Tayari's Blog: April 2006
April 28, 2006
Likeability?
What's your position about likeable charaters? I've been told that they key to a successful novel is that you have to have a main character that readers will "fall in love with." I am not sure where I am on this issue. I can see how reading about a character you "love" can draw a reader into a novel. I am thinking about the strong emotional reaction a lot of folks have to Celie, Shug, and Sophia from The Color Purple. But what about the characters in Sula? I didn't particularly like any of them as people, but I do love that novel.
April 26, 2006
I *Heart* Target
I am thrilled to pieces that Target has chosen The Untelling as a "breakout book"! This means it will be featured in all 1,431 Target stores all around the country.
Are you thinking: "They sell books at Target?"
Yes, they do. And I think that Target just may be our new favorite bookstore.
April 25, 2006
Publishing Opp: ColorLines Fiction Issue
This just in:
ColorLines, the national newsmagazine on race and politics, is proud to announce its first issue devoted to fiction!
ColorLines is looking for short stories and novel excerpts written by people of color. They are specifically interested in fiction that addresses the themes of race, politics, immigration and culture. They are open to a range of genres including fantasy, literary stories, crime, and mystery.
Due date: July 15, 2006
Submission guidelines
Your submission should be between 3,000 and 5,000 words.
Send it as an electronic version (as a Microsoft Word attachment or rich text file) to daisy@arc.org. The subject line of your email should read: SUBMISSION and your full name.
The piece should not have been previously published. Let ColorLines know if you're submitting it simultaneously to other publications.
Payment: $100 plus two copies of the magazine.
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Category:
The Writing Life
April 22, 2006
Race, Sex, Erica Jong...
I was listening to Erica Jong on The Bat Segundo Show, one of my favorite podcasts. Jong spoke with Ed Champion at length about what it means to be a woman writer. They investigated the issue of "chick lit" and the ways it marginalizes women writers. The discussion was quite interesting. Then, they started talking about which women writers are respected in the American literary world, and no one mentioned TONI MORRISON. I was thinking, WTF? What does a sister have to do to be thought of as respected? She won the NOBEL! Ms. Morrison DID come up later in the discussion when Ms. Jong started talking about BLACK writers. The whole thing left me feeling a little bit queasy. As Sojourner Truth said in 1851, "Ain't I A Woman?"
Posted at 08:19 AM | Comments (12)
Category:
The Writing Life
April 21, 2006
bow wow wow yipppie-o yippe-ay
Snoop Dog has written a novel called Love Don't Live Here No More. The idea is that a book will help him better connect with women. I don't even know what to say.
(thx ed)
Summer Work For Writers in Atlanta
The Bureau of Cultural Affairs is seeking literary artists to teach this summer in Atlanta.
The following outlines some brief details:
90 minute Studio
15 - 20 students
3 groups
It pays $5,000 for 8 weeks.
Artists must develop their own curriculum.
Please send resumes and any questions to Shawn
dejones@atlantaga.gov.
Posted at 09:25 AM | Comments (1)
Category:
The Writing Life
April 19, 2006
At Last! "We Speak Your Names"
I was originally planning this post to remind you all that Pearl Cleage and I will be speaking at the North Carolina Book Festival on Sunday, April 30th at 1:30 pm. But while I was getting the post together, I saw Pearl on instant message and she told me that the poem she wrote for Oprah's Legends Party, WE SPEAK YOUR NAMES, will be published next month! You can preorder here. And here's the real treat: Pearl has recorded the audio in her own lovely voice!
Publicity and Poverty
I just saw this article about a writer who gambled his savings to raise cash to promote his novel. Folks, this is a bad idea.
Posted at 06:42 AM | Comments (2)
Category:
The Writing Life
April 17, 2006
Residency Opportunity in Japan
I wish I could take the time off to take advantage of something like this:
Deadline: June 26, 2006 - The U.S.-Japan Creative Artists’ Program provides five-month residencies in Japan for individual creative artists in any discipline. While in Japan, artists work on an individual project that may include the creation of new work or pursuit of other artistic goals. When planning the stay abroad, artists should consider how exposure to Japan’s contemporary or traditional cultures can influence their creative work. Five awards are made annually. This program is administered jointly by the National Endowment for the Arts and the Japan-U.S. Friendship Commission. Guidelines are available at www.jusfc.gov.
Posted at 07:08 AM | Comments (0)
Category:
The Writing Life
Listenable Literature
Yesterday, I was in a really funky mood. I did everything I could to shake it. I went for a long walk, I checked out the gorgeous DC foliage, I performed a little chocolate therapy, did my hair, my nails... you get the idea. But nothing was working. Finally, I tried listening to some authors reading thier work on line. And it worked. I want to tell you about the three readings I enjoyed most. They are all on the KQED Writers Block page. On the left you will see a list of stories. Just click and listen.
