Tayari's Blog: July 2007
July 31, 2007
92 Ain't Nothing But A Number
Raquel Hill has John Hope Franklin and Tyehimba Jess has Les Paul.
Yesterday, I placed a call to Tyehimba Jess right before getting on the Path train to return to Jersey. “I’m on my way to a concert,” he said. (He knows that I love myself a concert.) “I’ll pay your cover,” he promised. “I’ll even buy you a gimlet.” (He had me at “concert”, but I gladly accepted all the other promises.)
Once we were in the taxi, he explained that was a rare opportunity. The headliner, Les Paul, is 92 years old. “He’s not going to be on the planet for long! The man is a legend! He changed the sound of the blues!”
When we got to The Iridium Jazz Club, there was a line wrapped around the building. Les Paul’s fans were many and devoted. The man sells out two shows every Monday. Word spread through the crowd that the show was sold out.
“I’m sorry, Tyehimba,” I said. “I know you must be disappointed.”
“Wait,” he said. “Maybe there will be some extra seats.”
“Well,” I said. “If there’s only one seat left, I want you to take it.”
“Really?” he said.
“Yeah, really.”
He got all choked up. “Thanks Sis.”
“It’s fine,” I said, disentangling myself and pushing him a little toward the door way. “Take the last seat.”
From behind us, people in line commented, “That’s a good woman.”
Posted at 03:54 PM | ![[comments]](http://www.tayarijones.com/images/comments.gif){kind=small}
Comments (2)
Category:
Living For The City
July 30, 2007
Linky Winky!
I am on my way to the DMV to get my new drivers licence and tags. Let's hope one trip is all it takes. Here are some links in case it takes me all day....
Posted at 08:16 AM | Comments (0)
Category:
Travels & Rambles
July 29, 2007
If this Town Is Just An Apple...
Last night, I went to the Bowery Poetry Club... Well, I spent the day trying to get to the Bowery Poetry Club. I intended to make the 3pm celebration of the life of Sekou Sundiata. However, I couldn't get my act together. The next event at the BPC was Roger Bonair Agard performing "To Be Young, Fast, and Black." Sadly, I 
missed that too, but everyone was raving about it. I am happy to report that I did make it to the after-party.
In the crowd were some of my favorite poets, including one Tyehimba Jess, whom I hadn't seen in way too long. I also met Willie Perdomo, whose reputation precedes him.
And speaking of things I missed, night before last, everyone went to see Latasha Diggs WOW the crowd at the Whitney.
Posted at 12:22 PM | Comments (0)
Category:
Living For The City
July 28, 2007
How Come Nobody Told Me
that Kiri Davis won the Cosmogirl Contest. I am sure that you all remember all the drama earlier in the summer-- Teenaged filmaker Kiri Davis's film about black folks and self-image was up for a big prize, then it was announced that people were cheating on the web-based contest... Well, she won the $10,000 award and other goodies. Hurrah.
Here's Kiri Davis's prize-winning film, "A Girl Like Me."
Posted at 02:57 PM | Comments (1)
Category:
Current Events
A Room of My Own or Just One I Can Borrow
I don't know when I became such a whiner and a diva. I wrote my first novel, Leaving Atlanta, in two places-- on a wobbly picnic table crammed onto my tiny porch overlooking a parking lot and in a corner of a walk-in closet. Despite my humble beginnings, I am now looking for a ideal spot to do my work.
(I should say that I am only an entry-level diva. Maya Angelou , a more practiced diva, writes in a 5-star hotel. She takes all the paintings off the wall, and orders up a bottle of sherry, while her driver waits outside. I am thinking more of a clean space. 4 walls. Maybe access to a coffee machine. No phone or email. Perhaps a water dispenser and flowers once a week?)
Here are the options:
The last options are rented writing spaces. There are two in NY that I know of.
For more than twenty-five years, The Writers Room has offered writers a tranquil, creative setting to pursue their work. A non-profit organization, the Room offers subsidized workspace that is available 24 hours a day, 365 days of the year. As testament to the productivity of the place, in 2005 there were more than four dozen fiction and non-fiction publications and several films optioned and plays by writers put into production.
