Monday May 13 at 6:00 pm EDT, Cinco Puntos Press presents two virtual discussions via Shindig: Remember Dippy: Middle Grade Fiction, Representing Autism with Shirley Reva Vernick and That Mad Game: Growing Up in a Warzone, Talking Children and War with J.L. Powers.

Remember Dippy: Middle Grade Fiction, Representing Autism by Shirley Reva Vernick

Johnny’s summer plans fly out the window when he learns he has to help out with his autistic older cousin, Remember. His premonitions of disaster appear at first to come to cringeworthy fruition, but when the two boys save a bully from drowning, salvage the pizzeria guy’s romance and share girl troubles, Johnny ends up having the summer of his life.

Come join us for Cinco Puntos’ debut Author Talk series with award-winning author Shirley Reva Vernick, who will talk about her second novel for young people where laughter and serious issues mix in a lightly humorous novel.

That Mad Game: Growing Up in a Warzone, Talking Children and War by J.L. Powers

In this 2013 Notable Book for a Global Society, seventeen writers from around the world contribute essays about coming of age during a time of war: fighting, dying, surviving. Powers will talk about war, violence, and childhood, and what these writers taught her about exile and belonging after their worlds were destroyed.

In the DailyMail (UK) article Female Novelist Sick of Patronising Covers on Women’s Books, Sam Webb explains how author Maureen Johnson claimed publishers pigeonhole books by women. She asked fans to ‘coverflip’ books and was inundated with classics with new ‘girly’ covers as well as a few made more ‘manly.’

Blue Cubicle Press announced the release of their new issue of Workers Write! Tales from the Concrete Highway, stories and poems from the driver’s point of view.

Unfortunately, the editors note that a number of copies they received from the printer have a “small but annoying mark on two of the pages. Nothing major, doesn’t take away from the readability of the page, just kind of looks like a skid mark, which, I guess, is wholly appropriate for this issue.”

Replacements have been ordered, and “clean” copies can be purchased for $10 (also available in PDF and Kindle versions). But, for $4.50, the cost of postage and envelope, readers can order a “slightly marked” copy.

Blue Cubicle Press is collecting stories and poems for their tenth issue of Workers Write! More Tales from the Cubicle.

Press 53 has just published In a World of Small Truths, the debut short story collection from Ray Morrison. This is the 100th book published by Press 53, which celebrated its seventh anniversary in October.

Morrison’s book focuses on the Southern city in a state of flux, jumping from backwoods thieves and farmers to professionals and students. Stories from the collection have appeared in Fiction Southeast, Ecotone, Aethlon, Carve Magazine, and Night Train. Morrison won first prize in the short story category of the 2011 Press 53 Open Awards and has twice received honorable mention in the Lorian Hemingway Short Story Competition.

Congratulations to both Press 53 and Ray Morrison.

Thinking about holiday shopping for the nature lover in your life? This year’s Outdoor Book Awards have been announced, and with the variety of categories in the awards, there’s something for everyone.

Is it a book? Is it a painting? It’s Very Different Animals by Frank Sherlock, an accordion-fold book set in fonts VTKS Animal 2 and Big Caslon and mounted in Blick Studio mini canvasses. Each canvas features original artwork by Philadelphia artist Nicole Donnelly. It is printed in an edition of 100 on reclaimed 120 gsm Arches cotton wove watercolor paper. It is officially available on Fact-Simile‘s website at a discounted pre-sale price.

Firewheel Editions has several new titles for sale and until Oct. 31 is offering to add on a second title from select books and issues of Sentence and Kugelmass for $3 each.

Rachel Carson’s Silent Spring, published in 1962, is considered by many to be an essential book that helped to spark the modern environmental movement. This year marks the 50th anniversary of Silent Spring‘s publication, and programs celebrating this anniversary have been happening in the U.S. and around the world.

The Borderbend Arts Collective is working with other partnering organizations to present “Celebrating Silent Spring at 50.” This program includes creative responses to Silent Spring and celebrations of Rachel Carson’s life and legacy – with events, artistic contributions (writings, music, visual art, multidisciplinary works), and more. One of this program’s goals is for people and organizations from each of the U.S.’s 50 states to contribute to “Celebrating Silent Spring at 50,” and the organization welcomes contributions from around the world.

[Text from the Silent Spring at 50 website.]

Paul Dry Books is having a moving sale with a selection of backlisted titles available at $5 each when you order two or more titles. Some books are a few bucks more, but there’s a pretty good selection at this rock bottom pricing. The sale is good through September 26. What a great way to help someone move without hurting your back!