My stand out favorite (so far) is "Girl Reporter". In this piece Lois Lane tells her side of the story.
"Baby Be of Use," is a pretty funny monologue of a woman trying to get her newborn to do something useful around the house. "If you can shake a rattle, why not a martini?"
"Animals Here Below," features a child narrator (one of my favorite points of view). The kids are trying to get their mom to come back home. Simple plot, but movingly done.
"Devil in the Details," is a memoir about a teenager with a mental illness being taken to Paris by her parents. I liked it a lot better than I thought I would.
"Fusion City", by Kate Braverman.. well, it's Kate Braverman.
and, you know I have to say this... the list is not exactly teeming with diversity, but I did enjoy listening.
April 14, 2006
Got Poetry?
Yesterday, poet Natasha Trethewey visited George Washington University and read from her gorgeous new book, Native Guard. Natasha is my home girl (in a way. She claims Mississipi, but she went to Venetian Hills and Redan... sounds like an ATLien to me.) Anyway, she is a magnificent poet. I loved her first two books: Domestic Work and Belloq's Ophelia.
Domestic Work is made up of poems from the point of view of the (black) folks who make thier lives through serving others: cooks, welders, maids, drivers, etc. Belloq's Ophelia takes us into the lives of the mixed-race prostitutes in New Orleans' infamous Storyville district.
In her new work, Native Guard, Natasha tackles more person subject matter. She told me that she started this book to write poems about the black soilders who fought in the civil war and indeed, the collection does cover this subject matter. However, she said she found herself writing beautiful and heartbreaking elegies for her mother who passed away at age forty, Natasha's current age. She also writes about her parent's interracial marraige. The poem that the critics often mention is called "Incident", which borrows its title from Countee Cullen. This poem tells of the time the family woke to a cross-burning on their front yard. It begins and ends with, "We tell the story every year."
I love this book. Read it. Buy it. Make someone else read it too.
April 11, 2006
Happy Birthday, Spelman!
One hundred and twenty-five years ago, Harriet Giles and Sophia Packard opened a school for negro women called the Atlanta Baptist Female Seminary, later to be named Spelman College. The money for the venture came literally from the pockets of John D. Rockefeller who was so impressed with Giles and Packard that he gave them all the money he had on his person. It was $100.
Posted at 07:24 AM | Comments (4)
Category:
The Writing Life
April 09, 2006
NYT vs George Saunders
George Saunders has a new book of short stories, In Persuasion Nation. I have to admit that I haven't exactly camped out in front of B&N to get a copy. But after reading how he handled a really funky interviewer from the NYT, I think I'll buy it, much in the same way that I decided to support the Dixie Chicks after the right wing tried to ruin thier careers. Here is my favorite zinger from the article. (For Champ's fave, click here.)
These days you're teaching at Syracuse University and you've published two other short-story collections, "Pastoralia" and "CivilWarLand in Bad Decline." Might you try writing a novel in the future?I just did. It's very innovative. It is only 25 pages long.
Tayari's Breadloaf Reading
Me, reading from Leaving Atlanta at Breadloaf 2003. It takes a long time to load.. I can't figure out how to make it faster. Techies.. HELP!
Posted at 08:05 PM | Comments (1)
Category:
The Writing Life
April 08, 2006
Press and Curl
As evidenced by the drama surrounding Representative Cynthia McKinney, black women have a complicated relationship with thier hair. Those of you who know me, know that I am (to quote Digable Planets) a "plaits, twists, or braids" kind of sister. However, my new novel, The Bigamist's Daughters, involves the proprietress of a small hair salon. So, what's a dedicated writer to do? Research!
I made an appointment to see Elias, of Elias IV Hair, and booked myself for an old-fashioned press and curl. You can see the rest of the photos, here. And, you can email Elias, here.
Posted at 08:04 AM | Comments (6)
Category:
The Writing Life
April 05, 2006
Pop a Cork!-- JMM Writer In Residence
More happy-dancing is in order. I've just found out that I will be the 2006 Jenny McKean Moore Writer in Residence at George Washington University. It's a sweet gig. Low teaching load, cool Foggy Bottom Housing, and of course THIS MEANS ANOTHER YEAR IN DC!
Here's the good part: The Jenny McKean Moore writer in residence also offers a FREE community writing class for people in the DC Area. There will be more details to come, but if you would be interested in participating the class, comment and I will put you on the list of people to send more information!
April 03, 2006
Reading List
I usually do a number of blog entries on books I've recently read. However, I only write about a book if I am crazy about it and I haven't really been charmed by any of the books I have read this year. Can somebody recommend a book for me? I got my hands on a couple of sexy-looking poetry books this weekend. Maybe verse will rejuvinate me.