MAGICAL REALISM NEWS

24 July 2006

MR OVER THE WEEKEND + COMMENTARY: Will 'Lost' be Lost in 2006?
Topic: July 2006
INDUSTRY NEWS

[07.21.06]—Margin contributor Zelda Leah Gatuskin (aka Zelda Gordon) became co-owner and Managing Editor for Amador Publishers LLC of Albuquerque, NM in July. An artist, writer and editor, Zelda has assisted in one capacity or another with numerous Amador projects. Her first book The Time Dancer, A Novel of Gypsy Magic was published by Amador in 1991, to be followed by the mixed genre collection, Ancestral Notes (as featured in Margin) and two other titles.

The reorganization coincides with Amador’s twentieth anniversary year. Amador Publishers describes itself as, “a humanist press dedicated to peace, equality, respect for all cultures and preservation of the Biosphere, specializing in fiction and biography of unique worth and appeal, outside the purview of mainstream publishing.” Amador books are available in Albuquerque at the Art Is OK Gallery, The Collector’s Item, Page One, and Borders Books on the west side as well as local libraries. They may also be ordered directly from the publisher (505-877-4395), from the publisher’s web site and from other on-line book vendors. Retailers can order Amador books through Books West in Boulder.

WRITING NEWS

[07.22.06]—Magical realist authors Ursula Hegi [The Vision of Emma Blau], Randall Kenan [Let The Dead Bury Their Dead] and Helena Maria Viramontes [The Moths and Other Stories] will be among the faculty slated for Bread Loaf 2006, which runs from August 16th to the 27th in Middlebury, VT.

CELEBRITY NEWS

[07.22.06]—Here's an interesting take on all the M. Night Shyamalan bashing that's gone on over the last week or so in conjunction with the release of Lady in the Water. Editor's note: I haven't seen the film, so I won't be join this fray just yet.

COMMENTARY: WILL LOST BE LOST IN 2006?

Whether you think of the popular television series, Lost, as a kind of magical realism is irrelevant here. It started out that way, exploring improbability through the use of miracles (survivors of a plane crash), solitary settings (a remote island in the South Pacific) and the mundane lives of people taking on magical qualities (Hurley's trouble with numbers, as one example).

The writing in 2005-2006 seems to have moved the show off the MR radar, however. It may or may not matter to the millions of television's viewers, but it matters here. Why? Part of the success of rock-solid MR (if there is such a thing) lies in its ability to maintain the magic in a believable fashion. Part of that maintenance includes avoiding loose threads.

I'm not suggesting explanations for things like the creepy animal-thing in the jungle. MR is not about explanations but about offering alternatives to the Western mode of realism. So what has happened to the creepy animal-thing? It hardly shows up anymore. Maybe it was a bad element and they replaced it with something more believable, such as the whispering Others? And what about these Others, anyway? We know they aren't so mysterious after all. Have they lost their spookiness with the series' late-spring revelations?

So many open questions lurk that the upcoming season really must address them if the show is going to keep from jumping the shark for so many peripheral viewers who wouldn't ordinarly choose sci fi or fantasy or supernatural programming. (For purists, it JedTS in the first season and continues to splay its skis).

What I want to know is how they plan to develop futures for two of the key characters, Mr. Eko and Locke? Both are strong, magical realist archetypes, their lives having been shaped by a mixture of the magic and the real. Are we likely to lose their stories as the plot thickens from its X-Files-styled finale, in which a connection is drawn between a turncoat member of the Others, his mysterious lover (who is the daughter of a major power player on the level of James Bond intrigue) and the scientists at a subzero station who located the odd magnetic "beacon" on the island in the last episode?

All this to say, the show is fast losing focus.

I've heard through the grapevine that Lost's season will run in two sections next fall, with a 6-week opening in October followed by a 13-week absence before it reappears with unbroken episodes in February. One bright spot? The elimination of repeat after repeat (and thank God for that). Will the time away allow the show's writers to change this chameleon into colors the audience will still recognize? With its creator, JJ Abrams, possibly jumping ship (but not the shark) in spring 2007, it's hard not to predict the fall of the show. Keep your fingers crossed they'll stop with all the loose ends and keep it believable in its originally magical way. Thumbs up for mystery; thumbs down for new plotlines that explain without resolving anything.

Let me know what you think.

Posted by magicalrealismmaven@yahoo.com at 9:21 AM PDT
Updated: 24 July 2006 9:36 AM PDT
Permalink | Share This Post

21 July 2006

THE WEEK IN REVIEW [7.18-21]
CALENDAR

[07.24.06]—Coming Up: Margin contributor and poet Katherine Grace Bond reads from her latest collection, Considering Flight. To be held at the P&G Cafe, 15614 Main St., Duvall, WA. Open mic at 6p; featured reader at 7p. Info: email

CELEBRITY NEWS

[07.24.06]—from The Independent—Daniel Howden is taken on a tour of Gaboland, led by none other than Jaime Garcia Marquez, the Nobel laureate's younger brother. "The Portal de los Dulces, one of Cartagena's favourite meeting points, has changed little in the last 100 years; the characters are just where Gabriel Garcia Marquez left them."

[07.20.06]—from Dialogic—Franz Kafka: "I Write Differently... I write differently from the way I speak, I speak differently from the way I think, I think differently from the way I should think—and so it goes on into the darkest depths of infinity."—(Letter to Ottla, July 10, 1914)

[07.20.06]—reported in The Elegant Variation: Australian magical realist Peter Carey appears in the latest edition of Paris Review. Get your copy

BOOKS

[07.19.06]—Measuring the World by Daniel Kehlmann (Pantheon: November 2006)—Writes Luke Harding in Strasbourg for the Guardian Unlimited: "Increasingly, it seems, young German writers are no longer looking to Thomas Mann and Grass for inspiration, or studying the theories of Theodor Adorno. … Instead, they are looking to Anglo-Saxon fiction and Spanish magic realism. Kehlmann—who studied German literature and philosophy at university, publishing his first novel at 22—spent his teens reading Nabokov and Borges. He likes British writers including Zadie Smith and Ian McEwan."

[07.19.06]—On the Midwest Booksellers Association and the Great Lakes Booksellers Association bestsellers list for the week of July 16: FOR TRADE PAPERBACK FICTION: #5, The Mermaid Chair by Sue Monk Kidd (Penguin); #9, Never Let Me Go by Kazuo Ishiguro (Vintage); #12, Saturday by Ian McEwan (Anchor); #15, Extremely Loud and Incredibly Close by Jonathan Safran Foer (Mariner); FOR CHILDREN'S TITLES: #15, The Miraculous Journey of Edward Tulane by Kate DiCamillo (Candlewick)

MIXED MEDIA

[07.21.06]—The Brothers Grimm—Writes Bryan Reesman for Premiere—"Grimm is well cast, features dazzling effects, and incorporates the magical realism and antiauthoritarianism that are trademarks of Gilliam's œuvre, although that combination is not as potent as usual here." With director Terry Gilliam and writer Ehren Kruger.

