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Books :: Teaching Poetry

Poets on Teaching: “In response to a lack of source works for wide-ranging approaches to teaching poetry, award-winning poet Joshua Marie Wilkinson has gathered ninety-nine micro-essays for poets, critics, and scholars who teach and for students who wish to learn about the many ways poets think about how a poem comes alive from within—and beyond—a classroom. Not narrowly concerned with how to read poetry or how to write poetry, by virtue of their central concern with teaching poetry, the essays in this fresh and innovative volume address both reading and writing and give teachers and students useful tools for the classroom and beyond.” [University of Iowa Press / 1-58729-904-6 or 978-1-58729-904-9]

On Blurbology

“So when publishing people look at the lineup of testimonials on the back of a new hardcover, they don’t see hints as to what the book they’re holding might be like. Instead, they see evidence of who the author knows, the influence of his or her agent, and which MFA program in creative writing he or she attended. In other words, blurbs are a product of all the stuff people claim to hate about publishing: its cliquishness and insularity . . . It stands to reason that, if many blurbs are bestowed for extraliterary reasons like friendship or professional collegiality, then many of them are insincere.” Laura Miller, Beware of Blurbs, Salon.com

Books :: Writing and Publishing

Carol Smallwood has been quietly creating a name for herself over the years, and I say quietly for a couple of reasons. First, she’s a librarian! With both an MLS and an MA, she has focused her writing on resources for librarians. But I also say quietly because she has edited a couple of phenom publications, taking the back seat to the subject matter, as great editors do. Her latest collection is one not to be missed by any writer who is interested in learning more about publishing venues. That’s right: I said Writer. Not just Librarians.

The book is Writing and Publishing: The Librarian’s Handbook (ALA Editions 2010), but any non-librarian writer who passes this book by because of that subtitle is making a huge mistake. This book is chock full of some of the most practical, hands-on, I’ve-lived-this advice from writers about the most wide array of publishing venues I have ever read in a single collection. There are 46 contributors to this collection, condensed into less than 200 pages. This is my kind of “guide” – it gets directly to the nitty-gritty of each individual topic in 92 (yes, you read me right) essays.

Granted, some of the topics covered are Librarian-specific, such as “MLS, MFA: The Working Librarian Pursuing a Degree in Creative Writing” (Colleen S. Harris), “Partners: Helping Your Hometown Paper Promote the Local Library” (Beth Nieman), and “Children’s Librarians! Use Your Skills to Fill Your Collection Gaps” (Margaret Read MacDonald). Although, I did find the information insightful and even helpful as someone who works closely with librarians to help promote events, build collections, etc. But there are plenty more contributions that seem library-specific, like “Blogging: Writing Op-Eds” (Michale Dudley) and “The Poet-Librarian: Writing and Submitting Your Work” (Colleen S. Harris) that make consideration for the role/career of librarian, but could just as easily be applicable to anyone with any other career. Specifically for librarians, however, is insight in how to participate in these publishing venues either as part of the job to help promote the library/collections, or as a separate activity and the politics of keeping your writing life clear from that of public or institutional jobs and the overreaching restrictions those sometimes have.

The breadth of topics in this collection is most astounding. It’s not just a something-for-everyone collection, it’s an a-lot-for-anyone collection. For librarians who want to do ANY kind of writing, this book is a no-brainer to get, read, and keep in your personal resource library. For others – anyone interested in writing to publish, this is a resource to take a look at. There are plenty of other “publishing” resources out there – but in my recent research for a college-level course in professional writing, finding a book as comprehensive in voices and topics as this one is RARE. I wouldn’t pass up using this as a resource with students interested in publishing. For students? Heck, for anyone trying to step into and make sense of where to get started or different directions to take in publishing.