Ever since I read a news article about a woman who lived in a 200-square-foot home, I have been fascinated – and not doubt romanticizing – the idea of living (not just ‘vacationing’) in such a small space. What a great way to ‘de-clutter’ and ‘live simply’ as growing movements suggest we are better off doing so that others may ‘simply live.’ (The woman in the news article had a helpful rule we could all live better by: She only allowed herself a certain number of objects in her home. If she brought something new in, something old had to go.)

At NewPages, we get a lot of incoming, and one book I was thrilled to see was Tiny Homes: Simple Shelter, Scaling Back in the 21st Century by Lloyd Kahn, published by Shelter Publications.

This book features 150 builders who have created tiny homes (under 500 sq. ft.) on land, on wheels, on the road, on water, even in the trees. There are also studios, saunas, garden sheds, and greenhouses.

Most amazing, in the 224 pages are included 1,300 full-color photos, showing a rich variety of small homemade shelters, and there are stories (and thoughts and inspirations) of the owner-builders who are on the forefront of this new trend in downsizing and self-sufficiency.

This particular book does not include any intricate building plans – these are included in other publications put out by Shelter. Rather, the intent of this book is to showcase, inspire, and motivate people to consider this alternative way of taking up less space on the planet.

There’s a two-minute book trailer on the publisher’s website featuring Lloyd Kahn discussing the book, the concept of tiny shelters, and numerous images from the book as well. Certainly well worth a look.

In Children’s Picturebooks: The Art of Visual Storytelling, Martin Salisbury and Morag Styles introduce readers to the world of children’s picturebooks, providing a solid background to the industry while exploring the key concepts and practices that have gone into the creation of successful picturebooks.

In seven chapters, this book covers the key stages of conceiving a narrative, creating a visual language and developing storyboards and design of a picturebook. The book includes interviews with leading children’s picturebook illustrators, as well as case studies of their work. The picturebooks and artists featured hail from Australia, Belgium, Cuba, France, Germany, Hungary, Ireland, Italy, Japan, Norway, Poland, Portugal, Russia, Singapore, South Korea, Spain, Taiwan, the UK and the USA. The authors close the book by considering e-publication and the future of children’s picturebooks.

Published by Laurence King Publishing, this gorgeous paperback is 192 pages and packed with 300 full-color illustrations throughout. Readers who remembers their own childhood picturebook favorites will not be able to put this book down. See the book website for a full table of contents and ordering information.

New from Modern Haiku Press: Haiku 21: An Anthology of Contemporary English-Language Haiku edited by Lee Gurga and Scott Metz with an introduction by the editors. Over 600 haiku by more than 200 poets, perfect bound, 205 pages.

I can honestly say, I hope eBooks will never replace the coffee table book. While I know digital picture quality can surpass print quality when it comes to art and images, it’s the cover of a book like this one that will get readers and “non-readers” alike to pick it up and thumb through its pages.

In his newest book, professional pet photographer Michael Kloth helps readers focus on the plight of the “pound puppies,” but without once showing the dark, heart wrenching images we think of when imagining life in “the shelter.” Instead of wire cages and cement floors as scenery, Kloth expertly poses the pups on clean backdrops with plenty of warm, bright light, letting viewers – and prospective owners – see the canine kids at their best. Little puppy personalities fill the pages of this book, and while they are the photographic subject, the real message of this effort is shared in Kloth’s introduction.

While Kloth recognizes there are “valid reasons to buy a puppy from a breeder,” he shares the message of animal advocates in promoting the adoption of shelter and foster animals. He cites research on the number of purebred dogs brought to shelter each year and that, though families may be eager when first purchasing designer-breeds, that excitement may wane when the resulting dogs turn out not to be such a good match.

Kloth volunteers his time each month to visit shelters in his area and photograph pets ready for adoption. The photos are used to help would-be owners find their next family member. Kloth offers helpful advice to shelters and volunteer photographers about ways to present these animals to give them the best chance at adoption. Photographing through wire cages, Kloth tells readers, is a no-no, along with images of the animal backed into the corner of a cage or in any way looking scared. While these may raise the sympathy meter, they don’t tend to help bring out the true, positive characters of the pet.

Kloth’s book features 65 puppies in full color on the main pages with a “follow-up” section in the back about what happened to each of the pups shortly after – most were successfully adopted with only a couple stories of return and retry. Also included are several later follow-up stories of the dogs now in adulthood and the lives they have changed. This is a truly heartwarming and highly educational addition to Kloth’s series on shelter pet books, which I hope he will continue.

