as "lyric essays," reads from her latest collection of poetry.
A Pop-Up Indie Bookstore in Pittsburgh, Digitizing Line Breaks, and More
The trouble with digitizing line breaks; dissecting the O: The Oprah Magazine poet fashion spread; Amanda Hocking strikes again; the iPad 2 sells out around the world; and other news.
The Pale King
On April 15 Little, Brown will publish The Pale King, David Foster Wallace's final, unfinished novel. In this BBC documentary, Geoff Ward discusses the life and works of the author who committed suicide in 2008, at the age of forty-six. Ward also talks to Wallace's editor, Michael Pietsch, about the difficult task of assembling Wallace's final fragments into The Pale King.
March 28
Spend a few moments examining an old photograph—a found image, a photo from childhood, an iconic shot from history—and give it a title. Then put the photo aside and write a poem using this title.
Hocking Signs Four-Book Deal, Ferlinghetti Turns Ninety-Two, and More
The Japanese publishing industry is weathering the recent disasters and pitching in with relief efforts; Powell's Books releases a mobile app; Lawrence Ferlinghetti turned ninety-two yesterday; Amanda Hocking signs a four-book deal with St. Martin's; and other news.
Lawrence Ferlinghetti
In this clip Daniel Pogue adds stop-motion sewing animation to section 22 of Lawrence Ferlinghetti's "A Coney Island of the Mind." Ferlinghetti turned ninety-two on Thursday.
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