Conversational Reading (Free subscription) | 19/11/2009
Nice to see a little love for Pornografia by Witold Gombrowicz, just published in the first ever direct Polish-to-English translation by Grove Press. The book has a real wicked sense of irony and humor; it must be one of the most bitter novels I've read this year, perhaps beaten only by Thomas Bernhard. It also has a real taut feel to it, almost more like a drama than a novel in how everything is so...
Thomas Kraemer (Free subscription) | 11/11/2009
PHOTO: Google Books scanned cover of the book by C. A. Tripp, Lewis Gannett, "The intimate world of Abraham Lincoln," Simon and Schuster, 2005 . An article by Paul Schindler, "Kramer Takes On the Colonists," Gay City News, posted Jun. 1, 2009 referenced a posting by Larry Kramer, "Homo Sex in Colonial America," The Huffington Post, posted May 19, 2009 who is a staunch...
Jesus' General (Free subscription) | 07/11/2009
Fred Kaplan 's 1959: The Year That Changed Everything (John Wiley and Sons $27.95) chronicles an extraordinary year. On January 1st, Fidel Castro's revolutionaries took power in Cuba. On January 4th Soviet Deputy Premier Anastas Mikoyan visited the United States. Fidel would do the same on April 15th, followed by Khrushchev on September 15th. On April 9th, Lenny Bruce appeared on television. On March...
Third Factory/Notes to Poetry (Free subscription) | 31/10/2009
Paul Blackburn | The Cities | Grove Press | 1967 I didn’t gain a full appreciation for Blackburn’s woefully out-of-print work until I put together his PennSound author page. Recently, I tried to sum up what I loved most about his work, and came up with this list: “his sharp urban observations, his unbridled (and unabashed) [...]
POD, Self Publishing and Independent Publishing (Free subscription) | 30/10/2009
Chip Kidd, renowned book cover designer is currently on a trip to Ireland and this evening he did an interview for Culture Shock , an arts program on one of Ireland's national radio broadcasters, Newstalk, hosted by Fionn Davenport. Chip Kidd is an associate art director at Knopf , an imprint of Random House . He joined the Knopf book design team in 1986, turning out jacket designs at an average of...
Matt Bell (Free subscription) | 29/10/2009
My story "His Last Great Gift" appears in the newest issue of Conjunctions , which is themed " Not Even Past: Hybrid Histories". The issue should be shipping in early November, so now is a great time to subscribe to be sure you get it right away. Conjunctions 53 includes the first publication of seminal correspondence between Samuel Beckett and Grove Press’s Barney Rosset,...
Little Epic Against Oblivion (Free subscription) | 21/10/2009
The University of Tennessee English Department received word last week that the United States Poet Laureate, Kay Ryan, will come to campus in the winter to give a reading and interact with students! The info thus far is that Ryan will read at 7pm on February 16, in the University Center Auditorium. No doubt more details will be forthcoming, and I'll post them here as they become public. Hopefully,...
Anecdotal Evidence (Free subscription) | 19/10/2009
Probably the first Chinese poetry I read was Burton Watson’s translation of Cold Mountain: 100 Poems by the T’ang Poet Han-shan , published in 1962 by Grove Press. I read it around 1967. Though I may already have encountered Pound’s Cathay and A.C. Graham’s Poems of the Late T’ang , it’s Cold Mountain I remember best, for its one-poem-per-page layout, the owlish...
ursprache (Free subscription) | 12/10/2009
The image is the magic lantern which lights up the poets in their darkness. But images aren’t alone. There are passages between them which also must be poetry. —Jules Supervielle,”Thinking About a Poetics” Mid-Century French Poets , edited by Wallace Fowlie (Grove Press, 1955)
Eat, Sleep & Read! (Free subscription) | 12/10/2009
Five young fiction writers will be recognized by the National Book Foundation at the “5 Under 35” celebration at PowerHouse Arena in the DUMBO section of Brooklyn on Monday, November 16, announced Harold Augenbraum, the executive director of the National Book Foundation. “5 Under 35 is a celebration of emerging talent and the perfect way to kick off National Book Awards Week,”...
MediaBistro.com (Free subscription) | 06/10/2009
The National Book Foundation announced its annual "5 Under 35" honorees this week. Ceridwen Dovey for "Blood Kin" (Viking, 2008), chosen by Rachel Kushner . C. E. Morgan for "All the Living" (Farrar, Straus & Giroux, 2009), chosen by Christine Schutt . Lydia Peelle for "Reasons for and Advantages of Breathing" (HarperCollins, 2009), chosen by Salvatore Scibona...
Seattle Weekly (Free subscription) | 30/09/2009
Death is everywhere in Sherman Alexie's new story-poetry-scrap collection War Dances (Grove Press, $23), which begins with the attempted killing of a dog and ends with burial instructions. Elsewhere, a larcenous teenager is struck dead (accidentally) by a homeowner's bas...
Michael Sporn Animation - Splog (Free subscription) | 26/09/2009
- I continue, today, with my posting of the book published from the setups of the John & Faith Hubley film Zuckerkandl!. This book was released by Grove Press in1968. It’s an adaptation of the comic lecture by Robert Maynard Hutchins espousing the philosophies of one, Alexander Zuckerkandl, M.D., Ph. D. The artwork for the film [...]
ArtCal (Free subscription) | 22/09/2009
Robert Mann Gallery 210 Eleventh Avenue, 212-989-7600 Chelsea September 24 - December 23, 2009 Opening: Thursday, September 24, 6 - 8 PM Web Site Robert Mann Gallery is pleased to begin the fall season with Robert Frank, the premiere exhibition in our renovated Chelsea gallery space. Representing an outstanding collection of exquisite rare Frank prints, the exhibition will include iconic images from...
Collin Kelley...Modern Confessional (Free subscription) | 08/09/2009
Robin Kemp's debut collection, This Pagan Heaven ($8, Pecan Grove Press), has been years in the making. I heard some of the poems in this collection back in 2003 when I first met Kemp on the Atlanta poetry scene. But her body of work took a dramatic shift -- and found a fierce, heartbreaking center -- when her beloved hometown of New Orleans was devastated by Hurricane Katrina in 2005. The collection...
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