I’m thrilled to share that the audiobook for Dreams Under Glass will release Fall 2024, and you’ll be able to purchase a copy through all major platforms or borrow one through your public library. Sound was a very important part of the composition of this book, both because I wanted it to sound “New York-y” in a way that felt homey to me and because I worked on it as a Jack Straw Writing Fellow in 2015, a program that trains writers for performance and voice recording. (You’ll see via the Jack Straw link that back then the work-in-progress was simply titled Paralegal. Titles are hard!) I am not the narrator of this audiobook—a professional narrator is—and I can’t wait to listen to their interpretation of my novel. Huzzah!
I had a delightful time chatting with Joy Lanzendorfer yesterday on her radio show “What’s the Story?” which airs on The Krush 95.9 in Sonoma County. You can listen to the podcast here:
Be sure to check out Joy’s novel Right Back Where We Started From, which shares American Dream themes with Dreams Under Glass.
I'm delighted to have a new short story out today in Gordon Square Review, a journal based in Cleveland that spotlights writers from Northeast Ohio alongside those from around the world. Here's how "Hinges" begins:
"In fact in Vienna I starved a little."
If you'd like to hear me read a snippet of the story, and snippets from the stories, essays, and poems in Issue 7, register here for the virtual launch party happening tomorrow at 7:30 pm EST! (And, if you'd like to hear me read tonight, I'll be discussing the politics of then and now in historic fiction virtually at Greenlight Bookstore with Kris Waldherr, author of The Lost History of Dreams, and Tauno Biltsted, author of The Anatomist's Tale; register here for tonight's event.)
Many thanks to Prose Editor Nardine Taleb, Editor-in-Chief Laura Maylene Walter, Issue 7 Prose Readers Jackie Krogmeier, Alexandra Magearu, and Valli Jo Porter, everyone at Gordon Square Review and Literary Cleveland!
On Saturday night, members of the Bushwick Book Club Seattle performed music inspired by Seattle7Writers Laurie Frankel, Michael Schmeltzer, and me! It was quite an experience to see the cover of Daughters of the Air projected onto the big screen as three tremendously talented singer/songwriters performed music written in response to it. Some drew directly from the text, weaving my words into their lyrics, and others told the story in a new way, drawing from the emotional complexities of the difficult mother-daughter relationship and painful history. Fifteen years of work and 260 pages of fraught novel distilled into three beautiful songs! I got a little verklempt. You can listen to some of the songs from that night right over here.
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Alex Guy of Led to Sea -
Joy Mills -
Sean Morse with bandmates -
Mid-concert trivia -
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Authors & musicians discussing the experience of art inspired by other art.
Yesterday, I got a sneak peek at a song Sean Morse is writing in response to Daughters of the Air for Word Play: Original Music inspired by Seattle7Writers. The theme of the concert (happening on March 2 at Hugo House) is "Transformations," which is certainly fitting for the metamorphoses in my novel. But it's also super cool to experience a transformation of one art form to another. And what a honor to have one's own work transformed!
I've long used visual art as inspiration for my writing. I've also reflected upon writing in response to music and dance. Whenever I'm stuck in my writing taking in another form helps. (Long walks also help, almost always.) Hearing Sean's concepts and interpretations gave a whole other dimension to the difficult mother-daughter relationship in my book, and the larger societal problem of looking away from atrocity. I'm looking forward to sharing a link to all the songs once they're recorded—Sean's has been looping in my head all day today!
And, I'm excited to hear songs from the rest of the Bushwick Book Club, which is such a neat organization that has put on numerous concerts launching from classics, new releases, the Jack Straw Writers Program, and the like. Several years ago, The Furnace partnered with BBC and Bradford Loomis wrote a beautiful song in response to my short story "More Like Home Than Home" which is now on his album Banner Days.
So, on March 2, Sean Morse, Alex Guy and Joy Mills will perform music inspired by Daughters of the Air. Wes Weddell, Simon Kornelis, and Reggie Garrett will perform music inspired by Michael Schmelter's book of poetry Blood Song. And, Amanda Winterhalter, Nottingham/Wicks, and Nessa Grasing will perform music inspired by Laurie Frankel's novel This is How it Always Is.
Hearing all of these transformations live will be a real treat. If you're in Seattle, I hope you can make it! Proceeds from ticket sales will benefit STYLE: Songwriting Through Youth Literature Education.
