Oy. What to say? I’m still thinking about the slaughter in Las Vegas. And our country’s lack of response to gun violence. One thing I plan to do is continue to support the Brady Campaign to Prevent Gun Violence. Now for news. First off, I want to express my sadness at learning Susan Elbe passed away. We both had work in Kiss Me Goodnight so I met her that way, but I was also her FB friend and I enjoyed her posts and poems. An obituary is linked here. Also, I want … [Read more...]
Go, read, submit
Hey there. Hope all is well with you. Mark your calendar for Book Fort's winter Pop Up Book Fair presented by Curbside Splendor, which will be held Sunday, November 8th, from 1:00 to 6:00 pm at Empty Bottle (1035 N Western). This is a great event and always a lot of fun. You get to support Chicago's literary talents and enjoy a tasty beverage (I've heard the Bloody Marys are great). There may still be spaces available for exhibitors -- contact Catherine Eves (catherine … [Read more...]
News, call for submissions, and what’s “just?”
Jan Bottiglieri has a book of poems out—it is called Alloy and it is from Mayapple Press. Here's how Mayapple describes Jan's book: "A butterfly casts the shadow of a man; a homesick mermaid cleans teeth; a young girl pushes a heavy iron, singing. In Alloy, these and others (daughter, mother, astronaut; an occasional zombie or alien) find voice through poems exploring memory in all its shifting sense and purpose: from childhood recollection to adult reckoning, from folklore … [Read more...]
Literary wanderings
Here’s where my literary curiosity has taken me lately. First, I’ve been reading some of the Lord Peter Whimsey books Dorothy L. Sayers. They’re like delicious candy but then amongst the sweet something sour and bitter surfaces, and that is the racial and religious epithets used in those days (1920s and 1930s). In one way I think it’s great we don’t use those words any more, but then I remember the Redskins. The new U.S. Poet Laureate, Charles Wright did an interview … [Read more...]
News from contributors: Levine, Boyle, Bass, Meno, Somlo, Kirk, Bottiglieri, Beals
Solace in So Many Words contributors have been busy. Here’s a look at what they have been up to. Philip Levine has a poem “The Future” in the January 6 issue of The New Yorker, which begins this way, “The past is no more past / than the future,” and ends “but the day kept going / on and on into the future.” T. C. Boyle who released his tenth book of short stories (T. C. Boyle Stories II) in 2013 is working on a novel The Harder They Come. I'm about a half-year late … [Read more...]