Next Reader's Review: "The Plot Against America"

Wednesday October 29, 2008 @ 11:00 AM
Diane Rehm's Readers Review
Online on WAMU 88.5 American University Radio

The next Diane Rehm Show Reader's review will discuss "The Plot Against America" by Philip Roth. I'm really excited about this. I loved this book. The problem about a book that is as deep as this is that, when you are done, there is no one to talk to about it. I look forward to hearing the insightful analysis of this wonderful book.

Diane invites listeners to join a discussion of what some reviewers called Philip Roth's most powerful political novel. It presents an alternate world in which Charles Lindbergh defeats FDR in the 1940 presidential election.

UPDATE: Here is a link to the show!

North Country Institute for Writers of Color

July 10 – 13, 2008

Center for Black Literature
Medgar Evers College, CUNY

The Fourth Annual North Country Institute and Retreat for Writers of Color will be held at Medgar Evers College in Brooklyn, NY from July 10 - 13, 2008. The first three retreats were held in northeastern New York at the Valcour Educational and Conference Center. This retreat is a collaboration between several organizations and is a continuation and expansion of the alumni program for the Paden Institute and Retreat for Writers of Color. This year's retreat is targeted towards writing workshop participants in the New York tri-state region. Tuition is $400.

Poetry: Ravi Shankar
Fiction: Victor LaValle
YA/Youth: Tonya Hegamin

DEADLINE TO APPLY: June 15, 2008. To Get An Application:

• Download at www.mec.cuny.edu/blacklitcenter
• Email us writers@mec.cuny.edu (subject heading: North Country)
• Application fee: $25

PEN World Voices: News from the Hub

This was an event for the Internet website Witness.org, the international human-rights organization that uses video to expose human rights abuses. A section of the site for Witness.org called "The Hub" is for allowing people to post videos. They give video cameras to people "on the ground" so that they can post human rights violations. (I once went to the site and saw a Japanese reporter being kicked to death!) Anyway, as horrible as this may seem, getting images of human rights violations out to the world is the key to stopping these violations from happening.

The participants in the panel were Yousef Al-Mohaimeed (author of "Wolves of the Crescent Moon"), Thant Myint-U (author of "The River of Lost Footsteps: A Personal History of Burma"), Uzodinma Iweala (author of "Beasts of No Nation"), and Mary Robinson, the former president of Ireland and member of the Elders, a group of political leaders gathered together by Nelson Mandela, Graça Machel, and Desmond Tutu to contribute their wisdom to world politics. It was exiting to see her at this event and a highlight of the PEN World Voices Festival. She was eloquent and added a touch of the power of possibilities that this festival can have to world politics. The moderator, Sameer Padania, is the webmaster for "The Hub." Each participant on the panel showed a video that they have on the "The Hub."

The video Yousef Al-Mohaimeed showed was of a woman in Saudi Arabia driving. What's the big deal you say? Women are not allowed to drive in Saudi Arabia. The woman was driving on a back road on a special day. I personally don't know how to drive but that is MY CHOICE. We should work for the day when seeing a women drive in Saudi Arabia is as mundane as seeing one drive in other parts of the world.

Uzodinma Iweala should a video of people with HIV/AIDS in Africa. He said that he is using these interviews as a basis for his next book. He even went so far as to say that they are the ones writing his next book. It is a chance to "give people the opportunity to speak for themselves." He wasn't shy of speaking about sex in relation to HIV/AIDS. I thought that was refreshingly brave to say that people who are not letting people know their AIDS status is beacuse of the fear of loosing love and human contact. Who wants to loose that? It is deep and moving to think that he is spending time talking and speaking with these people. He is turning to a very interesting writer. He lets his insecurities hang off his sleeves and is never reluctant to let his audience know when he isn't sure about something. It quite refreshing.

Thant Myint-U redeemed himself from the Burma event with this event in my eyes. His video was of a Burmese Monk demonstration and crackdown. It was a video was taken by Al-Jazeera and was smuggled out. It was one of the very few images of the crackdown.

This was a powerful event and definitely one of my favorites of the festival. Visit the Hub. It is truly an amazing site.

PEN World Voices: Bookforum: Political Engagemen

The participants in this panel were Elias Khoury and Nurddin Farah (Asli Erdogan, a Turkish writer, couldn't make it to the festival because of illness) and the moderator was Albert Mobilio. The goal of the event was to consider questions of fiction's role in political life. The answers from the two authors on the panel were quite interesting. Nurddin Farah said, "Most human activities are political ... the point of [the novel] is to reach people" and Elias Khoury said, "novels must be novels. Literature is not only a statement...every novel is a struggle to widen the sense of humanity."