I was initially interested in this book because it was promoted as one that donated a portion of the proceeds to the ASPCA. But, when I got the book, I was a bit let down to see that only twenty-five cents per book is donated. While this doesn’t seem like a lot, I relinquished that any amount is a good amount. Further, when reading about how much time, equipment, and resources Kloth devotes to his volunteer work photographing these animals, I understood that a great deal more of whatever he might earn from this book has already been donated through his kindness, and no doubt will continue.

In addition to his work with local shelters, Kloth is also a member of the new non-profit organization called HeARTs Speak. HeARTs Speak was founded with the expectation that visual artists can make a very real difference in helping adoptable animals find homes.

As with all my recommended books, this one makes a great personal or gift purchase, but would also be a good library donation to share with your community, or even purchasing a copy for your local shelter (who might benefit from the photography tips).

77 Reasons Why Your Book Was Rejected by author and agent Mike Nappa (Nappaland Literary Agency) takes a hardcore look at editorial, marketing, and sales perspectives on why a book is rejected. His tone is quick-witted and conversational, and he is in no way here to hold your hand and make you feel better about your rejections. He is in-your-face (“Your Writing is Crap”), realistic (“Your Book Costs Too Much to Make”), and the helpful voice of a friend you need (“You Aren’t Able to Significantly Differentiate Your Book from the Competition”).

Nappa follows up each of the 77 Reasons Why with “What you can do about it,” offering two or three tips for each reason. He notes early on that you may not like what he has to say, but he is being as honest as he can. The book begins, “I make it my goal to reject every book proposal you send me in sixty seconds or less.” This may sound arrogant, but keep reading: “The sad part about this goal of mine is that it’s remarkably easy to accomplish. Too easy, in fact.” Nappa himself has had numerous books published, but also received thousands of rejections, so he isn’t taking any kind of industry-moral high road here. He really is talking to readers like the friend they need to guide them through this seemingly mysterious process. This book, he says, is about “learning why we fail – and then turning that knowledge into success the next time around.” Or at least making that rejection less of a bitter pill to swallow.

Given the 77 reasons in here, only a few could be taken as personal – the rest, he points out, are purely business (which might explain why so many find it “mysterious”). Nappa offers a detailed explanation of what happens once an acquisitions editor takes a book on to pitch to the publisher. It’s not pretty, and it explains why some books never make it past that stage. “Remember,” Napa writes, “publishing is an industry – a business that has at its core the innate desire for survival. And, as for any business, survival means profit. A publishing house that doesn’t actively pursue profitability – no matter how noble or sublime its content goals – simply won’t be publishing books for very long.”

Nappa addresses reasons for rejection from three main perspectives: editorial, marketing, and sales. Some of the examples he provides from his years of experience are shockingly funny (as in, someone really did that?). But what may seem like the “right” approach from the writer trying to pitch a book is exactly what knocks that book out within those first sixty seconds of consideration. Nappa warns his readers, “I will always be honest with you in this book. Sometimes that may make you angry with me. I apologize in advance…but please don’t take it personally. I’m just trying to help you by sharing from my twenty-plus years of experience in publishing.”

Nappa welcomes readers to disagree with his advice if they have had different experiences, which is a good reminder that no one “advice” book of this kind is in any way absolute in being right or naming what is wrong. There are as many experiences with publishing as there are writers trying to get published and agents accepting or rejecting those attempts.

While it seems like this book focuses on the goal of writers who want to run with the big dogs in publishing, that might just be because of Nappa’s work experience in the more cut-throat levels of the industry. Many of his best stories (both of failures and successes) come from working with bigger publishing houses. Still, Nappa offers solid advice for ALL writers to consider, whether pitching to an agent or directly to a small, indie publisher, like those listed on NewPages.

I am personally not a writer trying to get published, but found Nappa’s book extremely insightful (in addition to entertaining), just reading about his work as an agent and acquisitions editor, and working in the industry with other major decision-makers. It’s not a book that needs to be read cover to cover; with each reason and advice on what to do about it taking only a few pages each, it’s easy to pick out specific issues of interest.

77 Reasons is available online from Sourcebooks, where you can also see the full table of contents and read an excerpt from the book.

Issue #14 of PEN America features The Good Books, in which over fifty writers — including Yiyun Li, Anne Fadiman, Karen Russell, Gary Shteyngart, David Shields, and many more — choose the works in translation they’d bring to a great global book swap. Several contributions are available for reading online.

From Siglio Press: Torture of Women is Nancy Spero’s fierce and enduring contribution to contemporary art, to feminist thought and action, and to the continuing protest against torture, injustice, and the abuse of power.

