Tayari's Blog: April 2009
April 30, 2009
American Violet
I plan to go see American Violet this weekend. The trailer was so riveting that the hair stood up on my arms. There is first class talent in this film. And the issue of the prison industrial complex is one of the most serious ones facing this country.
Find Craig Arnold.
When I first saw this, I hoped it was a gag. I still hope it's a prank and Craig is making of fool of me.
I have seen several mentions on the internet that poet, Craig Arnold, is missing in Japan. Here is a summary of the situation that I found on the blog dedicated to finding Craig.
Our dear friend and an exceptionally talented poet, Craig Arnold, whom some of you know, has gone missing on a small volcanic island in Japan while on a creative exchange fellowship. Craig, an experienced explorer of volcanoes, never returned to his inn after leaving alone to research the island's active volcano for the afternoon. The authorities are on the third day of searching for Craig, and are scouring the small island (of only 160 inhabitants) with dogs and helicopters. If he is not found by the end of the day, the authorities will call off the search. We can not let there be a lag in this search while finding Craig alive is still a real possibility.
I'll keep you posted.
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Category:
Current Events
April 28, 2009
Can You Help Me Get The Word Out?
I've already posted that I am teaching a class at the Fine Arts Work Center in Provinctetown, Massachusetts June 14-19. I am writing now to ask you to help me get the word out. I wuld appreciate it if you can post on your favorite writing listservs, mention it on your facebook page, or just tell somebody. The poor economy is hurting enrollment and if more people don't sign up, my class may be canceled. I've just found out that FAWC is offering a discount to students, so maybe this will be helpful to people who may want to participate but can't quite swing the tuition. (Email me for more info about the discount.)
Details about the program are below.
Thanks.
Posted at 02:34 PM | Comments (0)
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The Writing Life
Fillibuster-Proof Links
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April 26, 2009
Meet Matthew Aaron Goodman
This is the first profile of a member of the Amazing 8-- debut writers from our blog community.
Matthew Goodman is the author of Hold Love Strong which was published just last month from Simon And Shuster.
Matthew Goodman earned a B.A. degree in literature from Brandeis University and an MFA from Emerson College. He has been a student of writing at the 92nd Street Y, Breadloaf Writer's Conference, and the Vermont Studio Center, and has taught and worked in inner-city communities for years. Working hand-in-hand with formerly incarcerated men and women, he created The Leadership Alliance, a community empowerment project that unites community leaders and volunteer partners. He lives with his wife in Brooklyn, New York.
You can read more about this new novel, here. If you're in NYC, he's got readings coming up. If you're not in NYC, content yourself with this Q&A.
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Guest Bloggers
All Things Possible Through Patience and Zeal
5 or So Questions for Matthew Aaron Goodman, author of Hold Love Strong
Was there a particular trigger that got you started on this novel?
Stand in a small hot, overcrowded room with folks and eventually you either sing and live or stay silent and die. It isn't solely about mortality. I'm talking about your human spirit, that fire that keeps one alive. You can get jaded or impervious or indifferent too, or you can fill with some other variation and/or derivative of hate. What I mean is I don't want any part of my spirit suppressed or snuffed out, and I don't want any part of the spirit of the people I loved snuffed out either. Hell no. If I knew how to play a trumpet or a trombone or a clarinet, then I wouldn't have written a word. But I don't, so I had to write.
What do you hope to accomplish by publishing Hold Love Strong? What would have to happen for you to know you have succeeded? Has it happened already?
How about equal educational opportunity from the kindergarten on? How about affirmative action beginning when affirmation must begin for one to have a full chance to fulfill their innate human potential? How about discarding Emerson's obstinate preachings of "Self-Reliance" as a touchstone in the American Literary Canon and replacing it with David Walker's Appeal? Am I asking for too much? Judging by history, I am. So I am not delusional. I know no novel ever birthed justice. But many novels have contributed to conversations. That's what I most hope for.
What was the first thing you did when you found out it would be published?
I lay down on my back, put my hands behind my head, and cried.
What is the first thing you did when you finished the novel? How did you know it was finished?
I want to think of a novel as a chapter in a writer's story, in their life, so finishing a novel for a writer is like finishing a chapter. That is, there is still much more to write, or that I hope to write. But when I finished, I celebrated. Lord knows, I danced my damn pants off that night.
What is your advice to all the people out there trying to publish their first books?
All things possible through patience and zeal.
Posted at 09:58 AM | Comments (0)
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Guest Bloggers
April 25, 2009
Saturday Links
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Opportunity Alert!
I have been itching to get to Martha's Vineyard. Don't ask me why. I have never been there. I am not rich. But I have been wanting so badly to go. I put out some feelers for cheap rentals and I think I may score a crash-pad for later in May. But here is the gem. I discovered the Martha's Vineyard Writers Residency. They are taking applications now for a residency in October.
