[4.03.06]
Melissa Mia Hall recently gave Alice Hoffman's latest release, The Ice Queen, a major thumbs up, declaring it her “best novel since Practical Magic bewitched readers in 1995.”
Editor's note: Don't ask me to explain how it is that today is March 13 but the publication date of Hall's review is April 3…

[3.12.06]
Hampton University welcomes Pulitzer Prize-winning author Alice Walker (The Color Purple) as part of the university's annual Read-In event on March 23. Walker will discuss the relationship between her novel and its film adaptation. For more info || Walker's novel, which has been adapted already for Broadway, will hit the road for a national tour in 2007, beginning with at least 3 months' staging in homegirl Oprah Winfrey's Chicago in April, according to Broadway.com.

[3.12.06]
Okay, so it's not magical realism per se, but Margo Hammond's article, "To tell the truth, we should value fiction" (reprinted here in The Kansas City Star), addresses the subject of fiction, fabulation, embellishment and memoir in a thoughtful manner. Indirectly, it has everything to do with magical realism, which has had its detractors over the years who've disparaged its writers for their interest in contrivances and artifice.

[3.10.06]
The Washington Blade, in its spring 2006 preview, mentions that a new critical book examining feminist writer Kathy Acker, Lust for Life: On the Writings of Kathy Acker, is set for release in May.