Of his new novel, Aloft, Chang-rae Lee says, "I'm sure people will say, 'Why did you write about a white guy?'" Italian American, no less. The acclaimed Asian-American novelist's response? "Not all my heroes are Korean."
March/April 2004
Features
This Way Up: A Profile of Chang-rae Lee
The novelist discusses his latest book, Aloft.
Talent as Persistence: A Profile of Bob Hicok
Bruce Willis he's not, but poet Bob Hicok really is a diehard. Not because he worked as an automotive-die designer. It's more because he's willing to "shoot a bazillion foul shots" before he calls it a day.
Conferences and Residencies
Entering the Seed: Hedgebrook
A retreat and residency for women writers in Langley, Washington.
The Learning Season: The Writers' Center at Chautauqua
A writers conference at the Chautauqua Institution in New York.
Swiss Cachet: The Geneva Writers' Conference
The conference in Switzerland near Lake Geneva and the Alps.
Writing En Route: My Year as a Colony Traveler
One author's tour of writers residencies at Virginia Center for Creative Arts, Byrdcliffe Arts Colony, the MacDowell Colony, the Bread Loaf Writers' Conference, and Nantucket Island School of Design and the Arts.
High Lonesome: Wyoming's Ucross and Jentel
Northeastern Wyoming is a rugged place, where the ruins of turn-of-the-century homesteads still stand in the tall grass, and communities gather every spring to watch cowboys wrestle their calves down for branding. An average of five people per mile populate this High Plains landscape of low, bison-backed hills and rushing creeks. Such rough, isolated grace makes the region an ideal, though unexpected, environment for an artists colony—or better yet, two of them.
News and Trends
Professor Palahniuk? Not Quite
In January, Chuck Palahniuk began teaching a free yearlong writers workshop that doesn't appear in the course listings for any college, university, or community arts center. Forget about academic credits—Palahniuk's workshop exists entirely online.
Academy Rolls Out Red Carpet in April
How to herald National Poetry Month, year nine? Look to the stars. That's what the Academy of American Poets will do on April 6 in New York City.
Before and After National Poetry Month
Thanks to muscular marketing and persistent promoting—notable traits of the Academy of American Poets—April has been established as the month to appreciate poetry. But there are other designated days and months during which everyone can celebrate creative writing, both as an art form and as yet another way to turn an average day into a holiday.
Literary MagNet
Literary MagNet chronicles the start-ups and closures, successes and failures, anniversaries and accolades, changes of editorship and special issues—in short, the news and trends—of literary magazines in America. This issue's MagNet features Tameme, Translation Review, Double Change, Circumference, Quick Fiction, the Paris Review, the Virginia Quarterly Review, Diagram, Tiferet: A Journal of Spiritual Literature, Glut, and Bullfight: A Literary Review.
Small Press Points
Small Press Points highlights the happenings of the small press players. This issue features Story Line Press, Sarabande Books, Anon. Books, and Rain Taxi.
Everyone's a Critic (Even My Cousin)
I didn't ask him to do it. But on his own, my cousin Reid posted one of those "customer reviews" of my new novel, The English Disease, on Amazon.com.
Page One: Where New and Noteworthy Books Begin
Page One features a sample of titles we think you'll want to explore. With this installment, we offer excerpts from Vanishing Point by David Markson and Sky Girl by Rosemary Griggs.
Everyone's a Critic (Even My Cousin)
The value of customer reviews posted on Amazon.com.
The Practical Writer
Dear Program Director: How (and How Not) to Solicit for Readings
Advice for promoting your book by giving readings and teaching workshops.
The Literary Life
Imperative: Stand Up Poetry in Los Angeles and Beyond
The work of poets Edward Field and Charles Harper Webb exemplifies a poetic movement involving humor, informal language, and references to contemporary popular culture.
Poets on Place: A New Series
Brooklyn-born poet Floyd Skloot discusses the influence that his environment—from his urban origin to his current home in Amity, Oregon—has on his poetry.
My Father's Garden: Tending a Literary Legacy
Only weeks before he turned 55, my father, the poet William Matthews, delivered a manuscript of poems to Peter Davison, his longtime friend and editor at Houghton Mifflin. It turned out to be the last book he wrote. He died of a heart attack on November 12, 1997, the day after his birthday.