Essentially, this is the whole point of the work that I've been doing as a bookseller. I have a deep belief that politics and art cannot be separate. It was good to hear authors just coming out and saying this. I think the idea of the two disciplines need to be apart is an wholly American one. Part of the many attempts to dumb down the American public.

Khoury said, "[The] search for human dignity and human life is the struggle for freedom and liberty" and Farah said, "[The] writer gives power to people who cannot speak for themselves ... [the writer] imagines himself as the person ... [the writer] must take sides."

Gee, I don't know about the taking sides part but everything else I think I agree with. I think that as a writer if you take sides in a story you can sometimes end up with a one-sided tale that can loose sympathy for different characters. This is all very general, I know, and that this all depends on how a story is constructed. But even an evil character can have some areas open for empathy.

Anyway, this was a very interesting and stimulating event. It gave me much to think about in terms of literary writing and the political overtones both overt and subtle.

PEN World Voices: Burma: A Land at a Crossroads

Note that I wrote this before the horrible cyclones and devastation of the last few days in Burma. It breaks my heart to see this happen to Burma. My prayers go out to all its people...

This event was dubbed as a panel discussion on "the possibilities of peaceful change in the aftermath of last years bloody response to the protest by Buddhist monks." What else are you going to talk about in a discussion of this type. Well, it seemed like everything but the Monks uprising was discussed. It was more like a history lesson than a discussion on current events. What happened last October was only mentioned in passing.

The participants in the panel were Ian Burma author of "God's Dust: A Modern Asian History" and "Murder in Amsterdam" and Thant Myiut-U, a western educated author of "The River of Lost Footsteps: A Personal History of Burma," and it was moderated by Dedi Felman of World without Borders.

Going into this event, probably like most Americans, knew very little about Burma. I know the name Aung San Suu Kyi. I know that she's been under house arrest for a really long time. But what I didn't know is how long and violent the history of Burma is. How long the struggle has been to deal with being at the literal crossroads of Asia.

Burma is not like the other countries that Britain colonized. Burma was supposed to be a easy win for the British: go in with a few men, conquer the country and subdue its people, then take what was valuable from the counties coffers. Easy. Only not. The country launched a violent insurgency. (Gee, where have I heard a story like this before?)

So what am I to make of the abridged history lesson that has been downloaded into my brain in a single hour. Was I supposed to walk away empowered? Well, I wasn't. I walked away confused and discouraged. The problems presented seem so big and complicated and far away. I suppose that was my biggest problem with this presentation: distance. The information, the people, everything seemed too distance from the events. I know that something happened last October not just in 1988 and 1948. I know that the people need support today. I went to this event hoping to get a sense of what I can do. Literary people, it seems, are not adept at doing this. They sit on the armchair of time looking back to assess what should have been or could have been. Is that what literature feels so out of touch? Is it simply because it is by its nature "out of touch"?

Reporting from PEN

This is maybe my third or fourth year attending the PEN festival here in NYC. It is always exciting to see what writers from around the world are thinking and doing. We are so isolated here in the US. This year the festival is dedicated to the writers and journalist who have been imprisoned in China. In each panel discussion there is an empty chair to represent a writer who is imprisoned for their writing.

Bloggers have been targeted for imprisonment. When the most famous blogger in Saudi Arabia was arrested for essentially nothing, it sent shock waves through the Saudi blogging community -- as was intended. (He was recently released.) What we take for granted and is a right here in the US is not so in other parts of the world. What we do here is important even with a small audience. We are one voice of a chorus. Each voice adds to the power of praise to free speech.

I will also be cross posting to Metaxucafe.com

WisCon 32

May 23-26, 2008
The Concourse Hotel
Madison, Wisconsin

Official Website: wiscon.info

WisCon is the first and foremost feminist science fiction convention in the world. WisCon encourages discussion, debate and extrapolation of ideas relating to feminism, gender, race and class. WisCon honors writers, editors and artists whose work explores these themes and whose voices have opened new dimensions and territory in these issues. It is also where the James Tiptree, Jr. Award is announced "to honor and reward written Science Fiction and Fantasy that explores and expands gender." (James Tiptree, Jr. was the pen name for Alice B. Sheldon, an award winning speculative writer.)