The Merc offers each writer a private desk, a personal locker, an up-to-date reference library, comfortable chairs, electrical outlets for portable and laptop computers, wireless access to the internet, and a refreshment lounge located on the premises.All writers in residence at the Merc also receive a complimentary Library membership. A Merc Membership gives access to one of the best fiction and mystery collections in the country, all our mainstream and literary periodicals, use of the Reading Room, and advance notice and free or reduced price admission to all of our terrific programming.
As you can imagine these things cost money. The Merc will run between $100-130 a month and The Writers Room is about $120-150 a month.
Whatever I decide, I need to do it soon. I don't want to lose the momentum I gained at MacDowell!
Posted at 07:51 AM | Comments (3)
Category:
The Writing Life
July 27, 2007
Back To Life, Back to Reality
Well, my time here at MacDowell is over. The seven weeks were well spent. I’ve posted my final word-o-meter below. I cam here with the goal of writing fifty good-looking pages and I am leaving with one-hundred. I’ve also gained something else. I am feeling at home again with my manuscript.
For “Tombstone Tuesday”, I went around to the various studios to find the names of writers that you would recognize. I felt especially moved by the names of those writers who have passed away. What I didn’t post on the blog were the signatures of the writers whom we haven’t heard of who are still chugging away.
There are so many names on the wall of folks I know—I’ve met them at festivals, conferences, etc. Some of them signed their names on the wall ten years ago, but they haven’t yet published. I don’t know where they are today, but I hope that they are still writing, still making art. I hope they are at home with their manuscripts (their paintings, their sculptures, or compositions) and still moving forward.
I have had the pleasure and privilege of meeting dozens of artists in all different fields, at all different levels of their careers. There are whippersnappers just starting out and veterans taking breaks from the limelight. Some people are in residence for the whole summer, while others could only take two weeks away from their jobs, kids, lives. Being here reminds me that there are many ways to be an artist. You just make the most of the time and opportunities that you have. No matter what our positions are, I think we all – to quote Renee Simms—“jazz” our way through.
Before I end this post, I want to thank you all for hanging in there with me and the blog. I know haven’t posted as often as I usually do and being here, I am sort of out of the loop of things happening in the literary world. Thanks for stopping by anyway. Thank you for all the letters, cards, and care packages you sent. I know everybody is busy, so thank you thank you for sharing your time with me.
I’m hitting the road now. I’ll post again as I get myself settled.
Love,
Tayari
Posted at 07:31 AM | Comments (1)
Category:
The Writing Life
July 26, 2007
Final Word-O-Meter
As I approach the end of my seven week stay at the MacDowell Colony, I am delighted to post my last progress report.
July 24, 2007
Tombstone Tuesday
JAMES BALDWIN!
Here is Baetz Studio where Baldwin stayed, and the large view of the tombstone. And another tombstone with more recent visitors.. some of whom are members of our blog comminity.
Posted at 08:16 AM | Comments (2)
Category:
Travels & Rambles
July 23, 2007
HOT YAMN! Link time!
Posted at 09:31 AM | Comments (3)
Category:
Travels & Rambles
Summer Report: Tin House Workshops
FeLicia Elam, a member of our blog community, attened the Tin House Summer Writers Workshops this summer. Now that she's back, I asked her 
a few questions. See our Q&A below. (If you are interested in summer workshops in your area, visit the AWP website or pick up a copy of Poets & Writers Magazine!)
Q&A with FeLicia Elam:
Tayari: How did you first start attending workshops? How did you choose the Tin House workshop?
FeLicia: Attending workshops came as a natural progression of my writing career. Initially I wrote stories until I felt comfortable sharing them. Then I found a critique group and stayed with them for three years, completing nine stories and getting two published. When I wanted a challenge as a writer so I could grow, I started attending week-long, intensive workshops.