Here’s just an outline of the content:

Part 1 – Why Write

Part 2 – Education of a Writer
Getting Started
Writing with Others
Revise, Revise, Revise
Lessons From Publishing

Part 3 – Finding Your Niche in Print
Books
Newsletters and Newspapers
Reviewing
Magazines and Professional Journals
Essays
Textbook Writing
Children’s Literature
Writing on Specific Subjects

Part 4 Finding Your Niche Online

Part 5 Maximizing Opportunities

For a more detailed outline of content, visit the publisher’s website: Writing and Publishing

Books :: Readings for Writers Now Available

“Readings for Writers is a very different creature from your usual anthology. Yes, everything here has appeared in The Kenyon Review sometime during the past seventy years. That should establish literary merit, aside from the fame of many of the featured authors. But a different principle of selection comes into play: choosing stories, poems, and essays from across the decades to provoke lively responses from writers today, to inspire and challenge.” -David H. Lynn, Editor

Books :: Jan Kurouac

Jan Kerouac: A Life in Memory is the first biography of post-Beat novelist and poet Jan Kerouac. Edited by Gerald Nicosia, it contains contributions by Nicosia, Phil Cousineau, Brenda Knight, Aram Saroyan, Brad Parker, John Allen Cassady, R.B. Morris, Jacques Kirouac, Adiel Gorel, Lee Harris, Mary Emmerick, Lynn Kushel Archer, Carl Macki, John Zielinski, Buddah (John Paul Pirolli), and Dan McKenzie, as well as a long interview with Jan by Nicosia and over 40 photographs. The book, 189 pages with color cover and black-and-white illustrations, will be signed and personalized by Gerald Nicosia upon request.

Days With My Father

Days With My Father by Phillip Toledano is a photo essay of Phillip’s relationship with his aging father. Full photos and text available online, but also available in paper book format. Absolutely beautiful and worth the time to read/view it all – and share with others.

McSweeney’s Garage Sale

McSweeney’s is currently running their summer sale this week with mark downs on their entire stock. For even better deals, check out their Garage Sale: “Not long ago, we found a secret storage space of our old books. They were hurt—some bruised, others a little scratched—but then again some were in perfect condition. So, we thought, why not offer these to you, dear customer? Why not let you have a $5 Maps and Legends? Or a $10 Everything That Rises? Hurt books need homes too. And once these slightly damaged books are gone, they are gone forever.”

Send a Soldier a Book

There’s still time to participate in Press 53’s Send a Book to a Soldier offer:

“From now until Flag Day, June 14, buy a book at www.Press53.com and we will send another book to a soldier in your name at no additional cost to you. Choose from any of our 50-plus titles and we will send a copy of the same book to an active duty soldier in your name. Soldiers will be selected from www.AnySoldier.com.”

Cheaper than Amazon

From now until June 20, Tarpaulin Sky Press is offering backlist titles for $10 – shipping included – when you buy two or more books. Some books include the current Lambda Award Finalist Ana Božičević’s Stars of the Night Commute and works by Jenny Boully, Kate Bernheimer, Rebecca Brown, Brian Evenson, Laird Hunt, Bhanu Kapil, Lance Olsen, Mark Cunningham, Danielle Dutton, Noah Eli Gordon & Joshua Marie Wilkinson, Gordon Massman, Joyelle McSweeney, Andrew Zornoza, and more.

Zero Emission Book Project

From Publicist Jessi Hector:

Come July 1st, Sacramento, CA independent publisher Flatmancrooked will release We’re Getting On, the debut novel from promising young author, James Kaelan. The story follows a group of twenty-somethings who attempt to live completely off the grid, no technology, modern conveniences, etc. The first edition of We’re Getting On, which will only be available exclusively through the publisher and on the book tour, includes a cover printed entirely on seed paper, hand pressed by Porridge Papers of Lincoln, NE. When a cover is planted in the ground, it will eventually grow into Spruce trees! The interior of the book is also printed on 100% recycled paper. Believe it or not, this limited edition (1000 total are available) offsets its own carbon footprint 10x over. There will also be a second edition, releasing on the same day, sans seed paper cover, available where all books are sold.