It was super fun creating a playlist of music related to Daughters of the Air for David Gutowski's literature and music blog, Largehearted Boy. I've included music from the time of the book, the late '70s and early '80s, as well as music that fits the atmosphere (dark, weird). Grace Jones and Klaus Nomi and Arcade Fire and Antony and the Johnsons and more! Have a listen right here.
Over the summer, while immersing myself in Jess Walter's fiction in preparation for interviewing him in December (you can now watch his Word Works talk on time, and the Q & A, here on YouTube), I reread his story "Don't Eat Cat" and felt compelled to write my own zombie story. And, because it's me, it's a bit a fairy tale-ish. "Scrolling Through the Feed" went online this morning in Cascadia Magazine, a new publication focusing on the Pacific Northwest, from British Columbia to Oregon. I'm happy there's a new venue gathering long-form journalism, fiction, and poetry from the region, and one that that thinks beyond our borders.It feels somehow appropriate for the story to go up on the same day of the State of the Union, which I will not watch. Thankfully, I'm reading tonight at the Literary Happy Hour at Capitol Cider, alongside Bill Carty, Jarret Middleton, and Jekeva Philips, hosted by Josh Potter. It runs from 5-7 pm. In line with their "drafts and drafts" theme, I'll give a micro-craft talk on one of the earliest inspirations for Daughters of the Air. Speaking of which, this is your last chance (ever?) to enter to win a free copy of the novel on Goodreads. Go get it!
Hello, hello! I have three readings this month:
- Saturday, June 10, 5-7 pm: I'm reading with Vancouver, B.C.-based novelist and musician Leanne Dunic and my fellow 2015 Jack Straw fellow Bernard Grant at Chin Music Press's Pike Place Market showroom. It's a lovely bookshop with views of the water. Michael will host! Facebook event here. Update 6.7.17: The Seattle Review of Books literary event of the week!
- Saturday, June 24, 10 am-12 pm: June Write-In at Hugo House Co-Presented with Write Democracy. I'm going to read a new essay in this series supporting free speech and the value of arts in our democracy. I'll be joined by afrose fatima ahmed and Catherine Bull. The event will include writing prompts!
- Tuesday, June 27, 5-7 pm: Capitol Cider Literary Happy Hour. This series mixes happy hour with readings and craft talks. Fun!
Dang it. Despite world affairs being horrendous, I'm going to relish some good things that happened in 2016. First, I achieved my goal of obtaining 100 rejections (106!). If you're not getting rejecting 90% of the time, you're not aiming high enough--so goes the wisdom from Creative Capital. The fruits of this labor paid off with eight publications. Here they are, plus other goodness. (Find the zoetrope!)
- Artist Trust and Gar LaSalle threw a party to celebrate my winning the inaugural Gar LaSalle Storyteller Award. With delicious homemade pizza! Pictures here. Thank you, forever, Gar and Artist Trust. The door this award opened is tremendous. And congrats to the 2016 winner, Peter Mountford! I can't wait to read his next novel, In The Rush of Everything.
- Jewish in Seattle published my personal essay "Threads of Memory" and my first feature article "Art After Auschwitz."
- Steve Barker interviewed me for his podcast Ordinary Madness. Check out his debut essay collection Now For The Disappointing Part.
- Pacifica Literary Review published "How Do I Fit This Ghost In My Mouth," my first poem.
- The Rumpus published my personal essay "Used To Be Schwartz," featuring a very sad ham sandwich.
- M & I traveled to the Netherlands so I could research Novel #3.
- The anthology Airplane Reading included my essay "Mapping Imagination," about travelling to Argentina to research Novel #1, Dirty.
- The Jack Straw Cultural Center released a podcast from my 2015 fellowship, in which I discussed with Kevin Craft Novel #2, Paralegal, and read an excerpt. It's got cabbage and spite in it.
- The Los Angeles Review of Books published my essay "Dark Fruit: A Cultural and Personal History of the Plum." Hooray for plums! This essay was a loooooong time in the making.
- Syntax & Salt published two micro-fairy tales.