This year I was accepted into Tin House at Reed College in my new city, Portland, Oregon. I applied to Tin House because they have an excellent quarterly magazine and a publishing company. Additionally, Tin House is known for pulling in top notch writers, and their students have a habit of returning. I have attended two ten-week long workshops here and could tell how much my writing has improved.
Once you decided on Tin House, how did you decide which writer you wanted to work with?
I had to select three teachers from the short story section in order of choice; not all workshops give that option. I got my first pick, Colson Whitehead. He’s one of today’s top writers, well-respected with four published works since 1999. A key to getting the most from workshops is to choose carefully. Find a writer who writes similarly to you. If you’re not familiar with the writers, read some of their work and then determine who best fits your style.
Posted at 08:13 AM | Comments (4)
Category:
Guest Bloggers
, The Writing Life
July 22, 2007
Ain't No Mountain High Enough
Yesterday, I climbed a mountain. Why? Well, I am still on my writer's break and there's not much to do at a writers retreat when you're not writing. I was told it would be easy, afterall, Mount Monadnock is the most climbed mountain in the world. The kitchen staff at MacDowell even prepared a special travel lunch for those of us taking the hike.
Patricia McCormick, who has written three books for young readers, including National Book Award Finialist, Sold, assured me that this would be fun. I completely believed her until she said, "Did anyone think to bring toilet paper."
I was sort of expecting to have an experience that I could relate to writing. Afterall, a mountain is a metaphor looking for somewhere to happen. Instead, I just had a wonderful time. The hike was physically demanding-- it took 4 hours and I burned 2000 calories-- but it was such a unusual experience. Frank, our unofficial leader, is an experienced hiker, give fun facts about native plants and also told scary stories of people who had gotten lost in the woods and survived through extraordinary means.
And, lo and behold.. I came home with something close to inspiration. I can't say that looking off from the edge of the earth taught me anything about writing, but being so far away from my desk caused me to long for it.
Go figure.
Posted at 09:44 PM | Comments (2)
Category:
Travels & Rambles
July 20, 2007
Who is Harriet Klausner?
Is she the nicest woman in the book world? A secret agent of Amazon.com? Who knows, but Bloggasm has been looking into it. Kelausner has submitedt more than 12,000 on-line reviews since the year 2000. It seems that most of all her reviews are positive, which sort of hurt my feelings since I thought the 5 stars she gave me on amazon were something special. (Ten stars if you add up the scores for both books.)
Some authors complain that she reads books too quickly-- after all, at 12,000 books in 7 years, she is averaging more than four books a day. I did notice that she mis-identified the character "Kenny" in Leaving Atlanta. She calls him Octavia mother's boyfriend, when Kenny is really the mother's brother. (He is called "Uncle Kenny" throughout the text!)
I wasn't sure if this was due to quick reading or to certain assumptions that people make about working class households, particularly female-headed ones. More than one reviewer made this mistake, although I deliberately didn't give Octavia's mother a boyfriend. I often use this example in my classes to illustrate that sometimes you work really hard to avoid stereoptypes and your readers can put them in for you.
But back to Klausner-- the funny this is that most people are so annoyed that she gives so many positive reviews. I just think of her as the anti-Kirkus. They don't really read the books either, but they procede to slam just about everybody.
(thx ed for the link)
Posted at 10:59 AM | Comments (0)
Category:
The Writing Life
July 19, 2007
I Know This Is Suppossed to be A Seirous Blog
But I am feeling so goofy today.. Maybe it's the Simpsonsmania.. Or maybe it's my little writers block break... Here's a silly silly link-dink:
Posted at 01:26 PM | Comments (4)
Category:
Travels & Rambles
There Has Been A Demographic Shift
in Springfield. I love your Simpsons Selves so much that I have made a gallery of all the ones you've sent it. Check us out! And, while you're at it, make your own avatar and join in!
Posted at 12:43 PM | Comments (2)
Category:
Travels & Rambles
July 17, 2007
If I Lived in Springfield....