The novel is at the center of what is being dubbed the Zero Emission Book Project. Beginning July 2nd, Kaelen will depart on a 20+ city book tour on bicycle, kicking off in Santa Monica, CA and taking him up the West Coast to beautiful Vancouver, BC. At each reading, the author will be reading excerpts from We’re Getting On as well as planting a book cover from a 1st edition copy. In keeping with the sustainable nature of the project, Kaelen will be camping at local farms between each stop. We’re also working on securing Kaelan as a guest on Comedy Central’s Colbert Report. If everything goes according to plan, Kaelan will then ride from Vancouver to New York City to appear on the show. We’re extremely lucky to have Cannondale bicycles and Bellwether apparel on board as our first sponsors of the tour!

The National Collegiate Book Collecting Contest

The National Collegiate Book Collecting Contest was established in 2005 by Fine Books & Collections magazine to recognize outstanding book collecting efforts by college and university students, the program aims to encourage young collectors to become accomplished bibliophiles.

Each contestant must be the top prize-winner of an officially sanctioned American collegiate book collecting contest. The principal criteria will be the intelligence and originality of the collection and the potential of the entrant to evolve the collection and develop new collections. The contestant’s understanding of the collection’s subject and its bibliography as well as the creativity of approach are the primary criteria.

Entries for the 2010 competition must be submitted by June 4, 2010.

Litmus Press Book Deal

In February and March of 2010, Litmus Press is celebrating some early titles with an Author Spotlight & Book Sale. Every two weeks they will highlight two authors & offer their books for $10 each or 2 for $18. The first Spotlight (February 1st-15th) is on Keith Waldrop (The House Seen from Nowhere) and Mark Tardi (Euclid Shudders).

Book :: Kamchatka

Kamchatka: Wilderness at the Edge: “Astoundingly beautiful book on one of the most special wilderness and cultural areas on the planet – Kamchatka. This peninsula hangs into the Bering Sea and Pacific Ocean off the very eastern end of Russia. It is home to the world’s highest diversity of salmon with huge runs up wild rivers; large populations of brown bear; traditional reindeer-herding cultures; Krontosky Nature Reserve and its Valley of Geysers (a World Heritage Area); and much more.” Available exclusively from Wild Foundation; proceeds from the book to benefit the foundation.

By Igor Shpilenok and Patricio Robles Gil
Edited by nature writer Laura Williams
Full color, 121 pages, 7.5″ square, hard cover, in hard-case gift box.
ISBN 978-1-56373-187-0

2010 Best European Authors

Best European Fiction 2010 is the inaugural installment from Dalkey Archive Press of what will become an annual anthology of stories from across Europe. This year’s edition is edited by acclaimed Bosnian novelist and MacArthur “Genius-Award” winner Aleksandar Hemon. The authors featured include: Ornela Vorpsi, Antonio Fian, Peter Terrin, Jean-Philippe Toussaint, Igor Štiks, Georgi Gospodinov, Neven Ušumović, Naja Marie Aidt, Elo Viiding, Juhani Brander, Christine Montalbetti, George Konrád, Steinar Bragi, Julian Gough, Orna Ní Choileáin, Giulio Mozzi (AKA Carlo Dalcielo), Inga Abele, Mathias Ospelt, Giedra Radvilavičiūtė, Goce Smilevski, Stephan Enter, Jon Fosse, Michal Witkowski, Valter Hugo Mãe, Cosmin Manolache, Victor Pelevin, David Albahari, Peter Krištúfek, Andrej Blatnik, Julián Ríos, Josep M. Fonalleras, Peter Stamm, Deborah Levy, Alasdair Gray, and Penny Simpson.

