Here are some links from the literary world that I’ve stumbled across and thought you all might be interested in. The annual AWP conference happened a little over a week ago in Chicago, and since then I’ve been turning over in my head what I heard, saw and read there.
The most interesting panel I went to looked at new directions in short fiction, and featured the fascinating combination of Steve Yarbrough and Todd James Peirce, among others eloquents. The thesis of the confab, if there was one, seemed to be that research-based fiction, in the vein of Jim Shepard, and darkly funny stories, like those of George Saunders, are making a comeback. I happened to have read some of Shepard’s latest collection You Think That’s Bad in the car ride on the way to Chicago, and had been quite entertained by it, and that same day I came across this interview with Shepard where he discusses some of his research techniques, and how he goes about writing characters that hail from cultural and ethnic backgrounds different than his own.
One of my best purchases at AWP (right behind that Lou Malnati’s deep dish) was Mid-American Review editor Michael Czyzniejewski’s book of 40 short-shorts, Chicago Stories. Each yarn is told from the persona of a famous Chicagoan, and a preview of the collection, from Curbside Splendor, is available here.
Also from the front lines of AWP, a video of a panel about what nonfiction editors are seeking when they sort through the slush pile. Our own Silas Hansen discussed some of the things he looks for when going through nonfiction submissions in a recent post featured on this here blog, so if you’re thinking of sending in your essay, check those out.
The one-year anniversary of the 2011 Great Tohoku Earthquake and Tsunami was just observed, and we’re starting to see some literature that attempts to deal with the disaster. Tomo is a collection of fiction and essays that aims to bring Japan stories to young adult readers; all proceeds of the book will go to organizations that assist teens in the tsunami-affected areas. The Japan Times looks at 2:46—Aftershocks: Stories from Japan’s Earthquake, which was originally conceived on Twitter by a British teacher living in Japan, then written by an online community over a period of seven days in order “to tell people’s stories while their feelings were raw, memories fresh and futures so uncertain.”
That’s all for now folks. If you have any links you think I should know about, please email me at thejournalmag@gmail.com, and just make sure you mention my name in the subject line.