May/June 1998

Winning high praise from both the PEN Foundation and Oprah may seem a monumental feat, but it’s all in a day’s work for the author, whose novels—The Book of Ruth, A Map of the World, and the just-published The Short History of a Price—artfully pair elegant writing with an empathy for misfits.

Features

A Writer's Counsel: When an Advance Is Yours to Keep

by Alan J. Kaufman
Print Only

When a royalty advance is subject to return.

Real Poets in an Imaginary Garden

by Sue Ellen Thompson
Print Only

The Sunken Garden Poetry Festival proves there is an audience for poetry.

Daily Harvest: At Work With Novelist Jane Hamilton

by Judith Strasser
Print Only

Jane Hamilton.

Rising From the Ashes: Profile of Maxine Hong Kingston

by Paul Mandelbaum
Print Only

Returning from her father's funeral rite, the award-winning author of The Warrior Woman discovered her home and the only copy of a manuscript she had been working on for years had burned. Renowned for her reinvention of literary form, she...

The Writer in the Family: Civics Lessons for Kindred Spirits

by Julie Checkoway
Print Only

Passing on wisdom.

Whose Electronic Right Is It, Anyway?

by Patricia Murphy
Print Only

Copyright in cyberspace.

Bringing Writers Into the World

by Michael McGregor
Print Only

Literary agent Gail Hochman.

The Better Way to Sell Fiction

by Judith Appelbaum
Print Only

Pitching fiction through query letters.

A Poet's Valediction: Denise Levertov, 1923-1997

by Nicholas O'Connell
Print Only

In a final interview the poet talks about her influences, which range from Eliot and Williams to the mountain outside her window.

News and Trends

Can Birthday Letters Spell M-O-V-I-E?

by Ed Brown
Print Only

Ted Hughes's "Birthday Letters" is a commercial hit.

Zoetrope Celebrates First Anniversary

by Mary Gannon
Print Only

Coppola shares vision for Zoetrope at ceremony celebrating magazine's first year.

Unique Nonprofit Relocates

by Amy Holman
Print Only

Writers Conferences & Festival moves from Denver to Minneapolis.

Bard Presses Roll Again

by Michael Dumiak
Print Only

Avon revives its literary fiction and nonfiction imprint--Bard.

Classifieds