2012 Best of the Net Nominations
Thanks to Len Kuntz and all the editors at Metazen, the itty bitty story I mentioned in a late June post, "White Stripes," has been nominated for the 2012 Best of the Net. Who says art doesn'tmake for more art? Thanks Meg and Jack!
That little turntable is spinning and so am I.
2012 Kenyon Writers Workshop Fellows Reading
These are readings from the 2012 Kenyon Review Writing Workshop. I was there thanks to a Peter Taylor Fellowship. I read with the other fellows on Sunday, June 17th after a violent thunderstorm. Most of the audience was drenched. Only writers can listen to fellow writers read when they are soaking wet.
Reginald Dwayne Betts, an extraordinary and powerful poet, reads first. Listen to him and be moved. I'm the second read - so when the player reaches the nine minute mark, you'll hear the writing teacher I fellowed for, Lee K. Abbott, introducing me. And then there's me reading my story, "Eliza, in the Event of a Hurricane" much too softly and much too slowly. Oh, well. I'll remember for next time: a little louder, a little faster. Funny, at first, I think I sound a little like Claire Danes. I kind of like that.
All of the readings are incredible and all so very different. Tarfia Faizullah, Susanna J. Mishler, Amy Wright, Emanuel Martin, and more. I was deeply honored to be part of this amazing and talented array of writers.
Click on the link and then on the June 17th reading and listen in:
http://www.kenyonreview.org/workshops/writers/writers-workshop-readings/
White Stripes
Last week when I wasn't looking, the online magazine, Metazen, published a little bitty story I wrote a few winters ago. Happy to be there with the many other sweet little stories!
Here's a sample of White Stripes:
Once there were twins, all dressed in double stripes, the girl lolling on pinstriped lollipops, the boy spinning his whirligig. Fair of face with long dark tresses, the girl wished for better, louder things.
Note in January 2015 : Sadly, the magazine has gone the way of many online literary gems. And so… here's hoping the story finds itself in a print collection someday.
The 2012 Waasmode Short Fiction Prize & Why I'm Even More in Love with Caitlin Horrocks
2012 Waasmode Short Fiction Prize
Caitlin Horrocks' stories have always punched me in just the right way. So that after reading "The Sleep" or "Sun City" or even "Zolaria" and especially "This Is Not Your City," I feel amazed and exhausted and alive and also a little bit in love with Caitlin Horrocks and her words. And so, when I entered a story - in the usual titled-with-no-author identification format given to most contests - in the Passages North short fiction contest, which announced CH as judge, I hoped she might find something in my words, too - if my story even made it passed the first readers.
This week I had my first phone call ever from a literary magazine. Yes, that's right. From Tim Johnston, the managing editor at Passages North. He was quite calm, and meanwhile I tried to stay calm, as he told me that my story, "We Are Here Because of a Horse," had been chosen by Caitlin Horrocks as the winner of the 2012 Waasmode Short Fiction Prize. I'm still surprised and ecstatic and occasionally mumble, "nah, that wasn't me," even though I know I should shout, "yes, that's me and that's my story!" That's my story about a girl and a boy and a horse, about drums and Tulsa and dreams. And then I can't help myself and I celebrate by jumping up and down and scaring the dog, because my stories are finally getting a chance to be read.
And that's why I'm even more in love with Caitlin Horrocks and this thing that she and I both do. This thing called writing.
"We Are Here Because of a Horse" was published in Passages North, Issue 34, Winter 2013.
(Photo Credit: sheeshoo at Flickr - the chrome horse at the Natural History Museum in Fair Park in Dallas).