- For their 30th Anniversary celebration, Artist Trust included my story "Cauliflower Tells You" in the window of V2, a temporary collaborative arts space that used to be a Value Village. The party was super fun; I especially enjoyed Cathy McClure's installation in the elevator, "Such a Nasty Woman." It's similar to her piece "Carnival of Life" except with female figurines.
- Moss published my story "Don't Worry," inspired by something disturbing I overheard at Anne Frank Huis.
- Though I am sad Corinne and I brought The Furnace to a close, our farewell evening was just beautiful. Lisa Nicholas-Ritscher closed out the night by leading a sing along to "Dance Me To The End of Love" with the help of the klezmer group The Schtick Figures. Ah, Leonard Cohen! RIP.
My plans for the holidays including gorging myself on kreplach, cholent, pizza, and rainbow cookies and devouring Donna Tartt's The Secret History and Paula Fox's Desperate Characters. Happy winter solstice!
The podcast from my 2015 Jack Straw fellowship is now up on their blog. Curator Kevin Craft spoke with me about my novel-in-progress PARALEGAL and the creative process. Then I read an excerpt, featuring, among other things, cabbage and spite. (Per Levi Fuller's recommendation, I might retitle it CABBAGE AND SPITE.)Here's how the podcast begins:
Sometimes she wondered if part of her motivation to pursue art was simply spite.
ListenYou can pick up an anthology with this excerpt and those of all the 2015 fellows here. Many thanks to Kevin Craft, Levi Fuller, Joan Rabinowitz, and everyone at Jack Straw Cultural Center!
Yesterday I had the pleasure of chatting with Steve Barker for the 76th edition of Ordinary Madness, his Arts & Entertainment podcast. We talked about novel writing, rejection, The Furnace, the effects of winning awards, and a bit about my time at McGill University in Montreal. I also read two short-short stories, one of which is quite new. Fun!
Many thanks to Samudre Media for documenting Pay Dirt, the event culminating a year + of work on my novel PARALEGAL, thanks to an Art Project grant from 4Culture and a Jack Straw Fellowship. The Samudres do beautiful work in the Seattle arts community.
I'm very happy to have been chosen for the 2015 Jack Straw Writers Program by curator Kevin Craft. This is a great program in Seattle (though folks from Portland; Vancouver, B.C.; Olympia; Walla Walla and elsewhere in the region have participated) giving writers training and experience with recording, presentation, and author interviews as well as encouraging the development of new work and providing new venues for sharing their work with the public.I'll be using the program to continue developing my second novel, which I'm calling Paralegal for now, though that might change. We had a very nice orientation last night, and it was really lovely to hear snippets of poetry and fiction from each of the eleven other fellows! Stay tuned for the public readings (starting in May and continuing through the end of 2015) and a podcast featuring excerpts from my reading and author interview.
My sixth set of writing prompts for the Ploughshares blog dives into the vast territory of creative writing involving music, with wisdom from E.M. Forester, Milan Kundera, and Maya Sonenberg, and a short list of reading suggestions from Baldwin's "Sonny's Blues" to a forthcoming novel on the inventor of the theremin.
Forgive my hyperbole, but I really enjoyed AWP this year. Maybe it was because this was the fourth I attended, so it was less overwhelming. Maybe it was because it was in Seattle, so I got to see so many friends and sleep in my own bed. Maybe it was because I had a chance to read alongside some really lovely writers. Maybe it was because I got to bring M to the book fair on Saturday and he made many tired exhibitors laugh. I *did* have violent heart palpitations the weekend before the conference as I stressed out over the three readings I had, but somehow these subsided by Tuesday, and by Thursday it was one big love fest. Here are some highlights.Notes on the PracticalOn Thursday I attended Kristen Young's panel Like Sand to a Beach: Bringing Your Book to Market. Jarrett Middleton of Dark Coast Press gave a really informative overview of the publishing process, especially when it comes to distribution. I had no idea how scary a pre-sales conference is (when a publisher pitches the merits of a title to all the big guns of a distributor and they try to poke holes in your marketing plan). I also didn't know that a book has about 90 days or one quarter in a bookstore before it gets returned to the warehouse. Karen Maeda Allman of Elliott Bay Book Company gave the bookseller's perspective. My favorite advice of hers about author events is to "invite everyone you know, encourage them to bring friends, and invite your 'Kevin Bacon' friend--the one who knows everyone." All of her presentation slides are available on this beautiful Tumblr. Author Jonathan Evison emphasized building communities and taking the time to invite friends