John Haskell, the witty, mind-bending author of I Am Not Jackson Pollack, a collection of fictional essays. . . or are they short stories?. . . has brought his innovation to the realm of the novel, with his just-published American Purgatorio.
January/February 2005
Features
American Road Trip: A Profile of John Haskell
The fiction writer discusses his latest novel, American Purgatorio.
Catching Up With Richard Wilbur
The only living poet with two Pulitzer Prizes, Richard Wilbur is considered by many to be a master of meter, rhyme, and stanza. Still writing and publishing at age 83, Wilbur says he keeps at it because "poems keep insisting on being written."
What Brought You Here Will Take You Hence
Cid Corman, poet and translator, edited his journal origin at a coffee shop in Kyoto. One day a young American poet arrived wanting to learn what he could. Corman's initial response fell somewhere between welcoming the apprentice and putting...
News and Trends
The Confessions of a Sestinas Editor
How did I become a sestinas editor? It all began with a rejection letter. “Thanks for sending,” it read, “but we’re looking for more traditional, iambic pentameter sestinas."
Kirkus Reviewed
The biweekly magazine Kirkus Reviews publishes pre-publication book reviews, offering professional opinions of approximately 5,000 titles per year. But the tables have turned on the 72-year-old publication as writers and publishers offer their own appraisals of its recent decision to charge money for some book reviews.
Google Ogles Print
The widely used online search engine Google recently launched a new feature that allows Web users to search within pages of published books.
All's Fair in Poems About Love and War
Despite the fluctuating aesthetics and ideologies espoused by critics, professors, and practitioners of poetry, there remain two general subjects that consistently offer poets inspiration: love and war; but with walentine’s Day just around the corner, three new anthologies of love poems are offering readers a respite from verse about violence.
The Contester: The Long and Short of Story Awards
Despite the numerous prestigious awards given to published short story authors, recent news of short fiction contest administrators and judges failing to choose a winner have left emerging writers wondering, "What about me?"
Literary MagNet
Literary MagNet chronicles the start-ups and closures, successes and failures, anniversaries and accolades, changes of editorship and special issues—in short, the news and trends—of literary magazines in America. This issue's MagNet features Softblow, the Quarterly Literary Review Singapore, Poetry Billboard, the 2nd Rule, No Tell Motel, Boulevard, American Letters & Commentary, FIELD, Boston Review, Pleiades, Witness, and Gulf Stream.
Small Press Points
Small Press Points highlights the happenings of the small press players. This issue features Calyx Books, Graywolf Press, and nthposition press.
Page One: Where New and Noteworthy Books Begin
Page One features a sample of titles we think you'll want to explore. With this installment, we offer excerpts from Home Land by Sam Lipsyte and The Celestial Jukebox by Cynthia Shearer.
The Practical Writer
Beyond the Patriot Act: Does the War on Terror Affect Your Work?
Has the war on terror restricted the freedoms of writers, researchers, and publishers?
Workshop: A Revolution of Sensibility
From the beginning the founders of the Associated Writing Programs and other pioneers have argued that, through effective creative writing programs, students can attain lifelong skills of critical thinking, empathy for others, and an understanding of the creative process, the key to all innovation. The schools featured in this article—Knox College, Oberlin, and Sarah Lawrence—have been working to make undergraduate creative writing degrees a hallmark of their respective institutions for some time now.
The Literary Life
Rediscovering John Gardner: A Moral Writer in Search of His Legacy
An essay on Gardner's rise and fall from literary fame.
Imperative: Chick Lit and the Perversion of a Genre
Mazza recounts the origin of the term and the evolution of the genre.
Poets on Place: Alan Shapiro in Chapel Hill, North Carolina
The poet discusses how writing is the place where he feels most at home.