The Color Purple and Tayari Jones

If you want to join an open to the public discussion on “The Color Purple,” please head down to the Newark Public Library on Wednesday, Dec. 2nd, from 6-9 p.m.  Tayari Jones will lead the discussion, and there will be other faculty there.  It might be a good place to get an informal feel of the program if you are as an applicant as well.

New issue of Asian Cha out

The new edition of the Hong Kong based literary magazine, Asian Cha, is out today.  It’s a great little online publication and I have a book review in it, so check it out.  Also, Time Out Hong Kong did a nice profile on the magazine here.–Moira

KGB Reading tomorrow (Saturday)

Please come out to see 3, possibly four students from our program read their work at KGB Bar on the Lower East Side in Manhattan.  Zahra Darby, Jean Sung and I will be reading our poetry and prose, and there may even be a surprise 4th reader.  The reading is from 7-9, and is the perfect starting place for a night out in the city.  Hope to see you there! –Moira

Quick Redux…

So, according from twitterfeeds from the National Book awards and our own prof, Tayari Jones, Colum McCann won for Fiction. McCann is a great reader (I heard him once), but I’m happy that we have Jayne Anne.  For more coverage of the National Book Awards, I suggest going to Tayari’s blog, who I’m sure will have an account of her bird’s eye view in the a.m.

Tonight the National Book Award Winner will be announced …

I am encouraging you all to send some psychic love to encourage the judges to choose JAYNE ANNE PHILLIPS, for her beautifully crafted LARK AND TERMITE.  I hope she gets the award, but it will only be a validation of what we all know anyway: Jayne Anne has a gift for language that’s rare in this universe, and the stories she dips into are rich and memorable as the birthday cakes Lark bakes in antediluvial West Virginia.  We all just want a taste.

I thought this would be a nice time to have an incomplete retrospective of Jayne Anne coverage on the blog this year; it’s impressive just to see all the recognition she has received in the last few months:

http://rnmfa.wordpress.com/2009/11/10/nba-interview-with-jayne-anne-phillips/

http://rnmfa.wordpress.com/2009/10/26/jayne-anne-phillips-rocks-a-reader’s-retrospective/

http://rnmfa.wordpress.com/2009/10/15/jayne-anne-phillips-nominated-for-the-national-book-award/

http://rnmfa.wordpress.com/2009/09/29/jayne-anne-phillips-manuscripts-acquired-by-the-ransom-center/

http://rnmfa.wordpress.com/2009/08/31/and-the-award-goes-to…/

 

Writers at Newark Reading

Be sure to be on campus this evening for a reading by 2 authors, Beth Gutcheon and Honor Moore.  Beth Gutcheon’s latest novel is “Goodbye and Amen,” which is one of several novels she has written set in maritime Maine.  She has also written several screenplays and books on the craft of quilting.  Honor Moore’s range of work includes a National Book Award finalist designation for her memoir “The Bishop’s Daughter”, as well as several poetry books and some work editing anthologies.   All of the readings begin at 5:30, but the location of this one will be in room 256 of the Campus Center, instead of the usual Paul Robeson Gallery.  Come by early!

Check out another post we did on Honor Moore back in August, here.

NBA interview with Jayne Anne Phillips

So you must know by now that Jayne Anne is a 2009 National Book Award finalist….YAY!  Click here for a closer look into Jayne Anne’s writing process for Lark & Termite in an interview by Bret Anthony Johnston.

 I live my way into my books, more or less unconsciously, for years before I write them.

Student reading at the Art Kitchen!

Just a reminder to come out tonight for a fine reading of three of our talented writers at the Newark Art Kitchen. Kevin Catalano and Mark DiIonno will be reading fiction, and Sara Grossman will be reading poetry. All readings begin at 5:30, but get there early because the seats go fast! Saeed Jones, as always, will be moderating.

Identity Theory

Every evening in class, three times a week, for three semesters, I have participated in class discussions with no more ammunition than my own textual analysis of the story or poem in front of me. I usually end up feeling like I vaguely remember who I was before I came here and like I must do more to become the person I want to be, and I want to be like you.  I want to have read an endless list of authors, and I want to be able to pluck their names out of the magic box on top of my neck and use those names to support my views and provide you with examples that might be helpful to you on your literary journey. So now I have to refrain from reading Cosmo and Harper’s Bazaar and commit to a more regimented diet of  weekly New Yorker stories and countless NPR interviews.  Today I thought I might take a little time to get to know ZZ Packer since Dickson Lam emailed her New Yorker interview to us all this morning. I went on to find out more about one ZZ Packer, which let me to identitytheory.com.  Once I reached the end of Robert Birnbaum’s interview with ZZ Packer I saw a lengthy list of interviews with author’s names I recognize from many evenings in workshop. I continued to poke around the website and I found what I think would be a great website for your literary interests and research. Go ahead and do some poking around the website as well, and hopefully I have provided you with, at least for today, something helpful on the journey we share.

Luna

Paul Vidich in Thieves Jargon!

The gunshot surprised Josh just as much as it did the aging hippie store clerk who received the bullet in his stomach. They locked on each other’s eyes. Neither could believe that it had happened. The startled clerk tried to staunch the flow of blood with his hands, and when that failed, he used the wadded end of his apron. He no longer took any interest in Josh. His pit bull anger was replaced by the lightness of being of a man who knew that he was mortally wounded.

Read the rest of Paul Vidich’s gripping new story, “Opportunity Knocks,” in Thieves Jargon.   Paul Vidich graduated from the MFA program in 2009, and was previously featured on the blog for his interview with Lorrie Moore.  Paul’s prose is precise, spare, and unforgiving.  Enjoy.