The Antisocial Writer

In The Atlantic of August 2, novelist Meghan Tifft published An Introverted Writer’s Lament. Her piece begins: “Whether we’re behind the podium or awaiting our turn, numbing our bottoms on the chill of metal foldout chairs or trying to work some life into our terror-stricken tongues, we introverts feel the pain of the public performance.”…

How to Win Writing Contests: Advice from Poets & Writers mag

Poets & Writers Magazine had a useful piece recently about how to win writing contests. It was useful because it canvassed several judges on what they look for in a winner. Here are a few snippets: Ander Monson: “I … look for … something unusual in its ambition and its confidence … and its execution…

Guided Writing Playshop

              I went to a local Guided Writing Playshop yesterday, at The Lotus Center in Silver City, New Mexico. The instructors freely admitted they weren’t writing experts, but were there as guides. We took off our shoes on arrival and were led to a large yoga hall with paintings…

Kafka the video game

Kafka, the crown prince of existential despair, is to be the inspiration for a video game. What next? The Sylvia Plath Joke Book? Samuel Beckett Party Hats? In this game, the player must escape from melancholy scenes and surreal traps which mimic the confinements in Kafka’s novels The Castle and Metamorphosis. What larks! It’s been…

How to turn a fridge into a library

Brazil. Take an old fridge. Let graffiti artists decorate it. Get volunteers to fill it with old books and place it on the street – at bus stops, in parks. Let anyone browse and borrow. The only rule? Return the books. Thus Brazilian creativity brings literacy to the streets. How cool is that?    …

7 Nobel Speeches by 7 Great Writers

I came across this terrific site today. It has recordings of the Nobel acceptance speeches of William Faulkner, Bertrand Russell, Ernest Hemingway, John Steinbeck, V.S. Naipaul, Orhan Pamuk, and Mario Vargas Llosa. Yes, I know they’re all on youtube, but it’s nice to have them collected together. Some are as you’d expect: Hemingway delivering simple,…

Irish Renaissance: Astonishing Fiction from The Emerald Isle … again

                  In 2013, it was Donal Ryan‘s brilliant debut novel The Spinning Heart. In 2014, it was the stunning A Girl is a Half-formed Thing by Eimear McBride, and Colin Barrett‘s luminous short story collection called Young Skins. This year it’s Sara Baume‘s Spill Simmer Falter Wither,…

Farewell, Cowboy – by Olja Savičević

Olja Savičević is a well-regarded poet in her native Croatia, so I was thrilled to get a look at her first novel, Farewell, Cowboy. Set in a dreary town on the Adriatic coast, the book follows the heroine Dada as she tries to find out why her younger and much-loved brother Daniel threw himself under…