Each resident is given a private room with a bath in an historic inn in Edgartown, Massachusetts, on the island of Martha’s Vineyard. Eight writers at a time are invited to form an intimate community of peers. The colorful gardens, covered porch and ample common rooms provide several venues in which to work, gather, contemplate or simply to relax.
Sounds lovely, doesn't it? The application is very easy-- all on line and no fee!-- and the folks organziing it get back with you really quickly.
Posted at 10:03 AM | Comments (0)
Category:
The Writing Life
April 24, 2009
So Sorry!
If you tried to check the blog this morning, you probably couldn't pull it up. So sorry about that. Web host drama. All better now.
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April 23, 2009
Poet-Protecting Links
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The Amazing Eight
In addition to being incredibly good-looking, what do these eight writers have in common? Well, for one thing, they are all members of this blog community. But the real thing, the news, the thing that calls for champagne is that all of them are publishing their first books! (You may notice that one of the Amazing Eight is pictured twice. That's because Dwayne Betts is publishing TWO first books this year, with his bad self.)
Over the next few weeks, each of these amazing first-timers will be featured on the blog. I'll post a little about their books and they will each share something about writing and the writing life.
But just so you can know what's to come, here are their names of the Amazing Eight:
Congratulations to them all, and stay tuned for more!
Posted at 09:55 AM | Comments (4)
Category:
Community Service
April 21, 2009
Let The Kids Trash The Joint
Today, I'll be giving a lesson in my graduate workshop about revision. This is always a tricky subject because one writer will revise using many different techniques and a room full of writers will go about improving their work in so many different ways. I have never felt really confident about my advice.
This time I am going to take a different approach. I was driving to work and it just hit me: To properly revise you have to be in love with your CHARACTERS, not your STORY.
Let me explain. Sometimes, I will make radical suggestions to my students like-- Try telling the whole thing from the point of view of a different character. Try setting the whole thing in the future, the past.. You get the idea. It never fails that someone will say "But that would be a whole different story!" Yes, it would be, but so what?
I think the goal of revision is to honor your characters by figuring out the best way to get their story onto the page. So often the young writer can get so wrapped up in love for the story that she will try and force the characters into it. To revise, particularly in the first couple drafts, it's best to take the cuffs off your characters. Let them run free in the narrative. Think of them as little kids left unsupervised in the world you've written for them. Don't worry that they will trash the place. That's the point.
Posted at 03:37 PM | Comments (8)
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April 20, 2009
Back Home
I'm back from my natural habitat. It was a good trip. How did I forget how beautiful Atlanta is in spring? Dogwoods and Azaleas eveywhere! My lecture at The University of Georgia went well. Much love to Derrick Barrett who drove waaay out to Athens to see me do my things, and of course thanks to Dr. Lesley Feracho and the African American Studies department who hosted me. Back in Atlanta I spent some quality time with my favorite Atlanta ladies of letters-- Pearl Cleage and Natasha Trethewey. (They inspire me every time!) I went with my darling nephew to see the Chinese terra cotta warriors and then visited Cafe Intemezzo one of my favorite haunts when I was in college. Hit a huge sale at Bloomingdales with my mother and, of course, hung out talking about politcs and life with dear old dad.
I'm back in New Jersey now, getting my act together. I've posted some links below. Regular blogging to resume in the morning.
Posted at 04:58 PM | Comments (0)
Category:
Travels & Rambles
Crazy Time Vampire Links
April 15, 2009
On The Road Again
I am on my way to Athens, GA where I will be giving a lecture tomorrow. I am not taking my laptop with me. (It's just too heavy to lug around. Maybe when I get my netbook, things will be different.) This means, of course, that the blogging situation will be iffy, at best. So, if you don't hear from me for a few days, don't panic. I'll be back at the keyboard Monday, at the latest.
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April 14, 2009
So Light You Were Links
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April 13, 2009
Between The Hedges
On Thursday, April 16, I'll be giving lecture as a Visiting Franklin Fellow at the University of Georgia. The lecture is free and open to the public. If I had to tell you what I am talking about, it's kind of like this: I am giving a talk/reading in which I look at the ways that we can use fiction to reclaim popular historical narratives. And here's a little spoiler. I'll be talking about the Atlanta Child Murders and the woman who threw the grits on Al Green, mostly by reading my fictional interpretations of these events. Now, here is how UGA explains it:
Lecture: The Anecdotal Antidote- Fiction and the Degentrification of Popular Narratives. Sponsored by the Institute of African American Studies and the Office of Inclusion and Diversity Leadership. Franklin Visiting Scholar Tayari Jones, author of Leaving Atlanta and The Untelling, discusses the role of fiction and its relationship to the popular narratives of our communities. 4:00 p.m. 148 Miller Student Learning Center. Contact: 706-542-5197, kkmfree[at]uga.edu
Please come.
April 12, 2009
#amazonfail **updated
I am buried under the drama that is my income tax situation. However, I want you all to know about the disgraceful new policy at Amazon. Apparently, they are taking books with "adult" content out of the ranking systems which makes such books harder to find. "Adult" titles are some romances and anything that is slightly gay. (Let alone titles that are truly gay.) Among the books given the boot are Bastard Out of Carolina and Giovanni's Room. Books allowed to stay include Playboy's Nudes.
