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From Stephen Elliott
“The other one, the one called Borges, is the one who skates at the Place de la Concorde on blocks of ice.”
A D Jameson at HTMLGiant satirizes Jorge Luis Borges’s short piece “Borges And I” while imagining an explanation for a poster allegedly of Borges skating around Paris in the summer.
...moreHousten Donham, at HTMLGiant, reviews Andrew Choate’s new book Stingray Clapping.
While musing on the minimalist and “oddly pleasurable” pieces, Donham also comments on the current poetry scene. As a student of political poetry, he is not against poetry with purpose but seeks a less pointed approach: “At a time when so much poetry is almost singularly concerned with justifying itself, Stingray Clapping represents an attractive, empowering, and refreshing new alternative.”
...moreRumpus contributor Roxane Gay details the ins and outs of starting a micropress based on the lessons she’s learned starting Tiny Hardcore Press.
“You have to be prepared to hustle. You have to be willing to promote your book, and do readings, and plan your own events because there’s no support staff at the micropress to do it for you.”
...moreHTML Giant gives us the scoop on seven e-books “you won’t be sorry you downloaded.” First up is Rumpus contributor Joshuah Bearman’s Baghdad Country Club. (Did you see our excerpt?)
...moreHTML Giant has been conducting a week-long interview with Leigh Stein, author of The Fallback Plan (one of the books featured in Roxane Gay’s piece this week). Today, Stein answered questions about the novel’s jokes, and her experience writing poetry.
“She’s making jokes in her head to cover up how bad it feels to be treated like her problems don’t really matter, when to her they feel as significant as a brain tumor.
...moreToday’s HTML Giant interview with Rumpus columnist Ryan Boudinot coincides with the official release of his new novel Blueprints of the Afterlife. Discussion veers toward the book after Boudinot reflects on the interview process and his ambivalence toward the promotional side of publishing.
...more“When you write personally and intimately, difficult questions arise. Whose stories do we, as writers, have the right to tell? To what extent do we have the right to write about the people in our lives? What are the limits of good taste?
...moreHTML Giant converses with Nate Slawson about his new book Panic Attack, USA. Slawson also discusses the American sonnet, how music led him to poetry, and author readings.
“And I do a lot of rocking: reading books, writing, giving readings.
...moreHTML Giant celebrates the marks we leave–and find–on borrowed things, namely library books.
“I like the weird smell of library books, and the way the smell differs. I like seeing how people ruin what they borrow. I like knowing what I’m reading, this object, has been read some dozen times before.
...moreOver at HTML giant Roxane Gay interviews Aimee Nezhukumatathil, shedding light on the poet’s influences—from the natural world and family, to language, and more. The conversation turns to her third book, Lucky Fish, and the process of assembling a collection of poetry.
...moreThis massive Milwaukee bookstore is overflowing with small press publications—an awesome bookstore size-to-indie love ratio that doesn’t seem to happen as much as it should.
Besides Woodland Pattern’s impressively diverse chapbook section, the bookstore is integral to the literature community in Milwaukee.
...moreHere is a charming author venn diagram. Authors fall into one or more of three categories: those that write from the head, the mouth, or the heart.
Whether or not you agree with the choices and their placement, it might just inspire you to diagram what’s in your head when it comes to writing.
...moreThe economics of publishing a literary magazine reveal some inauspicious stats. Magazine editors have to stay crafty and constantly reinvent what it means to be innovative, just to survive. Even offering digital options as an alternative to print doesn’t guarantee any sort of sustainability.
...moreReflecting, reminiscing, wondering, asking.
Jimmy Chen’s beautifully personal essay on HTML Giant, “Notes Toward a Suicide Letter”, explores suicide from multiple standpoints. Whether writing about a loved one or Kurt Cobain or Ernest Hemingway, Chen finds a way to express the infallibility of the darkest, yet most human, feelings and thoughts.
...moreHTMLGiant has 22 bits of submission-based knowledge that you can learn from/identify with, etc. No matter what your relation to submitting and publishing is, this list needs to be forwarded to the universe. This list will assuage the stress of the unknown and makes you feel better about what you’ve already found out.
...moreWe’ve been seeing a lot from Roxane Gay lately, on The Rumpus as well as in other literary blog realms. Ever wondered about her writing process? See what she has to say about writing in general, as well as about writers who seriously take themselves too seriously.
...moreDennis Cooper answers five questions on experimental literature yesterday at HTML giant.
The author is asked about the body, politics, economics and race. He also suggests a hefty dose of works to check out.
On the unique “use value” of experimental literature in society, Cooper says, “No other art form that I can think of involves that level of collaboration between artist and audience and disrupts the passiveness of being a work’s receiver with so much freedom and creativity.”
...moreWashington, D.C.’s literary scene will be welcoming editors and writers alike for the Indie Lit City Summit on July 16, 2011.
Largely organized by Dan Brady, one of the Barrelhouse editors, the event is meant to serve as a brainstorming forum in which the future of small presses and independent magazines can be explored.
...moreReexamining Romeo and Juliet is realizing that you, as a reader, are part of the drama. This HTML giant essay considers how we complicate our lives and thereby, create a much more romantic conception of ourselves.
“[We] create our own tales of woe just to feel a little more alive.
...more