Make your own Simpson's Self here. And when you do send it to me!
Posted at 08:47 PM | Comments (5)
Category:
Travels & Rambles
Tombstone Tuesday
Today’s Tombstone Tuesday is a Two-fer to make up for last week’s internet outage. I’m sorry for posting so late but this has been quite a day—I lost my keys and then a mishap involving a Ceasar salad destroyed my digital camera! Nevertheless, I was able to visit Heyward Studio and grab a few snaps. The studio is currently occupied by Lisa Howorth who was nice enough to let me have a look-see—which was especially nice since her studio is a live-in.
The Heyward Studio is named to honor Dorothy and Dubose Haeyward who met at MacDowell, fell in love, got married, and collaborated on "Porgy and Bess". The royalties from the novella go to MacDowell.
Earlier today, Lamar sent me a poem by Audre Lorde to encourage me during my writer’s “break.” It seems like karma that I found Audre Lorde’s signature on the wall. (To read the poem, go to the comments.) While I was there, I found lots of really good names. The late Lucy Grealy, author of Autobiography of A Face used this space toward the end of her life. Another former occupant is Etheridge Knight who identified himself as “Black Revolutionary Poet”…. in 1983. You got to love the true-believers.
you can check out the full collection of tombstone pics here.
Posted at 04:03 PM | Comments (1)
Category:
Travels & Rambles
NH Snapshot: When You Can't Write...
READ! I couldn't resist posting this picture. It gets cold here at night so I made a fire. Okay, it wasn't really cold enough for a fire, but I just wanted to try it. I am curled up here with Diva's Last Curtain Call, one of the Kendra Clayton Mysteries. (Angela Henry was so sweet to send it to me.) I am happy as can be up here at MacDowell, but it was lovely to "visit" with Kendra Clayton, the sister-sleuth. She provided me with a kind of company I don't really get up here in the wilds of New Hampshire!
(thanks, Rosy, for the photo)
July 16, 2007
Writers's Block? Writer's Break? Breakdown?
I am not sure what to call what I have been experiencing for the last few days. It seems wrong to cry "BLOCK" whenever the words don't come streaming from my consciousness to the page. I have been writing like crazy for the past four weeks, but for the last four days, I am just sort of out of ideas.
At the risk of sounding weird. I feel like a bottle of lotion that is almost empty. You can press the pump top aainst and again and it makes that weird noise and you might get a little bit of product,but basically, it's time to refill.
Back when we were doing The Artist's Way, there was a lot of emphasis on Artist's Dates which were activities to nuture your inner artists. People wrote in about all of the wonderful field-trips they were taking. I am wondering if I need to get out and do something that doesn't involve sitting at my writing table, because I think I have drained myself dry.
I am not ready to say that this is a writer's block. The word block implies that something is malfunctioning. When a bottle is empty it's not that the bottle is broken, it's just empty. So, this is not a block; I am just ready to take a much needed writer's break.
July 15, 2007
Rainy Day Links
Posted at 03:39 PM | Comments (3)
Category:
Travels & Rambles
NH Snapshot: What the Hail?
Frank Meuschke and I decided to forgo the delicious MacDowell luncheon fare for a mid-day meal of comfort food. I think we are both suffering from the Colony Blues, which is a kind of homesickness. So we went searching for grilled cheese sandwiches. When we left it was sort of gray out. The weather channel warned that a storm was afoot, but I insisted that we go into town. After all, Peterborough is only about a mile away. Midway there, we were caught in a rain storm that turned into a hail storm. Ice struck my poor car (affectionately nicknamed "The Bucket")with such violence that I feared the windshield would shatter.
I pulled to the side of the road.
"What are you doing?" Frank said.
"Taking a picture for my blog!"
Posted at 03:11 PM | Comments (0)
Category:
Travels & Rambles
July 12, 2007
Weekly Word-O-Meter
Before I post today's tally, check out Ms. Peri (on the right margin), Michael (star pupil), who are posting word counts too!I know there are others that I am missing. Please send me your url so I can put you on for next week.