Required Reading: MQR’s Issue on Bookishness

BOOKISHNESS: The New Fate of Reading in the Digital Age
Michigan Quarterly Review, Fall 2009

“We… live at a double moment: the death of the book and the dearth of reading face off against a proliferation of virtual books, the overabundance of writing. At such a time, everything seems up for grabs in ways both threatening and promising; it’s either a brave new world or Brave New World that confronts us… Without abandoning our sense of what is lost, we mustn’t lose the imagination of what is potentially—and increasingly, actually—to be gained…” — Jonathan Freedman, “Bookishness; A Brief Introduction”

Essays
Leah Price, “Reading As If for Life”
Alan Liu, “The End of the End of the Book: Dead Books, Lively Margins, and Social Computing”
Phil Pochoda, “UP 2.0: Some Theses on the Future of Academic Publishing”
Jessica Pressman “The Aesthetic of Bookishness in Twenty-First-Century Literature”
Paul N. Courant, “New Institutions for the Digital Age”
Zeynep Devrim Gürsel, “The Taste of Mice”
Benjamin Busch, “Growth Rings”
David Kirby, “The Traveling Library”
Michael Wood, “Distraction Theory: How to Read While Thinking of Something Else”
Stephen Burt, “Poems about Superheroes”

[Cover image: Ann Arbor’s Shaman Drum Bookshop “Going Out of Business Sale” signs.]

Buy a Book by a Black Author and Give It to Somebody Not Black Month

Starting this December event in 2008, Carleen Brice celebrates the second annual Buy a Book by a Black Author and Give It to Somebody Not Black Month. Her effort is intended to focus attention on the works of African American authors outside of the mainstream. Brice also maintains a blog White Readers Meet Black Authors, which she labels as an “official invitation into the African American section of the bookstore.”

Each year Brice recommends a short list of authors, as well as provides plenty more on her blog. For 2009:

The Book of Night Women By Marlon James
Kiss the Sky by Farai Chideya
Before I Forget by Leonard Pitts Jr.
Big Machine by Victor LaValle
Black Water Rising by Attica Locke
The Air Between Us by Deborah Johnson

A Journey Through Literary America

Still looking for a holiday gift for that literary person on your list? A Journey Through Literary America is a collaborative work by writer Thomas R. Hummel and photographer Tamra L. Dempsey. The publisher’s site describes the book: “This 304 page coffee table book takes a look at 26 of America’s great authors and the places that inspired them. Unique to this book of literary biography is the element of the photograph. With over 140 photographs throughout, the images add mood and dimension to the writing – and they are often shockingly close to what the featured authors described in their own words.”

It is indeed a gorgeous book. Neither the text nor photos dominate, but work well in harmony to create a book that can be browsed for its images or curled up with and delved into for its writing. The content on the featured authors provides commentary about their lives in the places where they lived. Even if you already know the background of these authors (click here for the table of contents), seeing them recounted here in context with the photographs adds a new, warmer sense of story to their lives. The information looks both at the authors’ lives past as well as how they continue to be recognized within the community in which they lived, and in some cases, in which their characters lived.

Additionally, the authors are running a writing contest on the theme My Hometown: “We want you to write about your hometown (we leave it up to you how you choose to define the term, whether it be the town your grew up in, the town you have adopted as your own, the place that feels most like ‘home.’) The most important thing is that your entry must strongly evoke place.” Deadline August 1, 2010.

Ugly Duckling Presse 2010 Subscriptions

Another great holiday gift – UDP basic subscriptions (limited to 200) receive more than 20 books throughout the year, sent directly to your home, including new works of poetry, essays, and artist books by emerging and established writers and artists. The books are all uniquely designed, with frequent use of letterpress, hand-sewn binding, and more, demonstrating “a philosophical curiosity about what makes a book a book” (Michael Miller, Time Out New York).

Shop Dalkey Archives for the Holidays

Save 60% and get free shipping in the U.S.* with Dalkey Archive’s Holiday Sale, running through November 22, 2009.

10 Books for $65!
20 Books for $120!

Offer applies to all Dalkey Archive books and issues of The Review of Contemporary Fiction. Choose one copy of several books, or multiple copies of a single book – while supplies last.

To take advantage of this offer:

1. Choose which books you would like.
2. Click on the sale option below for 10 or 20 books.
3. During “Checkout” you will see a “Notes” field. Please enter your selections in this field.

