E11 Woodstock, NY, Workshops with Nancy Kline at the Woodstock Public Library
Amy B. Raff
Ted Hughes's Private Letters from America, a Book Tour by Pushcart, and More
New Ted Hughes letters reveal his strong reaction to American consumerism; the jacket art for David Foster Wallace's forthcoming posthumous novel; an author's pushcart tour of the Northeast; the blurring line between books and the Internet; and other news.
A Literary Agent's Advice on Pitching Your Book
Agent Nathan Bransford of Curtis Brown, Ltd., in San Francisco talks about what he looks for in a pitch.
Haunt Michael Cunningham With Your Flash Fiction
The fifth incarnation of National Public Radio's Three-Minute Fiction contest promises to be a supernatural one. The free competition, which will be judged by Michael Cunningham, is open only to stories that begin with the line, "Some people swore that the house was haunted" and end with, "Nothing was ever the same again after that."
Cunningham, the author of the Pulitzer Prize–winning novel of visitations, voices, and convergences, The Hours, will select one winner to be interviewed on NPR and have his or her winning story read on the air. The winner will also receive autographed copies of The Hours and the author's forthcoming novel, By Nightfall, due to arrive in stores on October 5.
Stories must be under six hundred words and capable of being read in under, you guessed it, three minutes. The deadline for entries is September 26. Full guidelines, an entry form, and more on the history of the competition are available on the NPR Web site.
In the video below, some music to write by—a performance of Phillip Glass's score for the film adaptation of The Hours.
Susan G. Wooldridge
I thrive as part of a team. I’ve loved being sponsored by my friends at Poets & Writers and California Center for the Book to lead workshops in more than fifty small California towns over the years—from libraries in Imperial and El Centro to Markleesville, South Lake Tahoe, Yreka and Alturas. Working with Poets & Writers has changed my life.
The Vatican Library Reopens, the DFW Archive Launches in Texas, and More
The Vatican Library reopens; Vietnam's thriving second-hand bookstore culture; the David Foster Wallace archive opens in Texas; the e-reader battles get a bit more direct; and other news.
Darin Strauss's Desert Island Picks
Novelist and, as of this month, memoirist Darin Strauss reveals the three books he'd want to read if he was marooned on a desert island.
Taylor Mali Plagiarized in Country Song, the Dodge Poetry Festival Line-up, and More
The Brooklyn Book Festival brought a crowd despite the rains; a lost poem by Sir Walter Scott is discovered; Taylor Mali's "What Teachers Make" is plagiarized again; Target stores may soon sell the iPad; and other news.
Five Questions for Monique Truong
A brief interview with novelist Monique Truong, who is profiled in the current issue of Poets & Writers Magazine.
The New Guard Extends Poetry and Fiction Deadlines
Recently-born literary journal the New Guard has received such a swell surge of entries to its two contests that it's jonesing for more. The editors are "thrilled" with the "overwhelming response" they've received to their competitions, reports publisher and editor Shanna Miller McNair, and want to keep each of the staggered contests open for three weeks longer than their initial deadline dates.
The journal, which is looking for both traditional and experimental work, will accept entries for the Machigonne Fiction Contest until October 1 (the initial deadline had been September 13), and the Knightville Poetry Contest will run until November 1 (drawn out from October 4). Former U.S. poet laureate Donald Hall, whose most recent collection is White Apples and the Taste of Stone: Selected Poems 1946–2006 (Houghton Mifflin) will select the winner of the poetry competition. Debra Spark, author of three novels, most recently Good for the Jews (University of Michigan Press, 2006), will judge the fiction contest. Winners will receive one thousand dollars each, and their works will be published in the New Guard.
More information about the new lit mag and how to enter the contests is available on the New Guard's Web site.
In the video below, Hall and fellow poet Alicia Ostriker discuss why people sometimes reject poetry.
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