This epic artwork, juxtaposing testimony by female victims of torture with startling imagery from the ancient world, is as powerful now as when it was created in 1976. Artistic ingenuity coupled with boldly feminist and political intent, Torture of Women is a public cry of outrage and a nuanced exploration of the continuum of violence and the isolation of pain. It is also a pivotal work by an American artist whose immense impact has yet to be fully examined.

Siglio’s publication, three years in the making, translates the 125 ft. work into nearly 100 pages of detail so that the entirety of Torture of Women—with legible texts and vibrant color reproductions—can be experienced with immediacy and intimacy, providing a unique opportunity to engage this influential but infrequently exhibited work of art. Siglio’s publication of Torture of Women also serves as a centrifuge for conversation, raising provocative questions that cross the borders of art, politics, feminism, and human rights.

With an essay “Fourteen Meditations of Torture of Women by Nancy Spero” by Diana Nemiroff; “Symmetries,” a story by Luisa Valenzuela; and an excerpt from The Body in Pain: The Making and Unmaking of the World by Elaine Scarry.

$48 Clothbound 156 pages, Illustrated ISBN 978-0-9799562-2-5

Each spring Tamaas, a cross-cultural arts organizaion, hosts a week-long poetry translation workshop at Reid Hall, the home to Columbia University’s Paris study abroad program. Poets of different nationalites and generations, based or sojourning in Paris, are invited by Tamaas to work in pairs with other poets to translate each other’s work.

This poet-to-poet exchange of approaches to translation is a distinctive feature of this cross-cultural workshop, and draws upon participants’ capacities as writers to handle the challenges of rendering poetry in another language. Students and the general public are welcome to attend the closing night reading of translations-in-progress. The fruits of this workshop are published annually, as the volume entitled READ through 1913 Press.

The 7th Annual Tamaas READ Translation Seminar will take place June 21-25, 2011. The public reading will be June 25th at 19h Reid Hall, 4, rue de Chevreuse 75006.

The 2011 Participants include: Oscarine Bosquet, Norma Cole, Jean Daive, Sandra Doller, Ben Doller, Jérôme Game, Liliane Giraudon, Michelle Noteboom, Michael Palmer, and Cole Swensen.

If you’re an educator or program administrator, and at least 50 percent of the children in your program come from low-income families, First Book can help.

Eligible programs receive access to the First Book Marketplace, offering new books at 50 to 90 percent off retail prices. And if you serve a higher proportion of children in need — 80 percent or more — then your school or program may also be eligible for free books through the First Book National Book Bank and book grants through First Book’s local Advisory Boards.

Visit First Book online to learn more.

The introductory essays and Table of Contents to Against Expression: An Anthology of Conceptual Writing (2011, Northwestern U Press) are available for download. The first essays by the editors are “Why Conceptual Writing? Why Now?” by Kenneth Goldsmith and “The Fate of Echo” by Craig Dworkin.

Poets for Haiti is a collection now available from Yileen Press. From the publisher: “Six weeks after the city of Port-au-Prince was brought to its knees by one of the most destructive earthquakes on record – 18 remarkable writers including Robert Pinksy, Rosanna Warren, and Gail Mazur, joined together at Harvard University campus and demonstrated the power of the spoken word. That benefit reading was a vital and galvanizing event, and this anthology has been created to capture some of the magic that was sparked that night. With stunning artwork by some of Haiti’s most prominent visual artists, the volume is itself a work of art. All proceeds from the sale of this anthology will go to Partners in Health to benefit the people of Haiti.”

Members of the Southern Writers group She Writes, Zetta Brown and Nicky Wheeler-Nicholson Brown, gathered submissions and created an anthology of stories, poems, and recollections in response to the BP Oil disaster in the Gulf. Oil and Water…and Other Things That Don’t Mix features 27 authors, women and men all dealing with the theme: “Conflict…Resolution Optional.”

All proceeds from Oil and Water…and Other Things That Don’t Mix will go to directly benefit MOBILE BAYKEEPER, and BAY AREA FOOD BANK, two charities helping to combat the effects of the spill and help the communities affected.

Authors included in the collection are Jenne’ R. Andrews, Shonell Bacon, Lissa Brown, Mollie Cox Bryan, Maureen E. Doallas, Mylène Dressler, Nicole Easterwood, Angela Elson, Melanie Eversley, Kimeko Farrar, L B Gschwandtner, John Klawitter, Mary Larkin, Linda Lou, Kelly Martineau, Patricia Anne McGoldrick, Ginger McKnight-Chavers, Carl Palmer, Karen Pickell, Dania Rajendra, Cherie Reich, Jarvis Slacks, Tynia Thomassie, Amy Wise, Dallas Woodburn, and contributing editors Zetta Brown and Nicky Wheeler-Nicholson Brown.

