Tayari's Blog: July 2006
July 26, 2006
Because She Can?
Jhumpa Lahiri, winner of the Pulitzer Prize and countless other awards has won an NEA grant in literature. The NEAs are suppossed to help writers at a critical point in their careers. Ed is not okay with this. What do you think?
Posted at 02:52 PM | ![[comments]](http://www.tayarijones.com/images/comments.gif){kind=small}
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Category:
The Writing Life
July 25, 2006
do you outline?
I don't. I'd rather stick needles in my eyes. Really. For me, I write the story to figure out what's going to happen, to get to know my characters. My good friend and mentor, Pearl Cleage, uses a character chart to get acquainted with the people in her books. She gave me copy about fifteen years ago and I tried really hard to use it.
July 24, 2006
COMMUNITY WRITING WORKSHOP in DC
Class meets, Tuesdays, 6:30-8:30
September 12-Decemeber 5
As I mentioned a few months back, I have the honor of being the Jenny McKean Moore Writer in Residence at George Washington University. To apply, you need not have academic qualifications. Writers who are at the beginning or intermediate level will benefit most from this weekly workshop. The class will focus on reading short fiction by established writers as well as roundtable critique of work submitted by class memebers. There are no fees to attend the class, but you will be respinsible for making enough copies of your story for all ten participants. (Students at GW and consortium schools are not eligible to apply.)
To apply, please sent a letter of interest (by US mail), outlining your experience with creative writing and your motivations for taking the course. make sure you include you name, address, home and work telephone numbers. Enclose a 10-15 page sample of your work. If you wish to have your sample returned, please include a SASE. Applicants will be notified of acceptance by September 1.
Applications must be postmarked by August 25th, but the earlier you send, the better.
Fiction Workshop
Department of English
The George Washington University
801 22nd Street (Suite 760)
Washington, DC 20052
July 23, 2006
Sonia Sanchez: Grandma For Peace
Pearl Cleage forwarded to me this message from Sonia Sanchez:
Sisters/Brothers/Humans,
I need your support. 11 mothers/grandmothers (including myself) were arrested last week after staging a sit-in at a local recruitment office.
We went to enlist -- thinking if they sent us, we could talk to Iranian mothers/grandmothers about ending this war we're in. We were released that same night but were informed that we would go to trial on December 1, 2006 at 8:30am.
The trial is to be held at the Community Courthouse in Philadelphia. I'm asking that you all come out to support us on that day.
In love/struggle,
Sonia Sanchez
Contact Faye Harrison directly for details on how to contact Sister Sonia.
Posted at 02:17 PM | Comments (2)
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July 22, 2006
MJB at MSG
I was wary about the large venue, but I shouldn't have been. You need a big space to hold all the love that NYC has for its Queen.
MJB was beautiful and utterly genuine. The crowd roared its love back to her with the best audience participation since Earth Wind and Fire. After the opening chords for "I'm Going Down" rang out, MJB just held the mic out to the stands and we sang the whole damn song. All three verses. I know we came to hear Mary, but she has a way of making you learn to grove to your own voice and the voices of all your sisters, too.
Ashe.
Posted at 09:04 AM | Comments (1)
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July 21, 2006
"The Power of Black Fiction"
Shalema has brought to my attention as article in Publishers Weekly on-line by Maliaka Adero, an editor at Atria books. She is responding to Nick Chiles's much forwarded essay, "Their Eyes Were Reading Smut." You can read Adero's article yourself, but here is a quick summary. Adero admits to publishing quite a bit of "smut" but she also has literary authors on her list. Her major point is that the two kinds of authors need to learn from each other. The literary authors need better business sense and the commerical people need to learn to write better. That is a real over simplification of her point, probably, but I am in an internet cafe and being charged by the milisecond.
I would just like to throw a couple of quick points out there. Why, oh why, is the article called "The Power of Black Fiction"? And second, does it seem that black writers are pressured to do it all: Write the darn book, market it, hustle it. I am taking a step back from the Tayari dog and pony show. It's not becaue I think I am too "up market" to do the hustle, but I can't write when I have sales figures dancing in my head, when I am sitting in hotels, when I am doing media all the time.
But I said I wasn't going to think about that stuff. I am on a little vacation. I will sip frozen lattes. I am seeing Mary J Blige tonight. I am not going to let P.W. worry me!
Posted at 11:08 AM | Comments (4)
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July 20, 2006
Skyscrapers and Everything...
Greetings from Gotham City.
A) I can't believe that I will be living here this time next year.
B) I *didn't* go to the Heavies concert afterall. (See, Ladylee, I am not a groupie.) Long story. Had a lovely night anyway.
