Today’s Required Reading
At Guernica, Randa Jarrar writes about this one time when she tried to visit her sister in Palestine and she was deported by Israel. I was so afraid of facing…
Blogs
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Lit-Link Round-up
Finally, my interview with the luminous Cheryl Strayed, aka “Sugar,” is up at Bookslut! Very fine piece too, this same issue of Bookslut, on Susan Sontag. The latest installment of…
Is Optimism About the Future of “Serious” Publishing Possible?
In the kind of defeated sigh about the future of books that is increasingly commonplace, Sarah Weinman, the news editor at Publisher’s Marketplace, argues that in the digital age there’s…
Coming to That by Dorothea Tanning
Dorothea Tanning’s Coming to That is a book full of imagination, creativity, and intellect.
The Rumpus Interview with Julianna Baggott
Julianna Baggott’s Pure is about a post-apocalyptic world where the responsibility for changing and saving civilization lies with children.
Between the Crackups, by Rebecca Lehmann
Rebecca Lehmann’s collection, Between the Crackups, is a glittering, furious book. Many of its poems inhabit a childhood world full of violence and anger. Others showcase adult voices that range…
The Trouble With Prince Charming or He Who Trespassed Against Us
I enjoy fairy tales because I need to believe, despite my cynicism, that there is a happy ending for everyone, for me.
This week’s letter
This week’s Letter In The Mail is from MariNaomi. MariNaomi is the author of the Smoke In Your Eyes comic that appears monthly on The Rumpus. She is the author…
Voices of the Rainbow: Contemporary Poetry by Native Americans
Visiting the Taos Pueblo (“an ancient community continuously inhabited for 100 years”) on San Geronimo Day, I was frightened by the Sacred Clowns (Koshares). The list of rules for visitors…
National Poetry Month Day 38: “A Room in Cleopatra’s Palace” by Mary Jo Bang
This brings us to the end of our National Poetry Month project, one poem short of a sestina’s worth. We close out this year with a poem by Mary Jo…
This Is Ridiculous
Harriet, the Poetry Foundation blog, reports that poet Joshua Clover and 11 students at UC Davis are potentially facing a $1 million fine and up to 11 years each in…