I've got to get back to these receipts, but
**update. Amazon contacts the LA Times to say they can't really talk about it.
**another update: Craig's Pop Life says Amazon stripped (ha ha, pun) his ranking way back in February.
Posted at 08:15 PM | Comments (1)
Category:
Current Events
April 09, 2009
Friday + Links= Flinks
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April 08, 2009
Special Thanks to the NEA
I posted last week that I have been awarded a stay at the Virginia Center For The Creative Arts. (I can't tell you how much I am looking forward to it.) What I didn't know at the time is that the National Endowment For The Arts is picking up the tab for my visit.
My residency is for 28 days. This costs VCCA $5040. (The artist is usually asked to pay $30 a day to help defray the expenses, but that's only about 15% of the actual expense.) I am so grateful that in these tough economic times, the NEA will fully fund and support eight writers for a month-long stay. And of course, I am grateful to VCCA for offering me this wonderful gift of time an freedom to create.
April 07, 2009
Book Hotness or Notness or Too Hotness
There's a lot of internet chatter today about authro photos. It all started with this NPR segment. Although the segment mostly talked about men and author photos, there is always a lot of conversation involving women who feel they are judged more by thier looks than by their work.
The simplistic conclusion is that women should look at pretty as they can. The NPR piece mentioned that People magazine only likes to review good-looking people.
However, for women there is a flip side. You don't want to be too pretty. If you're too pretty, people will think that you are dumb and who wants to read a book by a dumb person. Here is an really nice Marion Ettlinger photo that I paid for, but never use because I was counseled that it is too precious, too pretty. And you don't want to be too sexy, i.e. show cleavage. People will think you're dumb! So for women there is a lot of pressure to look good in just the right way. I wonder if the ideal book-hot look is sort of like the glamourous woman who gets cast as a librarian in a movie. All that sexiness but with glasses, a high neck-line, and restrained hair.
It's a drag. Nuanced, but still a drag.
Posted at 01:47 PM | Comments (5)
Category:
The Writing Life
April 06, 2009
Frowny-Face Links
April 05, 2009
Happy Dance! VCCA Here I Come!
After getting the ix-nay from MacDowell and the waitlist from Yaddo, I was sweating bullets to see if I would be accepted into the Virginia Center For The Creative Arts. I am very grateful to have received a four week residency. Very grateful. I can't tell you how grateful. Can. Not. Wait.
The gift of a residency is total coolness and loveliness in and of itself. But check out this little detail. Once a person has been to the Virgnia Center, she is eligible to apply for a residency in the South of France!
April 04, 2009
Weekend Links
It's Okay to Take A Breather
I was on the phone yesterday with a poet-friend who was feeling very 
demoralized about all of the contests to which she had submitted her manuscript. (For those of you not in the poetry loop: Many poets publish their first books by sending the manuscripts to contests. There is a fee, usually about $20. The winner gets a small cash prize and publication. Winning the "right" contest can launch a career.) My friend was just plain wore out. She had taken on considerable student debt to get her MFA and she has spent hundreds of dollars in fees and postage. She has a love/hate relationship with the mailman. She was hoping for The Letter but she knew that he may be bringing a rejection letter. She said sometimes she wants to give up writing.
Here is my advice to her. I sent it in an email which I am pasting here, in case someone out there is going through the same thing.
Hey Lady,
I have been thinking about our conversation from yesterday. I don't want you to give up writing. Your work is too beautiful and too important for you to let it go. That wouldn't be fair to you; it wouldn't be fair to the poems; and it wouldn't be fair to the world. But I am thinking that maybe you should step back from trying so hard to get published.
I know that publishing is the way to take your career to the next level. I don't want to minimize what's at stake here for you. But as your friend, I am seeing the way this publishing process is eating you up. I think you should just take a break.
Give yourself a deadline for this time-out. I don't want you to let it stretch on for eternity. Maybe just for the summer. Mark it on your calendar. You will not pursue any more publishing opportunities until Sept. 1. I don't want you fiddling with the manuscript either. Spend this summer working on new poems. Seeing new things. Making fresh art.
Remember a couple years ago after The Break-Up, when I was determined to get out there and meet somebody new and I was running into knucklehead after knucklehead? I called myself being pro-active, but I was just making myself exhausted and insecure. You told me to take a break. You told me that I needed to chill, that I was in no condition to be subjecting myself to the opinion of all these random people. You gave me to the end of the year. At first it felt like I was giving up, but only two weeks after I took myself off the market, I came to understand it as the respite that I needed.
So, my dear friend. It's time for me to return the favor and give you this advice. Take a break, girl. Take a rest. It's time to take care of yourself.
xoxo,
Tayari
(artwork is called "Stifled" by Mystele, a Chicago folk artist.)
Posted at 08:58 AM | Comments (0)
Category:
The Writing Life
