Nikky Finney
Poet Nikky Finney, who is profiled in the current issue of Poets & Writers Magazine, reads "Penguin, Mullet, Bread" from her collection Head Off & Split, published this month by TriQuarterly Books/Northwestern University Press.
A curated selection of videos, including book trailers, brief interviews, and other literary curiosities updated daily.
Facing Rejection
In this Oscar-worthy performance, an inspired poet takes a moment to digest the news that his rather uninspired poem has not been accepted for publication.
Multiple Sclerosis in Poems, Paintings
Poet Evelyn Posamentier and painter Elizabeth Jameson, whose own brain scans are prominently featured in her work, use their respective art forms to interpret their experiences with multiple sclerosis.
Ayn Rand's Atlas Shrugged
This trailer for the film adaption of Ayn Rand's 1957 best-selling novel Atlas Shrugged offers a sneak peak at the movie hitting theaters April 15.
Protest Poems in Egypt
This clip features photos of the demonstrations in Cairo's Tahrir Square by Hany Soliman as well as footage of poet Kamal Abdel Halim reciting two poems in protest of Egyptian president Hosni Mubarak.
Sandra Beasley's Allergy Memoir
In July Random House will publish poet Sandra Beasley's memoir, Don't Kill the Birthday Girl: Tales From an Allergic Life, which describes her experience growing up and coming to terms with a potentially deadly disorder—severe food allergies.
Maxine Hong Kingston and Leslie Marmon Silko
Last week Maxine Hong Kingston, whose memoir, I Love a Broad Margin to My Life, was published in January by Knopf, and Leslie Marmon Silko, author of the memoir The Turquoise Ledge (Viking, 2010), read together at the Unterberg Poetry Center of the 92nd Street Y in New York City.
The Sound of a Wild Snail Eating
You may want to turn up the volume because this unique clip, the book trailer for Elisabeth Tova Bailey's memoir, The Sound of a Wild Snail Eating (Algonquin Books, 2010), delivers exactly what the title promises. The memoir, which was named one of the best books of 2010 by the Huffington Post, follow's the author's observations of a forest snail that has taken up residence on her nightstand during a long illness.
The Revenge of the Radioactive Lady
This trailer for Elizabeth Stuckey-French's second novel, The Revenge of the Radioactive Lady, published next week by Doubleday, is directed and edited by Ben Mekler. Stuckey-French's short stories have appeared in The Normal School, the Atlantic, the Gettysburg Review, the Southern Review, and Five Points
James Wright's Ohio
In this clip from James Wright's Ohio, a documentary by Tom Koba and Larry Smith that is being reissued on DVD later this month by Bottom Dog Press, the late poet William Matthews speaks to the importance of place in Wright's work.