John Edgar Wideman Reading

Sunday | March 9, 2008
1:00 – 2:30pm

Brooklyn Public Library (Directions)
The Dweck Center at Central Branch
Grand Army Plaza | Brooklyn, NY 11238
718.230.2100
FREE ADMISSION

John Edgar Wideman, author of Brothers and Keepers, will read from his latest book Fanon, covering the life of famed writer and revolutionary Frantz Fanon (available online and in stores February 29, 2008)

This is an official Pre-Conference Event for the Ninth National Black Writers Conference (NBWC), Friday, March 28 - Sunday, March 30, 2008. Produced by the Center for Black Literature at Medgar Evers College, CUNY

7th Annual East Coast Black Age of Comics Convention (ECBACC)

Friday, May 16 and Saturday, May 17, 2008
Temple University
Philadelphia, PA

Official Site: www.ecbacc.com

It is On! The East Coast Black Age of Comics Convention (ECBACC) is a groundbreaking comic book convention that features some of the nation’s most accomplished comic book writers, artists, and cartoonists. ECBACC explores comic books, animation, cartoons and other forms of creative expression. ECBACC celebrates the accomplishments that Black artists have made in the comic book industry through engaging and exciting programs which include:

• Discussions, Panels, workshops and book signings
• Animations
• Performing arts
• A comic book market place

A Tribute to Chinua Achebe

Tuesday | February 26, 2008
8 p.m.

Town Hall
123 West 43rd Street, NYC
For more Information

In celebration of the 50th anniversary of his seminal novel "Things Fall Apart", PEN American Center presents a tribute to Nigerian writer Chinua Achebe. On February 26, Chinua Achebe will be joined by Chris Abani, Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie, Michael Cunningham, Edwidge Danticat, Suheir Hammad, Ha Jin, Colum McCann, and Toni Morrison. The evening will also feature a special performance by the Francesca Harper Dance Project with dancers from the Alvin Ailey School.

This event is presented in collaboration with Bard College and Vintage & Anchor Books, which will publish a 50th Anniversary Edition of this modern classic on February 12, as part of an international celebration of Achebe’s work. Participant books will be on sale at this event.

Colson Whitehead Reading

Friday | February 8, 2008
Cocktails begin at 6:30pm, reading Around 7:00pm

Pianos (directions)
158 Ludlow St. at Stanton St.
the Lower East Side NYC.

The One Story Cocktail Hour & Reading Series is a chance for One Story readers and One Story writers to meet, enjoy a cocktail, and mingle in a friendly, relaxed atmosphere. Part private party, part showcase. The night's reader chooses their favorite cocktail which is sold at a reduced price from 6:30pm until 8:00pm. Colson's special cocktail is Sazerac ($3.00).

Colson Whitehead is the author of three novels, The Intuitionist, John Henry Days (which was a finalist for the Pulitzer Prize), and Apex Hides the Hurt, as well as a collection of essays, The Colossus of New York. His work has appeared in The New York Times, Granta, Harper's and New York Magazine. He is currently a fellow at the Cullman Center for Scholars and Writers.

2008 Ninth National Black Writers Conference

March 28th - 30th, 2008

To register online, visit www.mec.cuny.edu/nbwc

Black Writers: Reading and Writing to Transform Their Lives and the World draws upon Marita Golden's concept of the transformative power of literature and focuses on the ways in which black writers use literature to transform their lives and the larger global community. Conference attendees will have opportunities to engage in meaningful discussions with writers through raising a series of questions. Writers will also have opportunities to participate in workshops where they can improve their writing. This conference is for ALL - the general public, youth, adolescents, academics, and stakeholders in the publishing industry. The proceedings for this conference will be published.

See the Akilaworksongs email.

2008 Pen World Voices Festival

April 29th - May 4th, 2008
For more information

The festival will be held at venues around New York City. The theme this year is “Public Lives/Private Lives.” I had a wonderful time at the festival last year. I'm hoping to see more people of color in attendance this year. It seemed to be more a problem of marketing rather than a problem of the events themselves as there were events that I attended that had a stronger representation of people of color on the stage than in the audience.

Read my blog pieces on Pen World Voices Festival 2007.

Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie and Dave Eggers Reading

Monday | January 7, 2008
8 PM

92nd Street Y
Lexington Ave. at 92nd Street
Admission: $18, Age 35 and under: $10
For More Information

Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie is the author of the novels Purple Hibiscus and Half of a Yellow Sun, the winner of the 2007 Orange Prize. "Here is a new writer endowed with the gift of ancient storytellers," wrote Chinua Achebe. "She is fearless." Dave Eggers’s books include A Heartbreaking Work of Staggering Genius and What Is the What, a fictionalized biography of Sudanese civil war refugee Valentino Achak Deng.