10 books for $65 w/free shipping
20 books for $120 w/free shipping

National Book Foundation Names Nominees

The National Book Award Nominees

Fiction
Bonnie Jo Campbell, American Salvage (Wayne State University Press)
Colum McCann, Let the Great World Spin (Random House)
Daniyal Mueenuddin, In Other Rooms, Other Wonders (W. W. Norton & Co.)
Jayne Anne Phillips, Lark and Termite (Alfred A. Knopf)
Marcel Theroux, Far North (Farrar, Straus and Giroux)

Nonfiction
David M. Carroll, Following the Water: A Hydromancer’s Notebook (Houghton Mifflin Harcourt)
Sean B. Carroll, Remarkable Creatures: Epic Adventures in the Search
for the Origins of Species (Houghton Mifflin Harcourt)
Greg Grandin, Fordlandia: The Rise and Fall of Henry Ford’s Forgotten Jungle City (Metropolitan Books/Henry Holt)
Adrienne Mayor, The Poison King: The Life and Legend of Mithradates, Rome’s Deadliest Enemy (Princeton University Press)
T. J. Stiles, The First Tycoon: The Epic Life of Cornelius Vanderbilt (Alfred A. Knopf)

Young People’s Literature
Deborah Heiligman, Charles and Emma: The Darwins’ Leap of Faith (Henry Holt)
Phillip Hoose, Claudette Colvin: Twice Toward Justice (Farrar, Straus and Giroux)
David Small, Stitches (W. W. Norton & Co.)
Laini Taylor, Lips Touch: Three Times (Arthur A. Levine Books/Scholastic)
Rita Williams-Garcia, Jumped (HarperTeen/HarperCollins)

Poetry
Rae Armantrout, Versed (Wesleyan University Press)
Ann Lauterbach, Or to Begin Again (Viking Penguin)
Carl Phillips, Speak Low (Farrar, Straus and Giroux)
Lyrae Van Clief-Stefanon, Open Interval (University of Pittsburgh Press)
Keith Waldrop, Transcendental Studies: A Trilogy (University of California Press)

5 Under 35 Named

The National Book Foundation 2009 5 Under 35 Honorees Are:

Ceridwen Dovey, Blood Kin (Viking, 2008)
Selected by Rachel Kushner, 2008 Fiction Finalist for Telex from Cuba

C. E. Morgan, All the Living (Farrar, Straus & Giroux, 2009)
Selected by Christine Schutt, 2004 Fiction Finalist for Florida

Lydia Peelle, Reasons for and Advantages of Breathing
(HarperCollins, 2009)
Selected by Salvatore Scibona, 2008 Fiction Finalist for The End

Karen Russell, St. Lucy’s Home for Girls Raised by Wolves
(Vintage, 2006)
Selected by Dan Chaon, 2001 Fiction Finalist for Among the Missing

Josh Weil, The New Valley (Grove Press, 2009)
Selected by Lily Tuck, 2004 Fiction Winner for The News from Paraguay

Bad Review? You Decide

John Thorton writes: Seven Stories Press is serializing the first 62 pages of the English translation of Hwang Sok-yong’s The Old Garden, his 2000 novel and winner of the Danjae Award and Yi Literary Award in South Korea.

The novel’s central character is political prisoner Oh Hyun Woo, who is released after eighteen years to find that his world has completely changed and that the woman he loved has died. He returns to the house they shared briefly while both were involved in the radical resistance movement to South Korea’s military rule and there discovers her notebooks, through which he relives his life through her eyes.

The book received a strongly negative review by B.H. Myers in the New York Times Book Review, and the publisher hopes that by offering a substantial portion of the novel online for free, readers will be able to make up their own minds about this central work from the author Kenzaburo Oe called “undoubtedly the most powerful voice of the novel in East Asia.”