[07.20.06]—Cloud Tectonics—Writes Neil Genzlinger for The New York Times—"The playwright doesn’t have quite enough here to be worthy of a full-length work (this production runs 100 intermissionless minutes), but the piece builds to a lovely concluding thought about love over a lifetime. Helping immensely the whole way is some striking lighting by Paul Hackenmueller, who does quite a lot with not very much." With director James Phillip Gates; based on Jose Rivera magical realist novel of the same title; runs through August 5 at the Culture Project, 45 Bleecker Street, East Village, NYC. For more info: (212) 868-4444.

A LITTLE LIGHT HOUSEKEEPING…

YOU MAY NOTICE: We'll be experimenting with the format and frequency of this newsblog over the next few weeks. Let us know if something works well or doesn't work at all. We're here to serve you.

ESPECIALLY FOR WRITERS: Our reading period is closed, and all submissions have been processed. If you have not heard from us and you have a submission that remains outstanding, chances are good it was lost in the mail. You can always check with us; we have sent you a reply, which could have been lost in the mail.

GET PINGED! If you are set up to read web feeds, simply Margin's MAGICAL REALISM NEWS RSS feed to your reader using your web reader's tools. You'll receive automated feeds whenever we update the Magical Realism Newsblog. If you haven't moved into the world of RSS, don't despair. It's easier than it looks. RSS means "really simple syndication." To download a freeware RSS web reader (which allows you to "get pinged"—that is, receive automatic updates of new content posted at all your favorite blogs), we recommend Active Web Reader 2.4. Set up is easy and the feed reader is customizable.

GENTLE REMINDER: Margin's staff is on hiatus through mid-October 2006. Any e-mail we receive during this time will receive replies as necessary, but there may be delays due to pool parties, novel revision, rib festivals or stargazing.

Posted by magicalrealismmaven@yahoo.com at 10:03 AM PDT
Updated: 21 July 2006 10:07 AM PDT
Permalink | Share This Post

17 July 2006

MR OVER THE WEEKEND + COMMENTARY: McOndo and the manufacturing of literary movements
Topic: July 2006
BOOKS

[07.17.06]—Michael Martone by Michael Martone (Ficton Collective 2) has earned the distinction as the Litblog Co-op's Summer READ THIS! Selection this week. Maybe this isn't magical realism per se, but fans of MR will likely appreciate the book's unorthodox approach by an equally unorthodox (and excellent) author. Read an excerpt here

[07.16.06]—An Episode in the Life of a Landscape Painter by Cesar Aira; Chris Andrews, tr.—Writes Ilan Stavans for SFGate.com—"More than fiction, [Episode] is an imaginative chronicle based on [protagonist] Rugendas' correspondence and other historical sources from the [19th Century]. To which Aira adds the novelistic touch: el beso de la fantasia—the kiss of fantasy." Stavans suggests, in the title to his review ("Latin Americans still tweaking the novel"), that the McOndo crowd may be fighting an uphill battle: "The future is unlikely to be kind to McOndo. As for [Roberto] Bola?o [previously discussed in this newsblog] and (on a good day) Aira, they will stand the test of time." New Directions, 2006 [English edition; 2000, en Espa?ol]

COMMENTARY: CAN LITERARY MOVEMENTS REALLY BE MANUFACTURED IN THE 21ST CENTURY?

Question: Why does it have to be MR or bust? I may be a huge supporter of literary magical realism, but it doesn't mean that I expect all Latino writing to take on that form. Now, I know that the American publishing industry has made it difficult for Latin American writers to break out of their prescribed pigeonholes, and that's absolutely tragic. And I understand Fuguet's stance in McOndo, that the only way to break the circle of pigeonholing is to declare a new literary movement (whether it be Fuguet's McOndo or the Mexican members of the Crack Manifesto). But, as Ilan Stavans points out in his article [cited above], "Their objective was to turn Magic Realism on its head. But their novels were flat and repetitive and, in most cases, D.O.A." You can't blame them for trying in the name of literature, but it makes me wonder how successful movements in literature are made. By a conscious effort (such as McOndo), or more organically (such as Magical Realism), so that only in hindsight are the footprints recovered in the sand? It may have been possible, back in the day of Carpentier, Uslar-Pietri and Cortazar, to intellectually move literature into a new direction using geography, experience and culture in ways collective, but can this really happen today? With the global village erasing certain boundaries and consumerism weighing in more than intellectualism in the US, is it possible to create a new literary movement on purpose? Let me know what you think.

Posted by magicalrealismmaven@yahoo.com at 8:06 AM PDT
Permalink | Share This Post

14 July 2006

Hubert Lampo; Waking Lazarus; Cellophane; In the Arms of Words; Kafka on the Shore; The Shadow of the Wind; Bernardo Atxaga
Topic: July 2006
IN MEMORIUM

Belgian writer Hubert Lampo died on July 13 at the age of 85. Lampo authored 21 novels, including the infamous The Coming of Joachim Stiller, as well as numerous novellas and short stories. He was an award-winning author writing from the vantage of his experiences in World War II, and he incorporated elements of magical realism in much of his writing. He was considered a likely candidate for the Nobel Prize.

CALENDAR

[07.16.06]—Deadline to enter BethanyHouse newsletter free book giveaway for the debut suspense title, Waking Lazarus by T.L. Hines. From the publisher: "Jude Allman has died and come back to life three times, becoming a celebrity against his own wishes. When the world crushes in around this unlikely miracle man, this modern-day Lazarus, he escapes into the vastness of Montana." Five free copies will be raffled off through a random selection of entries. Go to the website to enter.

[07.14.06]—Reading for disaster relief anthology, In the Arms of Words, Amy Ouzoonian, editor. To be held 7:30p at Writer's Voice of the West Side YMCA, 5 W. 63rd Street (between Broadway and Central Park West), Manhattan. Free admission. Free wine. Info: graucher@ymcanyc.org

BOOKS

[07.14.06]—Cellophane by Marie Arana—Writes Ashley Simpson Shires for the Rocky Mountain News—"[L]like [Garcia] Marquez and Allende, her writing invokes the term 'magical realism.' Arana eloquently derides this term, though, in a 1999 feature for the Washington Post Book Club. She contends that ghosts, levitations, and strange possessions of the soul are 'deeply Latin American preoccupations, forged over centuries by the fusion of indigenous American, Spanish and African faiths.' The supernatural is a way of life, she argues, not a literary device but a constant presence in the mindset." The Dial Press, 2006

[07.12.06]—Kafka on the Shore by Haruki Murakami (Penguin) was Renee's Book of the Day this week.

[07.09.06]—The Shadow of the Wind by Carlos Ruiz Zafon (Penguin) rated #14 on the New England Booksellers Association trade paperback fiction list this past week.

MIXED MEDIA

[07.11.06]—Obaba, or the Hidden Land—Writes Anna Bello for the Romanian daily, NineO'Clock—"An investigative trip to a mysterious, isolated Basque hill town populated by eccentrics (and a fair dash of lizards) becomes a mesmerizing and evocative experience for protagonist and viewer alike in [director] Montxo Armendariz’s wonderful screen treatment" of the Bernardo Atxaga novel, Obabakoak. "The film carefully unlocks the past to study its effect on the present. The production’s fresh vision and fusion of regional charm with magic realism should ensure art house interest from viewers." With Pilar Lopez de Ayala and Barbara Lennie; distributed by Transylvania Film.