This is week 5 of my residency at The MacDowell Colony. So far, so good. Here area the results:
Stay tuned for next week... And if you have the urge to post your own word-o-meter results... that's what comments are for!
8 Things About Me, A Meme
I've been tagged by The Champ. Here are the rules:
Anyway, time to pass the meme on. Here are the rules:
1. We have to post these rules before we give you the facts.
2. Players start with eight random facts/habits about themselves.
3. People who are tagged need to write their own blog about their eight things and post these rules.
4. At the end of your blog, you need to choose eight people to get tagged and list their names.
5. Don’t forget to leave them a comment telling them they’re tagged, and to read your blog.
So, with no further ado:
8 Things Meme
Okay,
Ladylee, Michael,Fred, Eduardo, Ore, Tara, Carleen and, Ms. Peri
y'all are it!
Posted at 01:14 PM | Comments (7)
Category:
Travels & Rambles
July 11, 2007
Working Hard/ Hardly Working
Mask is from The Renaissance Room!
Posted at 04:49 PM | Comments (2)
Category:
Travels & Rambles
The Lazarus Factor
Often when I talk about my writing process, I speak about the unfortunate reality that I often write hundreds of pages that don’t make it into any novel. As shorthand, I say that I “throw away” these pages. But the truth of the matter is that I save them on my hard drive under goofy files names to help me remember what is what. The thing about these pages is that for the most part, they are “true”.
By “true”, I mean story-true. One really good example is the excerpt of Leaving Atlanta that I ended up publishing as a short story called “Press and Curl.” (For folks not familiar, here is a brief recap. In Leaving Atlanta, one of my main characters is Octavia, a spunky little girl who is crushed by the death of a classmate.) In “Press and Curl”, she gets her hair pressed for the first time in preparation for the funeral. In the universe of Leaving Atlanta, it is true that Octavia got her hair done in the kitchen of a mean old lady whose fine white hair looks like “somebody stretched spider webs over a bowling ball.” However, in the course of revision, I ended up cutting that whole section because the emotional intensity of the story was so high by the time Octavia is prepping for the funeral, that it didn’t make good novelistic sense to devote so many pages to a hair style—although I really really liked that story. It even won a prize.
On my computer now, there is a folder called “Numero Tres”, referring to my third novel. There are all manner of subfolders with names like “Second 100”, “2006 Baby!”, “Post Miriam”, and “At MacDowell.” All of these folders are crowded with scenes, even full chapters. In total they equal up to about 370 pages although, I have only 185 pages that I (as of now) consider to be really part of what will be the finished novel.
Yesterday, however, I had a best-possible case scenario moment, what I am calling the “Lazarus Factor.” A chapter of backstory I had written about a year ago, suddenly (with a little tweaking) became relevant. Although I lecture my students that no writing is wasted—after all, it helps us to understand the characters better—it is still a little distressing to labor for days or weeks of passages that end up being irrelevant. Being able to use something in a cast-off folder is sort of tangible proof that no writing is in vain, that you never know what those pages might be good for.
I use the name Lazarus to evoke the biblical figure who is resurrected. I thought about calling it the “Ambergris Occurrence “ because it reminded me of the chapter in Moby Dick when they happen upon the whale vomit that turns out to be worth a fortune. (I rejected that handle because it is too obscure and too gross.)
When I post my weekly word-o-meter tomorrow, you will see the “Lazarus Factor” as a new category. It’s such a gift, for which I am grateful to my muses.
Sorry About Yesterday
I am so sorry that there was no "Tombstone Tuesday" yesterday. There was a terrible storm at MacDowell and there was no internet or phone or anything. I'll give a 2-fer next week.
Posted at 12:10 PM | Comments (0)
Category:
Travels & Rambles
July 09, 2007
Feeling Sorta Linky
Posted at 11:43 AM | Comments (0)
Category:
Travels & Rambles
July 08, 2007
MacDowell Dance Party
For some reason, this cracks me up.
and this was pretty funny too.