individually to your events rather than through mass emails. He also said, "Even if only six people come to your B & N event in south Austin, take the events coordinator to the Cheesecake Factory afterwards and get her drunk. She'll keep selling your books." Finally, Rachel Fershleiser of Tumblr gave an overview her experiences as a book publicist and of what she calls the "bookternet" -- smart people being silly on the internet with sites like Last Night's Reading.A Controversial PanelFriday morning I attended the panel Magic and Intellect. It was packed to the gills; magic must be popular! Something extraordinary occurred at this panel that so far one blogger I know of has recounted and it is worthwhile to read her account. I hope more people will write on it. I haven't had the mind space to do so; I'm still processing. But I did come away from it feeling affirmed, that imaginative writing is necessary. Rikki Ducornet said, "The human mind & imagination cannot sustain itself in a constant state of emergency," and Kate Bernheimer said, "Solutions in fairy tales often require radical acts. If you're in an incestuous, abusive relationship, you might need to cut off your finger to use as a key to get out of a room." And Rikki Ducornet offered this advice: "For a difficult book to be readable, 'find a language that levitates somehow, that is scintillating'" (last quotation via Mackenzie Hulton on Twitter).One Really Cool Thing from the Book Fair: Envisioning the Future of the BookI cannot begin to describe the many, many books I acquired last week. So I will simply share one very cool thing, Columbia College Chicago's Center for Book & Paper Expanded Artists' Books. They displayed a hybrid artist book with heat-sensitive ink and an embedded iPad; if you pressed your hand on the page, different words erased and different words appeared on the iPad. What alchemy.Readings GaloreI had the pleasure of reading fairy tales with Maya Sonenberg, Rikki Ducornet, and Valerie Arvidson. I was pleasantly surprised to see a fairly large room fill with people eager to hear stories. Somehow each of us included food in our stories--I hurriedly jotted the phrase "saffron buns and candied salmon" as Valerie read--and that made me immensely happy.At Canoe Social Club, I read with Andrew Ladd, Michael Nye, and Wesley Rothman. I'd finished Andrew's book What Ends Tuesday night and it had me sobbing by the end. In addition to making me think about the issues that got me crying, it got me thinking about the books that also made me cry like that--Sophie's Choice, A Tree Grows in Brooklyn-- so maybe I'll write a separate post on that topic. I picked up Michael's story collection Strategies Against Extinction; of course I will read the story "Sparring Vladimir Putin" first because obviously. I can't wait. Wesley is working on a collection that may be called Sub-Woofer--keep your ears peeled!Chris Abani and Chang-rae Lee did a wonderful reading and conversation. I already read The Secret History of Las Vegas (it's powerful!), but hearing Chris read the opening and another section concerned with fairy tales gave me shivers.I got to read with 13 others affiliated with the Univesity of Washington MFA and the Cambridge Writers Workshop. We filled up Victrola's back room and then most of us retired to Coastal Kitchen for drinks, snacks, and exquisite corpse. Coincidentally, I sat beside someone I'd only known through twitter and had no idea would be there. The future is now!In the lovely subterranean Alibi Room, I got to see the UNC-Wilmington alumni reading, which featured several friends and which introduced me to the wonderful work of Rochelle Hurt and Kate Sweeney. You should check out their respective books, The Rusted City and American Afterlife. Finally, read Paul Constant's take on the conference here, which includes high praise for my Furnace co-conspirator Corinne Manning and her Alice Blue chapbook "A Slow and Steady Eruption." Hooray!
Over on the Ploughshares blog, my second writing prompt revels in the wonders of eavesdropping and overheard conversations. Whether you recently overheard some choice nuggets of wisdom or gossip or are looking to sharpen your ability to write dialogue, click on over to join the fun.
Last night, I had a lovely time reading in Chelsea Kurnick's YouTube-based reading series The Casserole. I read from my novel Dirty alongside Andrew Ladd, whose novel What Ends won the 2012 AWP award and will be published in January 2014 by New Issues Press and in August 2014 by Oneworld in the UK. As you'll hear in the reading, Andrew's writing is beautiful and the scope of his novel impressive and compelling. I'm looking forward to reading with him in person at our off-site event during the AWP conference in Seattle: Thursday, February 27, at 8 pm, at Eltana. Why Eltana? Well, Andrew and I met in a writing group in Montreal when we both attended McGill University. It's nice to have a bit of Montreal in Seattle via the Montreal-style bagels of Eltana. Also, the space is lovely.