C) Today, I am meeting with Linda, my publisista. We shall have a NY lunch. (Joke about NY lunches: women in NY don't eat lunch. They just lick thier cell phones.)
D) Gossip overheard: Noire has a new book coming out called "Thugalicious". I was thinking I should write one based on my own scandalous love life; I'm going to call it "Nerdalicious."
E) Exciting news: Guess who will be "featured headline reader" at the AWP conference in Atlanta next year.
F) Life is good.
Posted at 10:13 AM | Comments (5)
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July 19, 2006
Long Live The Hound
I am blogging on the road. I've chased The Brand New Heavies to NYC for thier Brooklyn show. How did I get here? Being a little too divalicious for the Chinatown bus, I opted to spend a few extra bucks for a seat on Greyhound. All I can say is "Viva La Hound!"
There were so many folks on the bus, many doing thier own things. At one point, the driver (from his bullet-proof pod) threatened to kick some people off if they didn't stop smoking. "I hope you have a partner or you will be walking alone from here to New York. It won't be nobody with you, just you and your Newports." I just watched the scenery, listening to the conversations around me.. and.. then.. I felt my writing brain click on! The click was so loud, I thought other folks could hear it.
My original plan upon arriving in NYC was to take a disco nap to be fresh for the concert. But instead, will be sitting at the tiny tiny desk, doing my REAL thing.
Posted at 01:49 PM | Comments (1)
Category:
The Writing Life
July 18, 2006
Amaud Jamaul Johnson Wins the Dorsett Prize
Amaud Johnson, coolest brother ever, has won the Dorsett Prize in poetry for his new collection, Red Summer. He is the first winner of this prize, which comes with a $10,000 prize. I am telling you here that he is my friend-- not in the interest of "disclosure," but because I am just so incredibly proud of him.
Red Summer is a collection of poetry exploring the race riots of 1919. It's got the magic poetry mojo to meld pain and beauty. Read this gorgeous and searing offering:
"Burlesque"
Watch the fire undress him,
how flame fingers each button,
rolls back his collar, unzips him
without sweet talk or mystery.
See how the skin begins to gather
at his ankles, how it slips into
the embers, how it shimmers
beneath him, unshapen, iridescent,
as candlelight on a dark negligee.
Come, look at him, at all his goods,
how his whole body becomes song,
an aria of light, a psalm's kaleidoscope.
Listen as he lets loose an opus,
night's national anthem, the tune
you can't name, but can't stop humming.
There, he burns brilliant as a blue note.
--Amaud Johnson
(I am sure many of you are familiar with the DC Anthem "Read a Book." Here's my update: "BUY a book. This one.")
ah, love!
This summer, I am chasing the Brand New Heavies all over the country and also reading love stories. I should warn you-- the only love stories I enjoy are love-gone-wrong stories. Love-gone-right is just fine and dandy for the participants, but for the reader, love is only interesting when it is in danger. Think about it: if Romeo and Juliette's parents had been okay with thier relationship, what would be the point? So, on that note I want to tell you about a short story collection, Instant Love, by Jami Attenberg.
Full disclosure: Lauren is representing this book. This is how I got it actually. She promised to send me something "yummy." Expecting chocolate, I was a little disappointed to get a book. The cover was a little off-putting-- a oddly-suggestive melting popsickle? I just wasn't feeling it. But since I heart Lauren, I picked it up anyway. And I am so glad I did.
The short version is that these are eleven stories about problematic love. My favorite was "Sarah Lee Meets A Millionaire." Short synopsis: an unlucky girl meets a dot com millionaire at a party. In the instant after she discovers he is a millionaire, she thinks of all the ways that it could change her life. ("Mom, I married a millionaire!") What I love so much about it is that it is the antidote to the stupid "gold digger" lore. It's not about the money. It's about the idea of the millionaire, the myth of the rich man,the grand luck of it, and the the vindication.
Okay. So I just really dug this whole entire book.
Now I want your suggestions. What should I read next?
July 17, 2006
The Up-side of Drama
Joy sent me a link, letting me know that Valerie Plame has just gotten a ginormous deal for her memoir. At least somebody besides Halliburton is making some money off this disaster that is the Iraq war.
While I begrudge Plame nothing-- afterall the leak of her identity has ruined her career; we can consider the $2.5M as a severence package-- my big question is: what will the rest of the book be about?