Sweet Summer Sale: Dalkey Archive Paperbacks

Through Wednesday, July 29 every Dalkey Archive paperback edition is on sale, with free shipping within the United States (outside the U.S. email Melissa Kennedy directly at kennedy_at_dalkeyarchive.com for shipping costs). When you click on one of the offers, it will take you to a shopping cart page, then just list the titles you would like in the “comments” box that will appear prior to checkout. Shop before you drop!

And remember, if not for you – consider supporting your local public and school libraries by adding some great titles to their collections!

5 books for $35 w/free shipping
10 books for $65 w/free shipping
20 books $120 w/free shipping

Hemingway Reissue: A Moveable Feast

Reissued from Simon & Shuster: “When Ernest Hemingway died in 1961 he had nearly completed A Moveable Feast, which eventually was published posthumously in 1964 and edited by his widow Mary Hemingway. This new special edition of Hemingway’s classic memoir of his early years in Paris in the 1920’s presents the original manuscript as the author intended it to be published at the time of his death. This new publication also includes a number of unfinished Paris sketches on writing and experiences that Hemingway had with his son, Jack, his wife Hadley, F. Scott Fitzgerald, Ford Maddox Ford and others. A personal foreword by Patrick Hemingway, Ernest’s sole surviving son, precedes an introduction by the editor, Sean Hemingway, grandson of the author. It is a literary feast, brilliantly evoking the exuberant mood of Paris after World War I and the youthful spirit, unbridled creativity, and unquenchable enthusiasm that Hemingway himself epitomized.”

Book Cover Banquet

With (currently) over 1000 images, The Book Cover Archive presents “An Archive of Book Cover Designs and Designers for the Purpose of Appreciation and Categorization.” You can browse all, or refine to browsing to full alpha lists of designers, titles, authors, art directors, photographers, illustrators, genres, publication date and publishers. Thanks for the feast goes to Ben Pieratt and Eric Jacobsen who edit and maintain The Book Cover Archive.

New and Noteworthy Books

Check out NewPages New and Noteworthy Books page for a list and information about some of the newest releases and soon-to-be-released titles from small, independent, alternative and university presses. Updated regularly, but also archived monthly, so you can go back and take a look at previous posts.

Birds+Haiku+Watercolors

Another beautiful book of poetry from Candlewick Press. I just happened to come across several of these lately, so I’ll be having something to say about them here. This one is The Cuckoo’s Haiku and Other Birding Poems by Michael J. Rosen, illustrated by Stan Fellows. Divided into four seasonal sections, each includes 5-7 birds for a total of 24. Each bird gets a two-page spread that includes full color watercolor images, a haiku, and script-style notes on the bird, such as this comment on the Common Grackle’s call: “harsh song is a rusty gate: ‘readle-eak!'”

The illustrations are absolutely lush. Some are full two-page scenes of the birds and their habitats, others include scenes with a variety of collage inset images of the bird. I cannot image anyone who enjoys poetry or birds not finding a comfortable liking in this book. That it is a “children’s” book is almost a misnoemer; indeed, I know a half dozen adults who would appreciate it. The script-style text might actually even be difficult for some younger children, but that only helps to make it a book best shared between adult and child.

An additional four-page section at the back of the book, “Notes for Birdwatchers and Haiku Lovers,” includes more specific species details as well as some author comments on the influence of the bird on his haiku. A neatly complete little book, perfect for National Poetry Month, and *finally* spring!

Online Book Swaps

Phil Dzikiy of The Tonawanda News reviews five of the “most popular” online book trading Web sites that offer free membership: “Raw numbers and service details were taken into consideration, but we also checked to see if certain books were available, in ascending order of rarity: The relatively recent and popular Life of Pi by Yann Martel, anything by noted Japanese author Haruki Murakami and This Perfect Day, a dystopian novel by Ira Levin which has been out of print for years.”

