Zyzzyva
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Notable San Francisco: 1/25–1/31
Wednesday 1/25: Perfectly Queer presents Funny Bits: Humorous Stories from East Bay Queer Writers featuring Ajuan Mance, Willy Wilkinson, and Anna Pulley. Free, 7 p.m., The Octopus Literary Salon. John Else (True South: Henry Hampton and “Eyes on the Prize,”…
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Notable NYC: 1/7–1/13
Saturday 1/7: Greenlight Bookstore celebrates the grand opening of the store’s second location in Prospect Lefferts Gardens. 632 Flatbush Avenue, 7:30 p.m., free. Camonghne Felix and José Olivarez join the Segue Series. Zinc Bar, 4:30 p.m., $5. Sunday 1/8: Nancy…
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History as Structure
In a Q & A with debut novelist Yaa Gyasi on the ZYZZYVA blog, Ismail Muhammad asks Gyasi to expound on narrative structure and the far-reaching effects of the international slave trade: I realized that I was interested in tracking how slavery, colonialism,…
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A World Made of Words
At ZYZZYVA, Christian Kiefer talks with novelist Scott Hutchins and playwright Octavio Solis about learning and developing as writers, the difference between writing plays and writing novels, and writing as a craft: It’s an art. There’s alchemy in the process by which…
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Excavating Pain
Fittingly ending the memoir with a scene at the La Brea Tar Pits, which trapped and fossilized the unfortunate prehistoric creatures who wandered into them, Ortiz speaks of her personal excavation as a perpetual journey, a necessary exploration of a…
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E-Remorse and Writers
Most literate adults can tell e-disaster stories: information sent to the wrong recipient or group, or discovered by the wrong person, or issued in careless wording that gave offense, or did real damage. Some of these stories are funny. Some…
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This Week in Short Fiction
On Monday, ZYZZYVA announced the release of Strange Attraction: The Best Ten Years of Zyzzyva, an anthology of fiction, essays, poetry, and dramas published during the journal’s early years (1985–1994) under the leadership of founding editor and legend Howard Junker. A…
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The Rumpus Interview with Laura Cogan and Oscar Villalon
Laura Cogan and Oscar Villalon, the editors of ZYZZYVA, sit down to discuss the literary journal’s 100th issue, thriving as a print publication in the digital age, and being a staple of San Francisco’s cultural community.
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First Novels and the Art of Revision
Most first novels are really second novels, since most first novels go unpublished. Writing for ZYZZYVA, Rumpus contributor Aaron Gilbreath talks through his experience having his debut memoir rejected, eventually leading an agent to suggest he write a novel instead:…
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ZYZZYVA: The Winter Issue Release Party!
This Friday, January 25th at 7pm, Diesel, a Bookstore in Oakland will be celebrating the release of ZYZZYVA: The Winter Issue. The night will feature readings by a variety of West Coast writers, including Rumpus contributor John W. Evans. Hosted…
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Belly Ripley and the Weirdest Parole Terms Ever
We’ve all been there. You go to Harvard, then to law school in Colorado. You own property in central Texas. You get caught trafficking drugs, and the court makes you study creative writing in El Paso as part of your…