Suspend Your Disbelief

Archive for February, 2011

Shop Talk |

Deadline for Dzanc Prize Extended

by Celeste Ng

The deadline for the Dzanc Prize has been extended to March 1, 2011. This is a great opportunity for an emerging writer interested in community service. From the Dzanc website: In 2007, to further its mission of fostering literary excellence, community involvement, and education, Dzanc Books created the Dzanc Prize, which provides monetary aid in the sum of $5,000, to a writer of literary fiction. All writers applying for the Dzanc Prize must have a work-in-progress they can submit for review, and present the judges with a Community Service Program they can facilitate somewhere in the United States. Such programs […]


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Reminder: Sozopol Fiction Seminar Deadline February 15th

by The Editors

Each year the Elizabeth Kostova Foundation selects five native English speaking (NES) writers and five Bulgarian writers to participate in the Sozopol Fiction Seminar, which takes places in the tiny, historic town of Sozopol, Bulgaria, on the Black Sea. In 2009 I was lucky enough to be chosen as one of the NES fellows. Joining me were Kodi Scheer, Lana Santoni, Maya Sloan, and now contributing editor Steven Wingate. For one week we lived together, shared meals together, discussed writing together, and discovered the odd similarities in our work and our lives. It was, in a word, amazing. And now […]


Essays |

Where Are We Going Next? A Conversation about Creative Writing Pedagogy (Pt. 2)

In Part II of “Where Are we Going Next?” Day, Leahy and Vanderslice discuss the rise of assessment, what’s really going on in creative writing classrooms, ways to respond to student work, incorporating digital media, and adapting the workshop for the 21st century. They also explore the importance of what writer Dinty Moore calls “literary citizenship” – the idea that individual literary pursuits thrive when combined with a spirit of community, generosity and mentorship.


Shop Talk |

What's the most literate city in the U.S.?

by Celeste Ng

According to the latest study by Central Connecticut State University, Washington, D.C., is the nation’s most literate city. USA Today reports: The study examines not whether people can read, but whether they actually do. […] The study, based on 2010, looks at measures for six items — newspapers, bookstores, magazines, education, libraries and the Internet — to determine what resources are available in each city and the extent to which its inhabitants take advantage of them. Seattle fell from #1 last year to #2, while Minneapolis—another perennial contender for the top spot—took the bronze. Interestingly, some smaller cities like Cleveland, […]


Essays |

Where Are We Going Next? A Conversation about Creative Writing Pedagogy (Pt. 1)

Who’s afraid of big, bad pedagogy? Relax. In part one of a lively, insightful discussion about the practice and art of teaching creative writing, Cathy Day, Anna Leahy and Stephanie Vanderslice get down to brass tacks. The three professors articulate “what we do and how we do it,” and how to do it–teaching–better. So dive in; once you get past your jargon phobia, you’ll discover that good practice and theory are downright invigorating–and elemental–for both sides of the classroom.


Shop Talk |

Thursday Morning Candy: Fogged Clarity

by Celeste Ng

Founded in 2009, Fogged Clarity is an online, non-profit arts review that incorporates visual art and music in addition to fiction, poetry, essays, interviews, reviews, and original multimedia content. The “Fogged Clarity Sessions,” for instance, feature musicians visiting the studio to record several tracks, mostly acoustic. Writes executive editor Ben Evans: I have always believed that the most important thing a human being can do is create, and if creation is the whispering of personal truths into the commotion of existence, then I established Fogged Clarity to make those whispers a little more audible. The combination of visual art, music, […]


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Gender Disparities in Reviewing (and Essaying, and Interviewing)

by Celeste Ng

Recently, I wrote about literary cameos on The Simpsons. In response, Charlotte wondered, “Are they tweaking on the Franzen gender controversy by only having literary cameos by men?” This is a timely question. A recent study by VIDA: Women in Literary Arts showing that male writers vastly outnumber female writers at many major literary magazines—as writers, reviewers, and review subjects. The New Republic, startled by this disparity, did some number-crunching and found that publishers also publish fewer books by women than men: In fact, these numbers we found show that the magazines are reviewing female authors in something close to […]


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Baudelaire, $2.45?

by Celeste Ng

I really like vending machines. There’s something very cool about peering through the glass and scoping out what’s there, putting in your money and typing in the right code, then watching your treat slowly tumble down into the chute. I also enjoy seeing what weird things people decide to sell via machine. while ago, to my great delight, I spotted an iPod vending machine at Logan Airport. A mall near me has a ProActiv vending machine—for those times when you must treat your acne on the go, I guess. Now Polk County, Florida, has introduced a vending machine I’d love […]


Shop Talk |

Book of the Week: The Terror of Living, by Urban Waite

by Jeremiah Chamberlin

Each week we give away several free copies of a featured novel or story collection as part of our Book-of-the-Week program. Last week we featured Erika Dreifus’s story collection Quiet Americans, and we’re pleased to announce the winners: Steve Woodward, Marianna Taylor, and NancyKay Shapiro. Congratulations! Each will receive a signed copy of this new collection. This week we’re featuring Urban Waite’s The Terror of Living. Waite grew up in Seattle and studied writing at Western Washington University and Emerson College. His short fiction has appeared in such places as The Best of the West Anthology, The Southern Review, Gulf […]


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Better Book Titles

by Celeste Ng

Titles are many a writer’s Achilles heel. Even the greats had trouble—F. Scott Fitzgerald, for one, originally considered several alternative titles for The Great Gatsby, including Trimalchio in West Egg and The High-Bouncing Lover. (Yikes.) Each weekday, Dan Wilbur’s blog Better Book Titles features one book, retitled more honestly—and hilariously. Some of my favorites: Cynical? A little, but many of the Better Book Titles strike right to the heart of a book’s theme. Like this one: Visit the blog here, and don’t miss the archive.




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