HispanicTrending (Free subscription) | yesterday
November 22, 2009 By ANNE MORRIS This ambitious anthology brings together 85 writings by American immigrants from 45 countries. Arranged chronologically, the letters, stories, articles and poems extend from 1623 to the present. The earliest ones, by Phyllis Wheatley, John James Audubon and St. John Crèvecoeur, often have a schoolbook feel, like a reading assignment for an American history class...
The Millions (A Blog About Books) (Free subscription) | 20/11/2009
In a literary world where writers are playing the lottery against the longest of odds, Oprah was the winning ticket. But in less than two years, the ultimate book publicity coup will be off the table.
Montague (Free subscription) | 16/11/2009
PUBLISHED BY THE WEEKENDER SUPPLEMENT OF S INT MAARTEN'S DAILY HERALD ON NOVEMBER 14, 2009 One inevitable consequence of any migratory pattern – of any Diaspora – is that the displaced population and, consequently, their relocated offspring develop a multi-layered sense of identity, which often maps the journey of their kind. Edwidge Danticat ’s story reveals a miniature version of...
Reading, writing, and chocolate (Free subscription) | 12/11/2009
A recent article in the Wall Street Journal talks about the writing process of some famous authors, and it hit close to home in a few ways: 1. Hilary Mantel gets some of her best ideas in the shower. So do I! I can't speak for Hilary, but I know my family is thankful for this one. 2. Kate Christensen "does housework, writes emails, and talks on the phone to avoid facing her work... In the past,...
Literanista (Free subscription) | 09/11/2009
JUNOT DÍAZ "I think 90% of my ideas evaporate because I have a terrible memory and because I seem to be committed to not scribble anything down," says Junot Díaz. "As soon as I write it down, my mind rejects it." Juggling everything in his head has drawbacks, one of which is writing very slowly, he says. He threw out two earlier versions of his novel, "The Brief...
Isak (Free subscription) | 06/11/2009
Alexandra Alter has an interesting piece in the Wall Street Journal about the unusual tactics that seventeen writers have for crafting their fiction. Junot Díaz, Edwidge Danticat, Kazuo Ishiguro, Hillary Mantel, Richard Powers, and Orhan Pamuk are among those who divulge their secrets. Here's part of Colum McCann's story: When he's in the middle of a novel, Colum McCann sometimes prints out...
The Mark on the Wall (Free subscription) | 06/11/2009
Today's Wall Street Journal profiles 11 writers ( Margaret Atwood! Junot Diaz! Edwidge Danticat! Kazuo Ishiguro! ) describing their approach to writing, "a process that can be lonely, tedious, frustrating and exhilarating." excerpt: Dan Chaon writes a first draft on color-coded note cards he buys at Office Max. Ideas for his books come to him as images and phrases rather than plots, characters...
Literanista (Free subscription) | 03/11/2009
Love this: EDWIDGE DANTICAT Age: 40 Hometown: Port-au-Prince, Haiti Current Location: Miami, FL Occupation: Writer 1. What four adjectives would your first best friend use to describe you? Funny, neurotic, sensitive and, I hope, kind 2. What dish do you make well? Rice and beans 3. What was your favorite song when you were in high school? “It's Raining Men” by The Weather Girls 4. What...
katrina's reads (Free subscription) | 25/10/2009
Books read: 3 Books Finished:The Earth Hums in B Flat, The 13 Clocks, The Farming of Bones Current Book: Up next will be a play My Children! My Africa! Running total of pages read since you started: 859 I just finished The Farming of Bones by Edwidge Danticat, the best read by me so far. Will be posting about this one later in the day. I'm off to cheerlead for a little while then starting a play (it's...
katrina's reads (Free subscription) | 24/10/2009
I had many plans for this morning; a stroll along the river up to the library among crunchy leaves, cleaning the whole house, making vegi bolognase and peanut butter cookies from scratch. However I woke up to the sound of heavy rain and I still have my horrid cold, so I've pottered about and generally just been waiting for the read-a-thon to start. As we're starting in England at 1pm (probably one...
Isak (Free subscription) | 22/10/2009
Junot Diaz (Pulitzer Prize, The Brief Wondrous Adventures of Oscar Wao) and Edwidge Danticat (MacArthur Genius, Brother, I'm Dying) are apparently great friends. And it seems that their connection came through in a shared reading at the New Yorker Festival, where they had a fascinating conversation. Jezebel tells the story: Diaz said he'd been pilloried in the mainstream nerd press (only sort of an...
Geoffrey Philp's Blog Spot (Free subscription) | 14/10/2009
One of the insights I gained from the Florida Humanities Council’s conference, Florida and the Caribbean: Historic Ties and Cultural Connections , was the realization that there was a growing body of writing created by Caribbean authors living in Florida. The collection could be called the “Literature of the Caribbean Diaspora in Florida” or the demotic “Floribbean” literature...
The Happy Go Lucky Bachelor. (Free subscription) | 29/09/2009
Wikipedia : Danticat was born in Port-au-Prince, Haiti. When she was two years old, her father André immigrated to New York from Haiti, to be followed two years later by her mother Rose. This left Danticat and her younger brother Eliab to be raised by her aunt and uncle. Although her formal education in Haiti was in French, she spoke Haitian Kréyòl at home. Miami Herald : An award-winning...
Lisa Romeo Writes (Free subscription) | 25/09/2009
►Advice, tips, and seminar round-ups from the Writer's Digest's conference, The Business of Getting Published, held last weekend in New York City, are gathered here . ►Contemplating a city without free public libraries is terrible enough. And somehow, that city being Philadelphia, historic home to many publishing initiatives, it was even worse to consider. Massive budget shortfalls in the...
ArtsBeat (Free subscription) | 23/09/2009
Two leading fiction writers and a prominent American poet are among the 24 individuals selected to receive 2009 fellowships from John D. and Catherine T. MacArthur Foundation, it was announced on Tuesday at the foundation's headquarters in Chicago. Edwidge Danticat, Deborah Eisenberg, and Heather McHugh were the writers selected for the latest round of the so-called "genius grants" administered...
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