A LITTLE LIGHT HOUSEKEEPING…

YOU MAY NOTICE: We'll be experimenting with the format and frequency of this newsblog over the next few weeks. Let us know if something works well or doesn't work at all. We're here to serve you.

ESPECIALLY FOR WRITERS: Our reading period is closed, and all submissions have been processed. If you have not heard from us and you have a submissions that remains outstanding, chances are good it was lost in the mail. You can always check with us; we have sent you a reply, which could have been lost in the mail.

Posted by magicalrealismmaven@yahoo.com at 12:56 PM PDT
Permalink | Share This Post

10 July 2006

MAGICAL REALISM NEWS FOR MONDAY, JULY 10, 2006
Topic: July 2006
ODDS & ENDS

[07.10.06]
Fans of or newcomers to the witty feminist magical realism of the late Angela Carter can enjoy a reassessment of the British author's œuvre via an article in the Independent Online by Michele Roberts. From the header: "Angela Carter's playful retelling of fairy tales and her witty feminism won her legions of fans. But 14 years after her death, is she still essential reading or has the world moved on?"

[07.02.06]
Gabo lovers who haven't heard this tidbit must have been on vacation (as I was): The residents of Gabriel Garcia Marquez's birthplace, Aracataca, Columbia, arranged a vote on July 2 to determine whether to change the town's name to Macondo in order to honor him. But in a strange ironic twist, a majority of residents failed to show up to vote. Writes Joshua Goodman in Guardian Unlimited: "In Gabriel Garcia Marquez's One Hundred Years of Solitude, the residents of the fictitious tropical hamlet of Macondo sleep through the midday swelter in porch hammocks. Fact imitated fiction on Sunday…" Isn't that a hoot? Fewer than half the minimum needed to vote showed up, though the town's mayor, Pedro Sanchez, reported that 93% of those who did vote opted for the change.

[06.19.06]
The futurists all predicted the 21st century as the wellspring for Indian culture. Here's more evidence: Siddharth Dhanvant Shanghvi's new lyrical fiction debut, The Last Song of Dusk. The Los Angeles Times has already blessed Shanghvi as the literary world's next young rising star for her sweeping, modern fairy tale, which "includes elements of magic realism."

[06.18.06]
Rebecca Assoun recently discussed Argentine author Alberto Gerchunoff's new nonfiction book, Jewish Gauchos in European Jewish Press as a "series of vignettes about shtetl life in Argentina. Praised for its depiction of how two entirely different cultures could coexist in a symbiotic relationship, Jewish Gauchos was written about a decade after Jewish immigration to Argentina began in earnest," all written in a style which "mixes prose and magical realism, lyricism and the story-telling."

A LITTLE LIGHT HOUSEKEEPING…

ESPECIALLY FOR WRITERS: Our reading period is closed.

GENERAL REMINDER: Margin's staff is on hiatus through mid-October 2006. Any e-mail we receive during this time will receive replies as necessary, but there may be delays.

ESPECIALLY FOR READERS:

I don't know what took me so long, but I finally set up the RSS feed format for this blog. If you can read web feeds, simply click on our URL and add it to your own and you'll received automated feeds whenever we update the Magical Realism Newsblog. Thanks for your patience!

Posted by magicalrealismmaven@yahoo.com at 12:40 PM PDT
Updated: 10 July 2006 1:37 PM PDT
Permalink | Share This Post

7 July 2006

MAGICAL REALISM NEWS FOR FRI, JULY 7
SUMMER NEWS

You'll notice I've been a little slow this summer, but magical realism doesn't take time off. I'll try to keep you up to date as frequently as I am able—that is, vacations, trips to the pool, day hikes and s'mores roasting notwithstanding. Always feel free to send me your magical realism news and tips to Margin News Editor. In the meantime, here's a little catching up:

[06.17.06]
Come read about our fundraising hurricane relief project, Southern Revival, at Square Table! (Which is actually my reminder to you to buy your copy before they sell out!)

[06.14.06]
Here's one for the foreign film buffs out there: Mathamma The Mother Goddess. This film, reportedly the lone Indian-American entry in the Bollywood & Beyond International Film Festival this year, was described in Telegu Portal as "based on the real life experience of one village woman." Much of the magical realism is reflected both in the beautiful landscape cinematography and director Parthiban Shanmugam's painstaking attention to details. This will be a good one to check out for those who'd like to better understand how magical realism is not only about what can be seen, but also about what is behind what can be seen.

Related to this: I'm taking a generative writing class by Curtis Bonney (of Seattle Surrealists) at the Richard Hugo House on "Unrealism," and one of my classmates is a creative nonfiction writer interested in seeing how "unrealistic" writing can be portrayed in nonfiction narrative. She might be interested in checking out Shanmugam's technique.

[06.11.06]
"I would advise you to park your logical faculties at the lobby before you watch The Lake House,” writes Rina Jimenez-David for the Philippine Daily Inquirer (seen here, reprinted at INQ7.com). "Only this way can you fully enjoy the film, jumping willy-nilly into its incredible premise—that two people, separated by time, can write to each other and fall in love through the powers of a magical mailbox. … It may sound unbelievable, even a bit ridiculous, when the movie’s story is summed up so baldly. But trust me. There’s more to The Lake House than just magical realism, as its publicity material trumpets."

[06.09.06]
I like PopMatters.com, which means I'll probably fall out of favor with the more "erudite" folks in the literary world. But so what? North American magical realism, whether it's as wonderful as its South American precursor, still deserves examination. (Personally, I think North American magical realism is nothing like its South American counterpart, which means, of course, that it's its own thing, which is what it should be. And there are plenty of South American magical realists who don't write as well as Gabo, folks.) Anyway?

North American magical realism is cropping up in all sorts of ways, including via the intriguing graphic novel form that's become so hip these days. PopMatters.com recently reviewed one such title, Ghost of Hoppers, written by Jaime Hernandez and published by Fantagraphics. Writes reviewer Chris Barsanti: "It's a bit of a cliche to call Jaime's work magical realist, though he definitely has shown those tendencies."

[Soapbox response: Why some people automatically consider magical realist efforts or categorization as cliche is beyond me—is there such a thing as cliched mainstream or literary writing? You never hear it referred to in that way, but ho-boy, it definitely exists. So much of mainstream and literary writing these days is comprised of derivative characters and plots already done. End of soapbox.]

Ghost of Hoppers is Volume 22 in the "Love and Rockets" series (remember, these are essentially high-grade comic books—but don't let that stop you, since high-grade comics are all the rage these days). It's an illustrated love story, essentially, between two punk Latina bisexuals. Did someone say collectible?

Barsanti offers this advice for those new to either Hernandez or the genre itself: "It's hard to say how much readers who are unfamiliar with the work of Jaime (or his brother Gilbert) will get out of Ghost of Hoppers as a standalone—for those, it's best recommended to go out and find a copy of Locas [from which Hoppers was originally spun] and get straight to reading—but it's likely as good an entry point as any to the furiously romantic and melancholic world of Maggie and Hopey."