But, back to The Casserole. What a neat idea! Chelsea has also featured two other writer friends and co-conspirators of mine, Corinne Manning and Kristen Young. Corinne read a hilarious short story, "Professor M," from her wonderful collection-in-progress. Watch for her forthcoming chapbook from Alice Blue Books' Shotgun Wedding Series, out later this fall, and read her gut-punching-beautiful novel excerpt in Drunken Boat. Kristen read an excerpt from her ambitious, layered novel Subduction, which is ultimately about "wanting more than we have, longing to belong, and choosing, only to lament our choices." Watch for an excerpt in the December issue of City Arts Magazine.
Here's the video from my reading with Andrew:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6RiqSDmNNNM
This post is extra linky! I'm looking forward to reading at the second annual Seattle Lit Crawl as a part of Dark Coast Press: Works in Progress. I'll be reading during Phase Two of the crawl (7-7:45 pm) at Sam's Tavern (1024 E Pike St.) with Jarret Middleton and John Hamilton. As the name of the event implies, I'll be reading new/unpublished work.There will be tons of readings that night (about 60+ authors in 19 venues all about town). Before my reading, during Phase One of the crawl (6-6:45 pm), I plan to be at Three Jennys Walk into a Bar, also at Sam's Tavern, and featuring Jennifer D. Munro, Jenny Hayes, and Jenny Forester, with host Jenny Neill; they'll be telling tales of lust, loneliness, and the American West. After my reading, I'll saunter down the street for Phase Three (8-8:45 pm) to Lobby Bar (916 E Pike St.) to see my Furnace reading series co-conspirator Corinne Manning and my fellow Made at Hugo House fellow Irene Keliher read alongside Cole Arden Peake and Jeremy Halinen, with host Jaimee Garbacik in A Big Ol’-Fashioned Queer Bash.Then it's off to the mother ship--Richard Hugo House-- for the after party!
In case you couldn't make it or wanted to watch again, here's the video from my final Made at Hugo House reading. I read half of my story "Healers," which I workshopped at the Tin House Writers' Workshop this summer and which may be the final story in my collection MORE LIKE HOME THAN HOME. Many thanks to Samudre Media for recording![youtube=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DVbvZoFVd1c&feature=youtu.be]
The 2012-13 Made at Hugo House Fellowship is coming to an end (sad day!), and the first of our three final readings is this very Tuesday.Come see what we've been toiling away at all year:
- Poetry! September 10. Katie Ogle will read from THE SMALLEST GUN I COULD FIND which follows a conversation between a speaker and her homonculus (Latin for "little man"). Bill Carty will read from YOU TROUBLER (Ahab to Elijah: "Is it you, you troubler of Israel?" Taylor Swift: "I knew you were trouble.")
- Fiction! September 25.Irene Keliher will read from her dystopian novel THE VISIONARIES, Eric McMillan will read from CLEAR, his novel about the Iraq war, and I will read from my story collection MORE LIKE HOME THAN HOME.
- Nonfiction! November 21. Elissa Washuta will read from her second memoir, STARVATION MODE, along with Claire Jackson and Catherine Slaton.
These readings will be amazing! Come, come, come!It's been a wonderful year meeting with these talented writers, hearing guest speakers on topics such as grants and first book publications, taking free Hugo House classes, and snatching up surprise opportunities along the way, like Hedgebrook's Spring Salon. This year, I started to feel much more integrated in Seattle's literary community. And the fellowship encouraged me to roll up my sleeves, get more writing done, and get my writing out into the world more aggressively than I have ever done before. "The Zoo," the first story I wrote with the fellowship in mind (while nervously waiting to hear back about the fellowship, actually), was published in January, and two stories I've revised this year will be coming out later this fall (details to come). I workshopped what I believe will be the last story in MORE LIKE HOME THAN HOME at the Tin House conference, and I'm excited to read it on the 25th. Many thanks to Brian McGuigan for coming up with this program and to Hugo House for making it happen!And check out the 2013-14 fellows!(Whew. I think I exhausted my monthly allotment of exclamation points.)