Posted at 12:18 PM | Comments (0)
Category:
Travels & Rambles
A Bit of Belated Thanks
This is not my first time at MacDowell. I was here in the winter of 2002, about six months after the publication of Leaving Atlanta. My stay coincided with the Christmas holiday, making the first of the Jones children not to come home for the holidays. Needless to say, this was not a welcome development in the eyes of my parents.
I generally associate that visit with all the good friends I made during those weeks in the Winter Wonderland that is New Hampshire in December, however, something else special happened that I had almost forgotten.
Today, one of my new friends was sad at breakfast because her computer charger malfunctioned and she will be unable to do any work until the stores open on Monday. I was trying to cheer her up and this story fell out of my mouth:
When I was at MacDowell five years ago, my computer crashed. I was really upset. For one, I was out of my element up in New Hampshire. Everyone else was accustomed to cold weather and they were used to being around famous people. They were all really skinny and seemed to have money and here I was desperately counting on the "writers aid" to pay my bills. It was my first Christmas away from home, and even though I really hate the holidays, I felt a little sad about it. My boyfriend had just turned out to be a sociopath and I was trying to push forward and work on my new novel that wasn't going so well and then my computer-- that my dad had lent me-- crashed. It was making a ticking sound which means that it is absolutely dead. This was December 23.I called my family crying. How could I do my work without a computer? And I felt so poor-- everyone else seemed to have sleek fancy machines. Teeny-tiny Macs with stylish carying cases. Amanda Davis was here and she even had an iPod, before anyone else every heard of them. All I had was my dad's old Toshiba and now it was gone.
About four days later, UPS delivered to me a brand new Dell computer. To understand this, you must know that my family is famous for the no-frills approach to child-rearing. (Oh, the stories I could share.) And this computer had everything that Dell had to offer-- DVD, even. (This was a big deal at the time.) I was so excited to have the machine. I loved letting other people see that my family had come to my rescue. More importantly, it meant everything for me to see that my family supported my work enough for my emergency to become thier emergency.
So, although I thanked them then, I want to thank them once more. This was the best gift I have ever received.
Posted at 10:25 AM | Comments (2)
Category:
Travels & Rambles
July 06, 2007
Everything You Ever Wanted to Know
about The MacDowell Colony.... but were afraid to ask
Yesterday, I went on a tour of the grounds of MacDowell and found out some interesting facts about the place. I took notes and I will just give you the highlights. I also took pictures of most of the studios. You can see them and I put some notes by most. So, with no further ado, what I learned about MacDowell on yesterday’s tour:
Posted at 11:20 AM | Comments (0)
Category:
Travels & Rambles
July 05, 2007
Weekly Word-O-Meter!
This is week 4 of my residency at The MacDowell Colony. So far, so good. Here area the results:
Stay tuned for next week... And if you have the urge to post your own word-o-meter results... that's what comments are for!
July 03, 2007
Miscreants by James Hoch
If you are in Santa Cruz on July 10 at 7:30, you are in luck because James Hoch will be reading from his new book of poetry, Miscreants. I had the good fortune to read with James at the Rutgers-Camden Writers Conference a couple of weeks ago.
A little about James, which I swiped from his homepage:
Prior to teaching, James Hoch was a dishwasher, cook, dockworker, social worker and shepherd.
You can't help but want to know more.
Miscreants takes a look at Camden, James Hoch's hometown, and in particular the murder of a young boy that shocked the blue-collar suburb of Philadelphia. That poem had particular resonance with me as my first novel, Leaving Atlanta, is about the murder of children and the way that it devastates an entire generation.
At the reading at Camden, I was just James's opening act. It was my job to warm up the crowd for what they had been waiting for, the 
local boy made good. His mother was there as well as his sister (who bought the bar that she used to drink in.) Other folks were in the audience clutching the notice of the reading that was printed in the local paper.