[of recent note]
A production of Tony Kushner's Caroline, or Change recently showed in Washington, DC. Held at The Studio Theater, the play was summarized by All About Jewish Theatre thusly: "The Studio Theatre's new production features a top-of-the-line cast, a meticulous sung-through score by Jeanine Tesori (composer of Thoroughly Modern Millie) and an intimate staging that explores the not-so-colorblind relations between Southern Jews and blacks during the height of the civil rights era." The play originally premiered on Broadway in 2004 and broadens Kushner's reach by being utterly personal in its evocation of magical realism.

Posted by magicalrealismmaven@yahoo.com at 11:59 AM PDT
Updated: 7 July 2006 12:13 PM PDT
Permalink | Share This Post

15 June 2006

MAGICAL REALISM NEWS FOR THURS JUN 16
Topic: June 2006
ART AUCTION!

[6.15.06]
Previous contributor, Scottish artist Dee Rimbaud (cover art, Margin, Autumn 2005 edition and current contents page art) announces a special art auction: "The closing date for offers is 30th June 2006… There are 50+ (works) altogether, in different styles and mediums. I'm willing to accept offers for them, because of difficult financial circumstances, which I won't elaborate on here, but which—if you're curious—you can read about in detail in my travel-blog… You may view all the pictures for sale on my website… Also, my most popular artworks are now available as posters, greeting cards, postcards, as well as on t-shirts, mugs and fridge-magnets. … I do hope you will consider taking a look and maybe making a purchase." Check out his work; maybe you'll not only find something you like, but you'll help out an artist in need as well!

Posted by magicalrealismmaven@yahoo.com at 2:44 PM PDT
Updated: 15 June 2006 2:57 PM PDT
Permalink | Share This Post

12 June 2006

MAGICAL REALISM NEWS FOR MONDAY, JUN 13
Topic: June 2006
Miscellaneous News

[6.12.06]
NOW LIVE! Margin's latest, greatest issue—"Voyage to the Village: A Magical Realist Passport". Features voices and visions from all around the world, mostly from those magical realist writers and thinkers we're not most familiar with. This will be Margin's last edition for a good while, but it's jam-packed, so set your bookmarks, because we've got some serious summer reading for you! Featuring Eduardo Garcia Aguilar, Rajeev Balasubramanyam, Giles Goodland, A.J. LeFlahec, Catharine Leggett, Anna Maria Ortese, Robert Perchan, Sarah Sloat and Gloria Hickok Vando, plus many of Margin's popular columns, book reviews, analytical nonfiction and much more!

[Coming Up]
Fans of Southern Revival will doubtless want to see this event: SOUTHERN LIT: featuring Sherry Austin, author of Mariah of the Spirits, and Dot Jackson, author of Refuge. They will discuss sense of place, family themes, magical realism and Southern Gothic at the Henderson County Public Library in Hendersonville, NC at 4 p.m. For more info: 828.697.4725.

[6.07.06]
In keeping with our international theme, check out this book by Canadian magical realist author Jamie Bastedo. On Thin Ice is the coming-of-age magical realist story of a young girl, Ashley, in Canada's Arctic. A so-called "minestrone girl," Ashley has an Inuit father and a French-Canadian mother and she lives in a crazy house a marvelous, crazy blend of family and pets. Suitable as a young adult novel, which means it's going to be interesting to all adults in general.

Posted by magicalrealismmaven@yahoo.com at 10:22 AM PDT
Permalink | Share This Post

5 June 2006

MAGICAL REALISM NEWS FOR MONDAY, JUN 5
Topic: June 2006
Miscellaneous News

[6.04.06]
Jim Krusoe's list of summer reading, "Perchance to Dream," in a special issue of the LA Times' calendarlive.com column, includes a nice treasure trove of gems offering up facets of magical realism, such as:

Chronicle of Stone, by Ismail Kadare
Light, by Torgny Lindgren
The Palm-Wine Drinkard, by Amos Tutuola
The Radiance of the King, by Camara Laye
The Ten Thousand Things, by Marie Dermout
The Third Policeman, by Flann O'Brien

Writes Krusoe: "So, do I have a bone to pick with 'realistic' literature? Not really, but reality is what I can find outside my door any day of the week." Nuff said, Jim.

[6.04.06]
Anita Nair gives a wonderful first-person wrap-up of this year's Bogota Book Fair in The Hindu Review for those of us who couldn't make it. She's got an interesting perspective on what it must be like to be an author in Gabo-land.

[6.02.06]
For Isabel Allende fans who can't get enough of the diva, check out this interview posted in the online English edition of the Greek newspaper, Kathimerini.

[5.31.06]
Magical realism can always be linked to current political events. Consider the US's current brouhaha over immigration reform, then take a look at Ann Hornaday's discussion of the 1984 film El Norte in The Houston Chronicle. She describes the film as a "graceful blend of classical narrative and magic realism and the power with which it brought an otherwise invisible world to life." It'll probably be hard to find at the vid-store, but do make the effort. Or queue up the ol' Tivo wishlist.

Posted by magicalrealismmaven@yahoo.com at 10:02 PM PDT
Permalink | Share This Post

2 June 2006

MAGICAL REALISM NEWS FOR FRIDAY, JUN 2
Topic: June 2006
Miscellaneous News

[5.28.06]
Magical realist author and Southern Revival contributor Bill Branley has decided to donate a portion of the proceeds from his soon-to-be-released novel, Sea Changes, to Book Relief. Branley writes: "Since I am from New Orleans, and I like books, I have decided to support this effort by contributing $1 for each copy sold from my first printing of Sea Changes. Since the first printing is 5,000 copies, and each dollar purchases two books, this donation will buy 10,000 books. That's about the number of books in a small library." Folks in the Puget Sound area can get their copy first-hand from the author on June 29, when Eagle Harbor Books of Bainbridge Island hosts the novel's release party. The evening's theme, "Northwest Writers Explore Deep South Roots," will spotlight Branley and Chimacum, WA writer Anne Turissini, who is currently writing a memoir about her 30-year career working as a female public defender in New Orleans. Additionally, Branley writes: "In keeping with the Deep South flavor of the evening, I am offering a free bowl of my special shrimp stew with each book signed. Yes, this is my mother's recipe, the one that is described in Chapter 11 of Sea Changes." Copies of his book may also be ordered online at Eagle Harbor's Sea Changes Order Page.

Posted by magicalrealismmaven@yahoo.com at 9:37 AM PDT
Updated: 5 June 2006 10:10 PM PDT
Permalink | Share This Post

30 May 2006

magical realism news for Tue May 30
Topic: May 2006
Miscellaneous News

[5.28.06]
Imagine, a university of magic… You don't need to imagine anymore! DNA India reports that a new course at Rabindra Bharati University in Kolkata will be "geared towards helping movie makers, animators and others linked to the world of illusion and magic realism." The creator of the curriculum, PC Sorcar Jr., explains that “the aim behind institutionalising magic is to eliminate superstitions and make people think rationally.” Response to the future course (fall 2006) has been overwhelming and may very well pave the way for the creation of an actual University of Magical Arts in Kolkata. Whodathunk?