Retailers who wish to stock the Oil and Water anthology can contact the publisher directly: editor(at)ll-publications.com

Ben Tanzer’s book 99 Problems: Essays About Running and Writing is available as an e-book, with a twist. On his site, readers who want to download the book have several pay options, or rather amount-to-pay options. “I’d like to pay: $5 – $10 – $20 – a different amount – nothing.” That’s right – “nothing” is an option. Regardless of what amount you pay, or don’t, you’ll get the full-length version of the book. (Kindle users have an Amazon flat rate fee of $5.) The book is also licensed under Creative Commons – a growing culturally conscious way to share works with others. It will be interesting to see how Tanzer’s book does, in terms of readers and payers, and how the new-millennium old question goes, “If you give it to them for free, will they pay for it?” It perhaps even more of interest to writers – even if it’s free, will they read it?

Book Blurb: “Why is it that so many full-time writers seem to be full-time runners as well, and what is it about each activity that seems to fuel the other? In 99 Problems, Chicago author Ben Tanzer tackles this very question, penning a series of essays completed after a string of actual runs across the United States during the winter of 2009, cleverly combining the details of the run itself with what new insights he gained that day regarding whatever literary story he was working on at the time; and along the way, Tanzer also offers up astute observations on fatherhood, middle-age, and the complications of juggling traditional and artistic careers, all of it told through the funny and smart filter of pop-culture that has made this two-time novelist and national performance veteran so well-loved. A unique and fascinating new look at the curious relationship between physical activity and creative intellectualism, 99 Problems will have you looking at the arts in an entirely new way, and maybe even picking up a pair of running shoes yourself.”

Dining in Refugee Camps: The Art of Sahrawi Cooking
Cenando en los Campamentos de Refugiados: Un Libro De Cocina Saharaui
by Robin Kahn

From the publishers site: “A full-color, bilingual, collage journal that documents Robin Kahn’s month cooking with the women of the Western Sahara. As a guest artist selected to participate in ARTifariti 2009, Kahn stayed with Sahrawi families living in refugee camps in Algeria and in the desert of The Free Territories of the Western Sahara. There she created the collages for this publication by combining the sparse materials available locally with photos, recipes, histories and drawings. The result is a 50-page full-color journal that examines the art of Sahrawi food production: how kitchens are improvised, food is procured and prepared, and traditional recipes are innovated from UN rations and international aid. The book is a testament to the daily struggles of Sahrawi women whose role is to provide sustenance, fortitude and comfort inside a compromised society.”

Cover Me
A Health Insurance Memoir by Sonya Huber; Published by University of Nebraska Press

From the Publisher: Growing up in middle-class middle America, Sonya Huber viewed health care as did most of her peers: as an inconvenience or not at all. There were braces and cavities, medications and stitches, the family doctor and the local dentist. Finding herself without health insurance after college graduation, she didn’t worry. It was a temporary problem. Thirteen years and twenty-three jobs later, her view of the matter was quite different. Huber’s irreverent and affecting memoir of navigating the nation’s health-care system brings an awful and necessary dose of reality to the political debates and propaganda surrounding health-care reform.

“I look like any other upwardly mobile hipster,” Huber says. “I carry a messenger bag, a few master’s degrees, and a toddler raised on organic milk.” What’s not evident, however, is that she is a veteran of Medicaid and WIC, the federal government’s supplemental nutrition program for women, infants, and children. In Cover Me, Huber tells a story that is at once all too familiar and rarely told: of being pushed to the edge by worry; of the adamant belief that better care was out there; of taking one mind-numbing job after another in pursuit of health insurance, only to find herself scrounging through the trash heap of our nation’s health-care system for tips and tricks that might mean the difference between life and death.

Edited by Charles Degelman, Voice from the Planet includes award-winning and new authors from Congo to Hollywood joining forces in Harvard Square Editions’ second volume of Living Fiction. Net proceeds from the sale of this book are donated to the Nobel Prize-winning charity Doctors Without Borders/Médecins Sans Frontières (MSF). Some of the authors whose works make up this anthology are: Alisa Clements, Tom Dolembo, Maya Levantini, Jorge Contreras, Charity Shumway, Stan G. Duncan, Geoffrey Fox, Jonathan Facelli, Phyllis Helene Mattson, Guy Kuttner, Tony Rogers, Lowry Pei, Margot Singer, and J. L. Morin.