A couple of years ago, a student told me that his work took place in "Anytown, USA", that he didn't think that it mattered where his story was set. I disagreed with him and only wished that he could have been there to hear James Hoch read. When you hear a poet at the height of his skills read about a town that matters to him, it becomes clear that place done right is the red beating heart of every story that matters.
James Hoch's poem, The Car, is over at Verse Daily.
Tombstone Tuesday!
Dudley Randall, publisher of Broadside Press stayed here. I love thinking of Dudley Randall, that great warrior of poetry who hustled so hard for so long, putting his feet up in the The Watson Studio. (This studio currently occupied by a composer, Yevgeniy Sharlat. I must thank him for letting me take a look around.)
You may remember when I first got here that I mentioned that some studios are pretty fancy? Well, this one is-- inside and out!
Posted at 12:12 PM | Comments (1)
Category:
The Writing Life
Dag-nabbit!
I am so sorry! I made a mistake last month when I said that this was the year for New Jersey Artists Grants for writing. It's next year. So sorry for the inconvenience and any disappointment!
Posted at 11:55 AM | Comments (0)
Category:
The Writing Life
July 02, 2007
Beyond the McMillian Moment
In yesterday’s NYT, Martha Southgate wonders why there are so few African American writers of literary fiction. She asked around and gets the opinion of writers and publishers alike. (She even has a quote from me.)
As is de rigueur for such conversations, some space is given to what I am calling "The McMillian Moment." This occurred when the publication of Terry McMillian’s blockbuster, Waiting to Exhale, made it clear that black people read books, too. This was reason to celebrate, but the sinister flip side of this statement has gone unchallenged: that a white readership will not send a book by a black writer to the top of the charts. And, the sad reality, that books by African American authors seldom reach the middle of the charts either.
In Southgate’s article, Calvin Reid, a senior news editor at Publishers Weekly says it’s about economics, not race-- but the two have never been separate in this country. It’s true that publishers are reluctant to sign up an author whose books do not have good sales records. Large corporations cannot satisfy their shareholders with stacks of gorgeous reviews but no accompanying revenue.
The result of this is a lack of support for diversity and innovation in the field of African American literature. Let’s just think about it. Across the board, literary fiction sells fewer copies that mysteries, romances, thrillers and other genre fiction. If you are an author of literary fiction that doesn’t have access to the “wider population”, you must write something that will appeal to a broad swatch of the population to which you do have access. This means that work that is experimental, quirky, disturbing, lengthy, etc. has very little chance of making acceptable numbers to ensure another contract for its author. I know this is true of all writers—publishing is a nasty business-- but it provides a special challenge for African American writers.
Posted at 08:43 AM | Comments (17)
Category:
The Writing Life
Martha's Director's Cut
Martha Southgate has written this piece to accompany her essay in the NYT. She explains her motivations for writing the piece and also includes a few quotes that didn't make it past the editors cut.
"Writers Like Me: an addendum"
by Martha Southgate
Four years ago, I had the honor of reading with Edward P. Jones as a part of Paule Marshall’s New Generation reading series. In introducing him, Paule Marshall, who was the evening’s organizer, told of how Jones wrote “The Known World” in six months, 10 years after his first short story collection. He said that he’d been thinking about the book and forming it in his mind the whole time he worked at the magazine. But what if he hadn’t been laid off? What does it mean that he felt compelled--both financially and emotionally-- to return to that day job for so long? What did it mean that he didn’t feel safe enough to quit and let his brilliance shine through?
That’s when I started thinking about the issues that led me to pitch this piece to the New York Times Book Review. In writing it, I can’t say that I found anything I didn’t think I would find: The publishing industry is still overwhelmingly staffed by white people, a lot of whom are oblivious or disingenuous about how race plays out in this country and it’s damn hard for anybody of any race to get a book published and get people to buy it. I also had something confirmed that I suspected—partly because it was so much my own experience—that it’s very hard to step out and be a fiction writer unless you feel safe enough to try. It’s very hard to feel safe enough.
Posted at 08:25 AM | Comments (5)
Category:
Guest Bloggers