[5.24.06]
Our friends at the wonderful independent publishing house, The Aliform Group, recently shared great news: one of their own has done well. Jose Sarney's recent novel, Master of the Sea, translated by Dr. Gregory Rabassa and published by Aliform, won third place in ForeWord magazine's Book of the Year award in translation. I'm not surprised; it's a wonderful novel. Check it out here

[5.24.06]
Isabel Allende's The House of the Spirits will come to the stage in Seattle in June 2007, dramatized by playwright Myra Platt. More info

[5.22.06]
The novel, Borrowed Body, by Valerie Mason-John, recently won the Mind Book of the Year award. The judges, Blake Morrison, Michele Roberts and Fay Weldon credited the novel for its "authenticity, despite being a blend of fictional memoir and magical realist fantasy." Read about it at The Guardian Unlimited

[5.21.06]
Here's a nice article about magical realism written by Omale Allen Abduljabbar of the Nigerian literati for Vanguard. Segue: An excellent reminder: June's edition of Margin will play host to dozens of international writers of magical realism. Stay tuned!

Posted by magicalrealismmaven@yahoo.com at 3:10 PM PDT
Permalink | Share This Post

22 May 2006

MAGICAL REALISM NEWS FOR MONDAY, MAY 22
Topic: May 2006
Miscellaneous News

[5.22.06]
Bill Branley, magical realist writer and contributor to Southern Revival, reports that his experience at this year's BEA was positive and that Southern Revival received raves. Thanks, Bill, for putting the word out in DC! You can read a local article about Southern Revival in a recent edition of the Bainbridge Island Review.

[5.22.06]
Mozambique author, Mia Couto, earned raves from reviewer Nabeelah Shabbir for his latest novel, Sleepwalking Land, about which Shabbir says: "Both the narrative structure and tone of the book recall the Latin American magic realist genre—Muidiga’s youngest brother rapidly transforms into a cockerel, whilst a river runs dry the day after a patriarchal funeral has taken place on the water. It's all very fantastical and Couto has brewed the magic of his novel by preserving it in one of Latin America’s original languages—Portuguese. The Garcia Marquez motifs are very familiar but they have been displaced to Mozambique and adapted to the onset of war."

[5.22.06]
Folks in New Jersey who appreciate a little enchantment might wish to attend contributor Pamela Hughes' workshop, "Healing with the Fairies and Spirit Animals Workshop," slated for Saturday, June 10th, which will be held at the Ramapo reservation. Children 7 and up are invited and encouraged to attend, but Pamela also suggests attendants without children to bring their own "playful, inner child." For more info.

[5.21.06]
Yesterday's Book Standard reported on The New York Times recently list of top fiction from the last 25 years. Magical realist titles that made the list include Toni Morrison’s Beloved, Marilynne Robinson’s Housekeeping and Mark Helprin's Winter’s Tale.

Posted by magicalrealismmaven@yahoo.com at 10:41 AM PDT
Permalink | Share This Post

18 May 2006

MAGICAL REALISM NEWS FOR TUESDAY, MAY 18
Topic: May 2006
LOTS OF NEWS THIS WEEK!

Contributor News

Stephen Siciliano (Vedette) continues his "La Danza" through New York on Thursday, May 18 at The Wine Room of Forest Hills [718.520.1777] and on Saturday May 20 at the home of documentary film maker Vincent Liotta in Greenwich [212.227.O240 or 646.515.5743]. Siciliano will give readings from his novel to musical pieces from Omar Torres' albums "Dynamisto" and "La Danza." Writes Siciliano: "Come swill some flamenco wine and catch the flamenco groove." Both of these performances are open to the public.
Jan Steckel writes: "I wanted to let you all know that the first print run of 200 of my new poetry chapbook, The Underwater Hospital, sold out in three weeks. Copies of the second print run are now available for $5 from Zeitgeist Press and at Amazon.com." Editor's note: They list her chapbook as a pamphlet… Would somebody please educate the folks at Amazon on the difference between a chapbook and a pamphlet? Sheesh.

New magical realist titles

Between the Bridge and the River, by Craig Ferguson [yes, the Late Show host].
Malinche, by Laura Esquivel
Refuge, by Dot Jackson
Matters of Life and Death, by Bernard MacLaverty

Check out these performances

Almost, Maine, Friday, May 19, Caribou Performing Arts Center in Caribou, ME; Penobscot Theatre Company, playwright John Cariani
The Ventriloquist, through Sunday May 21, 125 Bathurst in Toronto, Ontario, Canada; director Keith Turnbull, playwright Larry Tremblay

Film news

Check out El Doctor, an animated film by Suzan Pitt
Boohoo: The recent film release of The Mistress of Spices is not getting great reviews. I'm too sad about that to add the links to all the critics' pans in London. Just suffice it to say that, as Garrett Rowlan points out in our upcoming edition of Margin, magical realism might not truly be capturable for the big screen. (Any arguments to this theory can be sent directly to me, but you might first consider reading Rowlan's upcoming thesis on the subject in the June 9th edition.)
Another film that's not getting great reviews: Just My Luck. But who expected that one to be great? James Rocchi for Cinematical suggests a better film based on the concept of luck: Intacto. Thanks for the tip, James. Intacto sounds like a keeper, even if JML isn't.

Magical Realist Miscellany

Here's a terrific comparative book review on political writing in The Nation—critic John Banville spotlights Roberto Bola?o's Last Evenings on Earth and The Successor, Ismail Kadare's latest effort. While his references to magical realism are secondary, Banville's discussion itself is thoughtful and germaine to any dialogue about MR.
And while I'm on a tangent…why not check out Rebecca Solnit's commencement address for U-Cal Berkeley's English Department, "Welcome to the Impossible World"? Solnit: "Books matter. Stories matter. People die of pernicious stories, are reinvented by new stories, and make stories to shelter themselves. Though we learned from postmodernism that a story is only a construct, so is a house, and a story can be more important as shelter: the story that you have certain inalienable rights and immeasurable value, the story that there is an alternative to violence and competition, the story that women are human beings. Sometimes people find the stories that save their lives in books." Another relevant excursion into the roots and reasons for magical realism, methinks.

Posted by magicalrealismmaven@yahoo.com at 11:12 AM PDT
Permalink | Share This Post

12 May 2006

MAGICAL REALISM NEWS FOR FRIDAY, MAY 12
Topic: May 2006
The MAY 2006 edition of Margin is now live! www.magical-realism.com

THIS HAS been a fun issue to put together. After all, magical realism relies on the ordinary for its value. What could be more ordinary than life in a quiet little town in the backwater of Colombia (consider Gabo's Macondo), or the experiences of a solitary traveller looking for a room to let (in Thomas Mann's "The Wardrobe"), or the study of a city map (for a "Street of Crocodiles")?

In Chocolat, the chocolatier hanging her shingle in a conservative French village isn't all that extraordinary, until you realize she's learning the future through batches of confection she stirs up daily. In Anjali Banerjee's funny novel, Imaginary Men, an American matchmaker with Indian roots is not so unusual to ponder until you learn she has literally witnessed the physiological process of lovers uniting. And what's so exceptional about mourning the loss of one's child? Except that readers of Toni Morrison's powerful novel, Beloved, will set you straight: that was no ordinary loss, and she was no ordinary child.