The evening will be introduced by Norman Rush, the author of Mating, which won the National Book Award. His forthcoming novel is Subtle Bodies. After readings by Ms. Adichie and Mr. Eggers, Mr. Rush will return to the stage to lead a conversation between the authors.

AWP NYC 2008 Conference and Bookfair

January 30 - February 2, 2008

Hilton New York & Sheraton New York Hotel & Towers
New York, NY

For More Information

AWP (The Association of Writers & Writing Programs) conference will feature more than 300 literary readings, lectures and panel discussions on contemporary literature, the craft of writing, publishing, and teaching. Also hear readings and discussions by some of the most prominent figures in contemporary letters. Browse through AWP's 2008 Bookfair, featuring 500 literary presses, journals, editors, and publishers.

Some of the featured readers will be: John Irving, Joyce Carol Oates, A.S. Byatt, Yusef Komunyakaa, Ha Jin, Russell Banks, E.L. Doctorow, Sonia Sanchez, Johnathan Safran Foer, Edwidge Danticat, Frank McCourt, and many more.

Pierre Bayard & Umberto Eco in Conversation

Saturday | November 17, 2007
7:00 PM

New York Public Library
5th Ave and 42nd Street
For More Information

Remember the list of the 100 best novels and nonfiction of the 20th century compiled by the Modern Library board? Nine years ago it generated a well of millennial anxiety rivaled only by Y2K. Debate over what you read and how much you retained from English lit 101 raged at cocktail parties across the land. Evasive tactics were employed, copies of Ulysses dusted off.

Finally comes comforting words from an esteemed French literary scholar, Pierre Bayard. His new book, How to Talk About Books You Haven’t Read, persuasively argues that the key to appreciating the classics is the quick skim, not deep immersion; cover to cover isn’t merely impractical, it’s downright passé.

Pierre Bayard & Umberto Eco in conversation with Paul Holdengraber

Celebration of the 90th Birthday of Gwendolyn Brooks and 40th Anniversary of Third World Press

Friday | November 16, 2007
7:00 PM

New York Public Library (directions)
Schomburg Center
For More Information

Join the Gwendolyn Brooks Center and the Schomburg Center for a special evening and reception in celebration of Pulitzer Prize winner and poet Gwendolyn Brooks and of one of the nation’s oldest and independent Black publishers, Third World Press.

A reception will be held from 6 p.m. to 7 p.m. and the panel discussion will feature Amiri Baraka, Ruby Dee, Woodie King, Jr., and Haki Madhubuti.

Interfictions Reading

Tuesday | October 30th
7:00 PM

McNally Robinson Bookstore
For More Information

Interfictions: An Anthology of Interstitial Writing is a one-of-a-kind collection in which nineteen different writers dig into the “interstitial”: the imaginative spaces between conventional genres — realistic and fantastical, scholarly and poetic, personal and political. Three of those writers join editor Delia Sherman to read from their boundary-crossing stories. K. Tempest Bradford is a widely published author of fantastical short stories and a prolific blogger (The Angry Black Woman). Matt Cheney is a fiction writer and critic who maintains the blog The Mumpsimus, focused on reviews and interviews with authors in science fiction genres. Veronica Schanoes’ work has appeared in Lady Churchill’s Rosebud Wristlet, Trunk Stories, and Jabberwocky.

I'm in the middle of the book and so far I think it's great. It's like a box of chocolate, you have no idea what the next morsal will bring.

Author Talk with Walter Mosley

Sunday | October 28th
4:00 PM

Brooklyn Public Library
Central Branch, Grand Army Plaza
For More Information

Walter Mosley is the author of numerous bestselling works of fiction and nonfiction, including the acclaimed Easy Rawlins series of mysteries. The first Easy Rawlins novel, Devil in a Blue Dress, was made into a feature film starring Denzel Washington and Don Cheadle. Another novel, Always Outnumbered, Always Outgunned for which Mosley received the Anisfield-Wolf Book Award, was made into an HBO feature film starring Laurence Fishburne. His first novel for young-adult readers, 47, was published in 2005.

KGB Fantastic Fiction Reading

Wednesday | September 19, 2007

KGB Fantastic Fiction Series
KGB Bar
85 East 4th Street (just off 2nd Ave)
New York, NY 10003

A reading from The Best of Lady Churchill's Rosebud Wristlet featuring singing elephants, painting sea lions, chewy fruit snacks, and many readers.