Cannibal Books Offers 2009 Subscription

Cannibal Books is are currently selling subscriptions for $60, which includes all their 2009 publications:

Cannibal: Issue Four
Narwhal
Sent Forth to Die in a Happy City by Keith Newton
Pardon Me, Madam by Marvyn Petrucci
Someone Else’s Body by Claire Donato
Identity by Kevin Holden
Untitled Wave by Carolyn Guinzio
Transparency by Patrick Morrissey
Autumn it gestures. by Thomas Hummel
The Nightmare Filled You with Scary by Shane Jones
“Search Party” by Frank Stanford (broadside, 2008)
& any other books we release in 2009

To Dumb Down or Not to Dumb Down

A Writer And Reader On Why Book Publishers Fail
Lawrence Osborne
Forbes.com
December 12, 2008

The commentary begins: “They dumb everything down.”

And further, this:

“Here, then, is my memo to publishers. Why are you not venturing out to connect with the vast market of recent college graduates who are thirsting for serious writing and who have been grappling with difficult and often sterile texts for years and want something different?

“My son and his friends, who are in their early twenties, read Houllebecq and Bola

Every Best of 2008

Looking for the “Best of 2008” book lists? Look no further, as Largehearted Boy has gone obsessive in collecting them all! I don’t have an exact count, but I’d say he’s got over 200 online sources on that list – and growing.

Largehearted Boy is a music blog featuring daily free and legal music downloads as well as news from the worlds of music, literature, and pop culture. LB has run best-of music lists, but this year is “aggregating 2008 year-end online book lists in this post and updating the list daily as new lists are added.” He welcomes you to send along a link to lists not on his, well, list.

Yes We Can :: The Book

After almost two years of following Barack Obama, Scout Tufankjian’s photographs will be collected in a book: YES WE CAN: Barack Obama’s History Making Campaign.

Scout Tufankjian is a photojournalist based in Brooklyn, New York, with clients including Newsweek, Essence, US News & World Report, Le Monde, Newsday, and The New York Times. She was not employed by or affiliated with the Obama campaign in any manner, shape, or form, but was a journalist covering the campaign.

The website itself has over 500 images from the campaign trail as well as information about ordering the book.

DZANC Books Write-A-Thon!

“As you may know, Dzanc Books is a non-profit organization, established to not only publish great books, but to work nationally in set communities to provide writing workshops and year round programs for students and adults alike. These programs include our Dzanc Writer in Residency Programs, The Dzanc Prize, programs with the Ann Arbor Book Festival, author readings, single session and weekly session workshops which function in a slightly different capacity than our year-round DWIRPS.

“With the economy coming completely off its rails, traditional means of raising funds – writing grants, corporate sponsorships, etc. – have become less successful. Here at Dzanc, we like to try and make raising money both as fun, and valuable, an experience as possible. With this in mind, we have come up with an alternative and interactive plan which we think not only furthers our mission but is something those participating in will enjoy. If it sounds like something you’d like to participate in, please email us at [email protected].”

DZANC BOOKS WRITE-A-THON

The idea behind the write-a-thon will be similar to bowl-a-thons, or walk-a-thons, or, well you get the picture – other a-thons that you’ve probably supported or participated in during your lifetime, only with writing being the catalyst to the raising of funds. For one day, people will volunteer to write to help raise money, and they will ask people to fill out a donation sheet to support their efforts.

Write the Music

Best Music Writing 2008
by Daphne Carr, Nelson George
Oct 6, 2008
Published by Da Capo Press

Best music writing is the definitive guide to the year in music writing, an annual feast of essays, missives, and musings on every musical style by critics, novelists, and musicians themselves. Culled from publications ranging from blogs to the New Yorker, the 2008 edition captures a year in music writing as diverse and riveting as the music it illuminates. Writers who have appeared in Best Music Writing include: Greil Marcus, Sarah Vowell, Nick Tosches, Jonathan Lethem, Dave Eggers, David Rakoff, David Hadju, Lenny Kaye, The Onion, Gary Giddins, Jessica Hopper, Luc Sante, Kelefa Sanneh, David Byrne, Daphne A. Brooks, Jody Rosen, Anne Midgette, Sasha Frere-Jones, Elizabeth M