Domesticities seemed the perfect title for this edition revolving around daily life. It's a term narrow enough to conjure a sense of home, yet broad enough to be applied on multiple levels. Domestic life is about work, family, land. Homeland is a word we can all relate to, but in myriad different ways. Whether we come from city or country, whether we have large or small families, whether we have money or not, the homeland might be one of the few constructs that defines us together even when we are living distinctly different lives.

In this edition, you'll find a wide array of interpretations of domestic life:

the sad consequence of living in a paper house ~ the vivid links between generations of abused women in West Virginia ~ the treasures one finds under a pile of dirty dishes ~ the way one genius built his ascension to Heaven ~ the continuity of a town even underwater ~ the picture window revealing lost pasts ~ the barnyard messages of animal tracks ~ the living past at a Civil War site ~ the magically enhanced lives of certain Irish immigrants ~ the puzzling result of eating tainted fruit ~ the tall tale of a legendary swamp lover ~ the miracle of snowfall on a Southern barn ~ the building of a personal labyrinth ~ the story of one runaway boy who wiped out racial tension in a blue-collar town ~ the startling way one woman captured a man's heart ~ the plight of a fisherman at the end of his life ~ the animation of a home as an orphan searches for her mother

Featuring:

Stephen Benz ~ A.D. Conrad ~ Mark D'Anna ~ Emily Dickinson~ Maureen Tolman Flannery ~ Mary Clair Ervin Gildea ~ Pauline Holdstock ~ Pamela Hughes ~ Barbara Jacksha ~ Sondra Kelly-Green ~ Sheila Nickerson ~ Stephanie Rodriguez ~ Sandra Schwayer Sanchez ~ Lois Schlegel ~ Jerry Spinelli ~ Jodee Stanley

Some announcements:

• Check out the crystal ball icon on our contents page. Roll your cursor over it and you will foresee into a bit of Margin's future for 2006!

• Coming in June: a special international edition

• Our general reading period is still CLOSED. Sorry, we've got 2006 filled! Subscribers are the first to learn of new calls for submissions: if you haven't subscribed, you ought to do so soon, as the free option may vanish later this year!

• SOUTHERN REVIVAL: DEEP MAGIC FOR HURRICANE RELIEF is now available! We're asking for $10 minimum, 100% of each donation forwarded to First Book. Many thanks for The Georgia Review and The North American Review for their assistance in helping us promote this important fundraiser.

• Keep In Touch! Our MAGICAL REALISM NEWS BLOG is back and better than ever. If you have any magical realism news you'd like to contribute, drop me an email at: magicalrealismmaven@yahoo.com

I hope you enjoy this "ordinary" edition of Margin. Perhaps it will remind you of that moment in your life when you stepped between worlds for a breath or two and found something new. You know of such moments. We've all had them. I wouldn't be surprised to learn that they come daily. Were we to look for them, what would we discover about ourselves? Probably much more to write home about than we previously thought.

Time for me to get back to my garden of words.

Tamara Kaye Sellman, Editor and Publisher
aka The Magical Realism Maven

(SEE current TABLE OF CONTENTS)

Posted by magicalrealismmaven@yahoo.com at 11:35 AM PDT
Permalink | Share This Post

5 May 2006

Editor's rant
Mood:

irritated
This is only tangentially related to MR News, but here goes anyway:

If you are interested in joining a list discussing feminist science fiction, don't join the Feminist Sci Fi (feministSF@lists.feministSF.net) carried by http://feministsf.org/. The site for the group is fine, and useful, but the main list is poorly managed by people who seem not to understand the very technology they're administrating.

They recently had to change addresses after encountering trouble with autoreplies.

Autoreplies (you know, the messages that read, "So and So will be out of the office through Friday; for assistance, please contact Such and Such at xxx.xxxx") are generally not a handling problem for the rest of us who have been list admins over the years (including, ahem, myself). Each list mechanism has its own way of dealing with autoreplies, which is what the list handler for this group should have engaged.

Now, list mistress Leanne Phillips might be an otherwise lovely individual, but her approach to fixing a problem which is largely one of administration and not one of membership is rather extreme: she wants to ban all members using autoreplies. Oh, and she called people who use autoreplies "megalomaniacs."

Huh?

Suffice it to say, I unsubscribed.

It wasn't that great a list anyway, just an Internet book discussion group, mostly. Where I live, we can talk about books in person. And we do. All sorts of books. Even feminist SF books!

Oh, and PS: It's probably useful to note that they've never received an autoreply from me!

Tamara's tip of the day

Posted by magicalrealismmaven@yahoo.com at 9:01 AM PDT
Permalink | Share This Post

3 May 2006

MAGICAL REALISM NEWS for Wed, May 3
Topic: May 2006
GOOD NEWS...we've collected almost $1500 from the sale of SOUTHERN REVIVAL to donate to First Book! That's more than half of what we'd hoped to collect, and well in advance of when we thought we'd collect it. That $1500 will make it possible for 3000 brand-new books to be distributed to libraries in the process of rebuilding across the hurricane-devastated Gulf Coast region.

Some updates:

SR has made appearances at the following live events:

Rainbow Bookfest, Seattle
Private gumbo party, Bainbridge Island, WA
Unitarian social gathering, Bainbridge Island, WA

SR has received publicity commitments from:

The Burning Word Poetry Festival
The Georgia Review
North American Review

SR is now available for purchase directly from:

Eagle Harbor Book Company, Bainbridge Island, WA

SR will appear at the following venues this spring:

Pegasus Book Discussion Group, Bainbridge Island, WA
Neighborhood event, Bainbridge Island, WA
An open mic event in Jacksonville, FL (tba)
A coffee shop in St. Louis, MO (tba)
Jacksonville, FL indy bookseller (tba)
Skagit River Poetry Festival, La Conner, WA

We are working to publicize SR at the following venues:

BEA 2006, WA DC
ALA 2006, NOLA

We are arranging the following events/appearances for the fall:

Katrina anniversary reading event, NOLA
Private gumbo party, Bainbridge Island, WA
Write on the Sound writers conference, Edmonds, WA

We are working on a full-range publicity package this week and next, and we're into another print run to keep up with demands. As SR is a hand-made journal, production is slower than typical, but the results have been outstanding, and so far, people are raving!

Don't have your copy yet? Get one while they're hot! This is, after all, a limited edition!

Posted by magicalrealismmaven@yahoo.com at 4:07 PM PDT
Permalink | Share This Post

27 April 2006

MAGICAL REALISM NEWS FOR THURSDAY, APR 27
Topic: April 2006
Miscellaneous News

[4.27.06]
Fans of Margin contributor Jan Steckel will want to tune in today to the program, "Woman-Stirred Radio," on WGDR-Radio 91.1 FM in Vermont, or on the Internet at www.wgdr.org (1:30p West Coast time, 4:30p on the East Coast). Steckel adds: "Got something you want asked in the interview, like 'What about that five bucks you owe me?' You can call (radio show hostess) Merry in the studio before or after the show at 802-454-7762."