Posted at 04:20 PM | Comments (0)
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July 16, 2006
At the start of summer, my goal was the rewrite the first hundred pages of THE BIGAMIST’S DAUGHTERS, to get it ready for the marketplace. I went to the Gibraltar Point Artist Colony in Toronto with the idea to focus on the project. Or was I focusing on getting it ready for the market, which is not the same thing. I was thinking about making, Dana, my protagonist more “likeable” because that is what works on the market. While I was at the colony, I wasn’t just thinking about the project and the market, I was thinking about moving, selling my house, starting a new job. I was thinking about romance. I fretted about money, my hair, and I worried about my family. In short, I couldn’t really tune into my project. My book felt like work that needed doing, that I couldn’t make time for. Writing my novel fell into the same category as finally doing my taxes—something that had to be done. Wait a minute. Whatever happened to my passion?
Posted at 09:26 AM | Comments (4)
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July 12, 2006
Essence is Taking Requests
for their book club!
Posted at 08:41 AM | Comments (0)
Category:
The Writing Life
Talk It Up For a Good Cause
This is complicated, so I hope I get it right. La Publicista, Lauren, is working with MJ Rose on a really cool summer marketing campaign. It boils down to the idea that you can earn money for charity, by talking about Rose's new book, The Venus Fix. I am raising $5 just writing about it here. Go visit Lauren for more details.
Posted at 08:33 AM | Comments (0)
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July 11, 2006
The Untelling Gets H/W Nod
The Untelling has been nominated for the 2006 Hurston/Wright Legacy Award! As you can see, the competition is pretty stiff, but it really is an honor to be nominated. Here are the contenders:
Joplin 's Ghost (Atria Books) by Tananarive Due
Pride of Carthage (Doubleday)by David Anthony Durham
The Untelling (Warner Books) by Tayari Jones
Dancing in the Dark (Alfred A. Knopf) by Caryl Phillips
My Jim (Crown Publishing) by Nancy Rawles
Third Girl From the Left (Houghton Mifflin) by Martha Southgate
Click here to find out more about H/W and to see the nominees in the other categories.
Aspiring Paparazzi, Here's Your Chance
Jackie popped into Target in Pikesville, MD and snapped this photo of The Untelling! If you're in Target, take your camera phone and score me a photo.. and if you can, get a picture with YOU in it. There are cool prizes over here for everyone who participates!
Umm.. and.. if you're in the mood, you can truck over to target.com and write a review.
Posted at 10:08 AM | Comments (0)
Category:
The Writing Life
July 07, 2006
Tara Betts at 32
Last night, I went to the Mocha Hut on U Street because my friend, Tara Betts, was the featured reader at the Tuesday night Open Mike. Tara has been a performance poet for more than a decade now. She’s won slams, and all sorts of honors and accolades, applause and finger-snaps, but the bio line that no one can forget is that she appeared on “Def Poetry Jam.” She has diversified her interests these days, thinking about recording an album. Tara has pulled up stakes, leaving Chicago for NYC and she’s working on her MFA. She’s as good a poet as she ever was, probably even better, but things are different for Tara in the open-mic world. You see, Tara’s thirty-two years old.
Posted at 08:56 AM | Comments (2)
Category:
D.C. Diaries
July 04, 2006
We Still Wear The Mask, by Jelani Cobb
You all might remember my moking response to Ice Cube and other hip-hop stars' critque of Oprah Winfrey. Ice Cube, et al, accuse Ms. Winfrey of having a "problem" with hip-hop and demand that she invite them onto her show. Jelani Cobb, professor of history at Spelman College (my alma mater), intense culture-critic, and all-around righteous brother, has written a more serious and thought-provoking response. Meet Jelani, and read his essay.
These days, camouflage is the new black. Hip hop now operates on a single hope: that if the world mistakes kindness for weakness it can also be led to confuse meanness with strength.
Posted at 03:59 PM | Comments (7)
Category:
Current Events
, Guest Bloggers
July 02, 2006
Calling All Shutterbugs!
The Untelling has arrived at Target! It's a "breakout" book. If you find yourself in your local Target, and you see The Untelling, PLEASE take a quick snap of the display with your camera phone. It's even better if you can get a snap of YOURSELF and the display. Send them to me and I'll post. Best picture wins a PRIZE.
STEAL MY BOOK.... PLEASE!
So, on my way back to DC, I had to change planes in a major airport. As always, I cruised the bookstores in the terminal. There, behind the counter, I noticed the most amazing thing: books by black authors, prominently arranged. I saw a couple of E. Lynn Harris's titles, Eric Jerome Dickey's, and our favorite, Candylicker,-- just to name a few. Holy Cow, I thought. Publishers must be laying down some serious money for that kind of primo placement! None of my books were in this cushy spot, but it still did my heart good to see publishers throw their weight behind brother- and sister-writers. "Wow," I said to the woman behind the counter. "I bet you sell a lot of those!"
"I wish," she said. "We put them back here because a lot of those books just walk out the door!"
Posted at 12:26 PM | Comments (2)
Category:
The Writing Life