Writers on the Record with Victoria Lautman presents an interview with Lionel Shriver at 6 PM on Thursday, March 11th, at the Harold Washington Library Center (Cindy Pritzker Auditorium). American born but UK-based, Ms. Shriver is the author of ten novels, including We Have to Talk About Kevin and The Post-Birthday World. She will be discussing her most recent book, So Much For That, due to be released Tuesday, March 9th.
For more information, check out the event listing at the Chicago Public Library’s website.
Can’t make the live interview? Not to worry – it will be rebroadcast on Sunday, March 14th at noon, on 98.7 WFMT Radio.
People always talk about summer reading lists, and to be sure, summer is a great time for reading: beaches, hammocks, soft grass under shady trees. But let’s get real--when it comes to seasonal reading, winter is where it’s at. It’s dark, it’s cold, it’s slushy, and there’s no place I’d rather be than curled up under a blanket, in front of a roaring fire, with a big, fat book. Unfortunately my fireplace isn’t working, but that hasn’t stopped me from reading my brains out the past couple of months. And, not to be a downer, but there are still a couple months of gray skies left, which is why I’m going to tell you what’s gotten me through the season so far.
The Ticking Is The Bomb, by Nick Flynn
This is the second memoir from the poet (the first was Another Bullshit Night in Suck City, which merits reading even beyond the fabulous-ness of its title). Much like Suck City, Ticking is structured in fragments, a collection of memories, events, and musings about torture, parenthood, loss, and love. Unlike Suck City, it is loosely focused, the threads connecting the vignettes thin. Still, the prose was engaging, and the pace breakneck. It was all I could do not to read it in one sitting.
In his latest, Auster is in classic form, perhaps too perfectly satisfying the contention of his wearied protagonist: there is far more poetry in the world than justice. Adam Walker, a poetry student at Columbia in the spring of 1967, is Auster’s latest everyman, revealed in four parts through the diary entries of a onetime admirer, the confessions of his once-close friend, the denials of his sister and Walker’s own self-made frame. With crisp, taut prose, Auster pushes the tension and his characters’ peculiar self-awareness to their limits, giving Walker a fractured, knowing quality that doesn’t always hold. The best moments from Walker’s disparate, disturbing coming-of-age come in lush passages detailing Walker’s conflicted, incestuous love life (paramount to his education as a human being, but a violation of his self-made promise to live as an ethical human being). As the plot moves toward a Heart of Darkness–style journey into madness, the limits of Auster’s formalism become more apparent, but this study of a young poet doomed to life as a manifestation of poetry carries startling weight.
I also took a stab at Auster’s “memoir” The Invention of Solitude. The first half was pretty great, but the second half was way too abstract.
And finally, The Bill From My Father, by Bernard Cooper. This memoir was a powerhouse. A compassionate rendering of a complicated father son relationship, Cooper paints a gripping portrait of two men shadowed by loss, struggling to understand how to love one another.
So...what are you reading???
Louder Than a Bomb, the nation’s largest team-based youth poetry slam, is celebrating its ten year anniversary! This season, LTAB has brought together over 650 teens from not only Chicago itself, but suburbs and rural areas throughout Illinois and Northwestern Indiana. These young writers will compete in a slam comprised of 60 different teams, performing their poetry, stories and spoken word to a projected audience of over 6500 people. Preliminary rounds began this past Monday, February 22nd, and continue through Sunday, Februrary 28th, at Columbia College; finals will take place Saturday, March 6th, at 6 PM, at the Vic Theater.
If a crop of talented young writers this big leaves you unsure of who to root for, consider waving your pom-poms for the Walter Payton team, led by StoryStudio’s own Creative Writing I instructor (Saturday section), Cecilia Pinto! The Payton team competes Friday, February 26th at 4 PM, at 1104 S Wabash, and again on Saturday, February 27th at 12 PM, at 623 S. Wabash. Good luck, guys!
For more information about Louder Than A Bomb, including ticket prices and a detailed schedule, please check out the event listing on the Chicago Public Radio website, or the event’s home at YoungChicagoAuthors.org.
Many congratulations to all the writers participating this year!
The Waterfront Film Festival, in the delightful town of Saugatuck, MI, is now accepting entries for their 2010 Screenplay Competition. As the contest grows, the stakes are getting raised. This year they are offering:
* a $100.00 cash prize for first place, along with an all access pass to the festival, lodging, and prizes from sponsors
* Meetings with industry guests to pitch, network, and get advice
* An exclusive industry party will be held at the festival in honor of the 1st place winner
* All finalists are invited and the 2nd and 3rd place runner-ups will receive a gift bag filled with prizes
Competition is now open to ALL screenwriters, professional and non-professional regardless of where they were born or currently reside, including members of the Writers Guild of America. Screenplays will be judged on merit and production criteria by a panel of industry professionals.
Entry Deadline is April 1, 2010--so pull that Juno meets Shaun of the Dead out of your desk drawer, dust it off, and get to work!
Check out the Waterfront Film Festival website for more info.
We’re mid-way through the Spring 2010 season and a new slate of classes are starting up soon. Food and Travel Writing will teach you how to turn The Worst Family Vacation Ever into a great essay. Or are you a foodie at heart? Then swing those skills into money-making magazine articles. In this four-week class we’ll explore our relationship with food, family, emotion and identity.
Kate Ancell, who has written for just about every magazine under the sun, is teaching this class. I took Freelance Magazine Writing with Kate last semester, and let me tell you, this lady is a hoot! Not only does she know every dirty detail about the magazine biz, she will have you falling off your chair with laughter at her stories, quips and weird words of wisdom.
But the class isn’t just about fun. You’ll also examine essays by MFK Fisher, Julia Reed, Bill Bryson and Calvin Trillin. You’ll have plenty of opportunity write with in-class prompts, homework, and finally workshop sessions to hone your story. Visit our website to learn more about this class or register.
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