If you can't tune in, why not read two new online published poems by Steckel appearing in New Works Review and The Potomac? Another option: read Merry Gangemi's review of Steckel's recently released book of poems, The Underwater Hospital.

[4.27.06]
More Margin poets out in the world: Erin Fristad reads tonight at the Seattle Town Hall Political Cabaret and at the In Other Words Bookstore in Portland OR, May 5th. She's a terrific poet and reader; go to her events, if you can.

Also, once again, this spring Hermine Meinhard will teach a poetry workshop at Il Chiostro, a country farmhouse in Tuscany where wine and olive oil have been produced for hundreds years. She reports that last year the writing and the experience were transforming, as if the landscape had drawn the writers into an intimacy with it and themselves.

Practically speaking, the workshop is a chance to immerse yourself in writing in a place of deep roots and sensuousness. The group will be small (no more than 10); that, and the uniqueness of the setting, make it possible for her to give much individual attention to participants and their poems.

The 2006 dates are May 13 – 20. The week includes daily workshops of improvisational writing workshops which will draw on (among other elements) the mysterious beauty of the landscape, memory, and language; individual conferences, excursions to the walled medieval town of Siena and other hilltowns, and meals of traditional Tuscan recipes. For information, visit the website for Il Chiostro or contact Hermine at her website.

[4.27.06]
Peter Keough for Boston's The Phoenix discusses some of the treasures of this year's African Art Festival held last February. Would it be surprising to learn that many of the films shared at least a tangential relationship to magical realism?

Check for these titles in your local video store (or make a DVR wishlist!) and see for yourself:

Guinean filmmaker Cheik Doukoure's Le ballon d’or/The Golden Ball (1992)—"Charming and spirited, Doukoure’s fable evokes the disarming innocence and sinister darkness of a folk tale."
Danish filmmaker Jeppe R?nde's The Swenkas (2004)—a "whimsical documentary" which "R?nde tries to transform… into a magical-realist tall tale complete with an old storyteller, arty symbolism, and an eclectic soundtrack…"
Rwandan filmmaker Raso Ganemtore's short film, Safi, la petite mere (2004)—"After her mother dies in childbirth, little Safi acts resourcefully when the locals decide to kill the newborn in order to escape the 'evil eye.' "

[4.11.06]
Internationally acclaimed magical realist author Salman Rushdie appeared a couple of weeks ago at the Schwab Auditorium in University Park, PA. I wish I could have been there. Writer Adam Smeltz for CentreDaily.com reports that "Life, according to Salman Rushdie, is inherently weird. … Ordinary life does not exist, the British author told an almost-full Schwab Auditorium on Tuesday night. … But day-to-day habits do dull human perceptions of the world, Rushdie said. So it's an author's job to shake them up."

Quoting Rushdie via Smeltz: "To renew that sense of extraordinary-ness, the artist needs to make things strange. … One of the great lies ... that we present to the world is that we lead ordinary lives … No, we don't."

The audience took care of the standing ovation for me.

[4.11.06]
"In Pen, psychosomatic paraplegia meets magic realism. But there could be worse marriages," says Michael Feingold in a panned review of the play for the Village Voice. Please note, his is not a panned review of magical realism, per se, though he does refer to it as a kind of "flamflam," which leaves this fan of MR a bit unsettled…

[4.09.06]
Fans of Jose Saramago's Blindness might also equally appreciate his latest novel, Seeing, which was recently reviewed by Art Winslow for the Los Angeles Times. Writes Winslow, "Saramago, Portugal's only Nobel laureate in literature, commonly employs magical realist techniques, and a seemingly inexplicable event does drive the action in Seeing. But whether it is questionable seizure, holding people indeterminately without charge, conducting high-tech surveillance, utilizing techniques such as data mining, refusing to accept electoral results or conducting PR wars against public opinion, all the political tactics on display in this novel are to be found operating today in the globe's democratic regimes, including our own, without resort to supernatural literary effects. That may be the eeriest aspect of Seeing."

[4.07.06]
Now this is interesting: Gabo's One Hundred Years of Solitude was one of only four novels that made "top 20" lists in studies researching the differences in reading influences among men and women. The studies, conducted by the organizers of the Orange Prize, are outlined in an article in the online edition of The Independent. Other titles to make the lists which have tendrils in magical realism include "Metamorphosis" by Franz Kafka and The Book of Laughter and Forgetting by Milan Kundera.

Posted by magicalrealismmaven@yahoo.com at 11:35 AM PDT
Updated: 27 April 2006 11:30 AM PDT
Permalink | Share This Post

24 April 2006

MAGICAL REALISM NEWS FOR MONDAY, APR 24
Topic: April 2006
[4.24.06]
Women Reading Across Boundaries at Women and Children First Bookstore
[CHICAGO] A multicultural collection of women authors, including Margin contributors Constance Vogel and M. Eliza Hamilton Abegunde, will read work that crosses boundaries of race, class, death, and acceptable conduct in the long-awaited debut for Jane's Stories III: Women Writing Across Boundaries at Women and Children First Bookstore on 5233 North Clark from 4 to 6pm next Sun Apr 30.

The anthology features poems and short stories that have won awards for authors in competitions sponsored by Jane's Stories Press Foundation, the nonprofit publisher, which sponsors programs for emerging and established writers who are underrepresented in the publishing industry, focusing on writing by women over 50 and under 24, and by women of color.

Posted by magicalrealismmaven@yahoo.com at 9:11 AM PDT
Permalink | Share This Post

19 April 2006

MAGICAL REALISM NEWS FOR WEDNESDAY, APR 19
Topic: April 2006
[4.19.06]
SOUTHERN REVIVAL is almost ready for release! Here's the latest:

APRIL 19, 2006
Announcing a forthcoming anthology release
SOUTHERN REVIVAL
Deep Magic For Hurricane Relief
Publication release date: April 29, 2006
Featuring:
Stephen Alcorn, Louis E. Bourgeois, Bill Branley, Geraldine Cannon, Susan Deefholts, Rebecca Sete Jacobson, Dorothy Laurence, Michael Lythgoe, Jack A. Neal, Carol D. O'Dell, Susan Roney-O'Brien, Shira Richman, Marjorie Stamm Rosenfeld, Larri Ann Rosser, Dr. Lynn Veach Sadler, Tamara Kaye Sellman, Sheree Renee Thomas and Doris Umbers
SOUTHERN REVIVAL: Deep Magic for Hurricane Relief, a small press effort by publisher Tamara Kaye Sellman of Bainbridge Island, WA, aims to help restore hurricane-ravaged libraries in the south as well as to put books back into the hands of evacuees. Sellman has turned this year's edition of her annual anthology, Periphery: A Magical Realist Zine, into a fundraiser.
100% of donations to and sales of the anthology benefit First Book (www.firstbook.org). First Book is a national nonprofit organization with a single mission: to give children from low-income families the opportunity to read and own their first new books.
Book Relief ( www.bookrelief.org) is First Book's massive publishing industry-wide relief initiative to place at least five million new books into the hands, schools and libraries of those affected by the hurricanes. Book Relief is the nation's largest and most comprehensive book distribution relief program.
Slated for release on April 29, this year's 40-page anthology offers diverse poetry and prose which honors and celebrates the cultural magic of the Gulf Coast. This eclectic mix features a creation myth of the Mississippi River, the story of a shape-changing gator woman, a poem discussing revival "works" in a jungle of kudzu, a tale of a flood in New Orleans which "reunites" several generations of women, and other tastes from what can only be described as a jambalaya of Southern voices, vision and invention.
"We like to think of our effort as first aid for the hearts and minds of our Southern neighbors," said Sellman, a self-proclaimed bibliophile who treasures such Southern authors as Connie May Fowler, Carson McCullers and Lee Smith.
She was inspired to help out Southern libraries after previously contributing books from her own library to American military troops around the world. "Food, shelter and clothing are not the only things we need to keep our souls well fed. That's why books, art and music are a necessity, not a luxury. With them, people can thrive, rather than simply survive."
Publisher Sellman aims to generate enough donations from sales of SOUTHERN REVIVAL to assist First Book in re-supplying an entire community library in the hurricane-ravaged South with new books. So far, her efforts have acquired 25% of that goal all through donations and without having sold a single copy of the anthology.
Copies will sell for a minimum purchase donation of $10, "but we expect a lot of people will give more—$20 or $25," said Sellman. She explained, "For every $1 donated to First Book, two new books will be distributed by the charity to a library or an evacuee in need. When someone gives $25, that's the same as providing 50 books. That's a great investment for charity, we think."
She recommends people reserve their copies by contacting her online at magicalrealismmaven@yahoo.com. "Even if we go into a second or third printing, this is going to be a limited run, so people who are interested should go ahead and preorder."
The anthology will be sold online, through local bookstores and via private events. Readings and promotional events are also being arranged for Seattle, Atlanta, New Orleans, Florida and Oxford.
For purchasing information, visit www.angelfire.com/wa2/margin/SouthernRevival.html.
Specs:
40 pages
$10+ donation
Quality cover stock
Vellum endsheets
Saddle-stitch binding
Artwork:
Block relief artwork from award-winning printmaker Stephen Alcorn (www.alcorngallery.com)
Photography from Mississippian photojournalist Jack A. Neal (www.jackneal.net)
For more information: Tamara Kaye Sellman
magicalrealismmaven@yahoo.com
www.angelfire.com/wa2/margin/SouthernRevival.html
321 High School Road NE, #204
Bainbridge Island, WA 98110

Regular news will return to the MR Newsblog within a few days.—The Editors

Posted by magicalrealismmaven@yahoo.com at 3:18 PM PDT
Permalink | Share This Post

3 April 2006

MAGICAL REALISM NEWS FOR MONDAY, APR 3
Topic: April 2006
[4.03.06]
We'll be forwarding over $1000 in donations today for First Book's Book Relief campaign as part of our fundraising effort, Southern Revival, a humble little journal we're producing with the not-so-humble goal of making at least $2500 to help restore Southern libraries and put books in the hands of evacuees who've been displaced across the country. We're almost halfway there, thanks to so many wonderful people who've donated to the cause. What does $2500 cover? Enough books to completely stock a small community library. Why not pitch in with your own donation? We're asking for a minimum donation of $10, a small price to pay to help bring first aid to the hearts and minds of our Southern neighbors. Learn more here
Currently, the staff for Southern Revival (full title: Periphery IV: SOUTHERN REVIVAL: Deep Magic for Hurricane Relief) is making content and artwork selections. Those waiting to hear from us will know very soon. Thanks for your patience! We received terrific material representing so many facets of the South; it will be hard to make our final decisions!
I'd like, at this time, to thank our volunteer staff (Susan Deefholts, Carol D. O'Dell and Shira Richman) for their dedication, brilliance and amazing heart.
[4.02.06]
Copper Canyon Press has just released Alberto Rios' latest book of poems, The Theater of Night. In a review by Joy Lanzendorfer for San Francisco Chronicle, his poetry in this book was described as "often surreal, sometimes bordering on magic realism, such as in 'The Drive-In of the Small Animals,' where insects, lizards and other creatures watch humans as if watching a movie at the drive-in." I met Rios briefly at the Port Townsend Writers Conference last July and found him to be a gentle, personable man with a huge fan club. I highly recommend you take a look at his work. He's one of America's finest magical realist poets, in my humble opinion.
[4.01.06]
The lucky folks in Brattleboro, VT will enjoy the first-ever public screening of Jay Craven's newest feature film, Disappearances, this Thursday, April 6 at the Latchis Theatre. The film, starring Kris Kristofferson, is described in the Brattleboro Reformer as having, "in the midst of a fun, action story…a heady dose of what Craven calls magical realism, which incorporates inexplicable occurrences and fantasy, or, in the case of the film, mysterious legend or folklore, which characters accept at face value and which influences the story. It's a device used in popular films as Being John Malkovich and Like Water for Chocolate." Sounds like a keeper; I can't wait for it to make it to my corner of the country.
[3.31.06]
Robert Coover, who is perhaps best known among magical realism's fans for his 1977 novel, The Public Burning, led the workshop, "A Walk Through the Future: Technology Taking Literature Into a New Era," last Friday as part of the Our Lady of the Lake University's literary festival. In an interview with San Antonio Express-News book editor, Steve Bennett, Coover discusses what it means to be an unconventional writer and why, in part, he believes it is important for him to reintroduce myth into contemporary electronic writing.
[3.11.06]
Ah, scandal. It's been reported in Hindustan Times that "Japanese novelist Haruki Murakami accused his former editor of illicitly selling his handwritten manuscripts, saying many texts were now being traded on Internet auction sites and at second-hand bookshops for exorbitant prices. … Writing in Bungeishunju, a literary magazine released [March 10], the writer said a handwritten translation into Japanese of The Ice Palace by F. Scott Fitzgerald was put for sale at a bookshop for more than… $8,490 [USD]."
[2.19.06]
"The Birth House is a sweet little piece of fiction. Set in a small fishing village in Nova Scotia, it's a strong first outing for writer Ami McKay and features an element of magic realism—call it a hybrid of fabulist Gabriel Garcia Marquez and prairie realist Sinclair Ross."—Patricia Robertson for the Toronto Star. Okay, who could not be interested in reading this?
[2.15.06]
Please Don't Come Back From The Moon,a first novel by Dean Bakopoulos, "deftly melds magic realism with social satire," according to The New York Times. The story centers around the mass walkout of a Rust Belt working man's town in the summer of 1991 and the consequences thrust upon the grown sons of the protesters.
[2.05.06]
The author of Chocolat, Joanne Harris, delves into her obsession with the unexplained, the dark, and the superstitious in an interesting interview conducted by Uma Girish for California Literary Review.

Posted by magicalrealismmaven@yahoo.com at 7:59 AM PDT
Permalink | Share This Post

Newer | Latest | Older

«	July 2006					»

S	M	T	W	T	F	S
						1
2	3	4	5	6	7	8
9	10	11	12	13	14	15
16	17	18	19	20	21	22
23	24	25	26	27	28	29
30	31