MAGICAL REALISM NEWS FOR MONDAY, MAR 21
Topic: March 2005
SUBMISSIONS ADDRESS UPDATE If you are interested in submitting to Margin via e-mail, please direct your submissions to submissions (at) magical-realism.com. The address at this domain is extremely reliable and replaces our previous service at Flashmail, which lost about 5 weeks of submissions on file in our previous mailbox on March 17, 2005.

Reviewer Stuart Klawans in Newsday magazine describes Jonathan Safran Foer's latest novel, Extremely Loud and Incredibly Close as a combination of magical realism in the style of Marc Chagall with an updated Huck Finn-like quality. Klawans writes: "Which brings me back to the ostensible reason for telling a sad story humorously: to be truthful. As the charming, imaginative probabilities piled up in Extremely Loud and Incredibly Close, I began to think of another small and voluble survivor named Oskar: the narrator of Gunter Grass' The Tin Drum."

And here's another reference to Chagall... Fernanda Eberstadt, reviewer for yesterday's The New York Times, refers to the artist in magical realist author Steve Stern's latest work, The Angel of Forgetfulness, when describing the ancient character Keni Shendeldecker, a once-footloose and fancy-free artist of "Chagall-like magic realist paintings of ghetto scenes" who becomes the love interest of a college student in 1969. Think that's improbable? Of course it is, but so are many other fabulist elements in Stern's mystical novel, including dybbuks, angels and golems.

"Can multiculturalism have a white face? If Caribbean-American novelist Robert Antoni is any indication, the answer has to be yes," asserts Chauncey Mabe, Books Editor for The Sun-Sentinel & South Florida Interactive. Magical realist author Robert Antoni (Divina Trace, Blessed Is the Fruit and My Grandmother's Erotic Folktales) will read from his new novel Carnival at 8 p.m. on Wednesday March 23 at Books & Books in Coral Gables, FL (305.442.4408). The Broward County Main Library will also present "An Evening with Robert Antoni" at 7:30 p.m. on Thursday March 24 at the Bienes Center in Fort Lauderdale. This event is free, but reservations are requested (954.357.7401).

FANS OF OPERA AND MAGICAL REALISM: Composer Hector Armienta specializes in bilingual operas. Among these are Un Camino de Fe/A Journey of Faith and Los Conejos y las Conejas/The Coyotes and the Rabbits, as well as an in-progress trilogy of operas, which he describes as containing a bit of "Mexican and Latin American magical realism" based on his abuela's experiences. Armienta recently made his world premiere in the lauded "Words and Music" concert spotlight in Oakland, where his composition for narrator, chorus and orchestra based on the prize-winning poem "Where Waters Meet" by Sonoma County fifth grader Hailee Brumley was performed last Saturday.

MAGICAL REALISM NEWS FOR THURSDAY, MAR 18
Topic: March 2005
Fans of magical realism's tales of uberhumanity might want to read this arch overview of Jonathan Lethem's work in The New York Review of Books. In "Welcome to New Dork," critic John Leonard exposes the differences between the world's literary supermen, past and present. From the commentary: "Superpowers are not what magic realism was about in Bulgakov, Kobo Abe, Salman Rushdie, or the Latin American flying carpets. That Michael Chabon and Paul Auster have gone graphic, that one Jonathan, Lethem, writes on and on about John Ford, while another Jonathan, Franzen, writes on and on about "Peanuts," even as Rick Moody confides to the Times Book Review that "comics are currently better at the sociology of the intimate gesture than literary fiction is," may just mean that the slick magazines with the scratch and sniff ads for vodka and opium are willing to pay a bundle for bombast about ephemera." Zoinks!

Magical realist poet Hermine Meinhard will teach a poetry workshop Saturday, June 11 ? 18, 2005 on a working farm in the wine country of Tuscany as part of "The Soul of a Poem in the Heart of Italy" workshop in Il Chiostro Villas. The workshop is limited to 10-12 participants; for more information, contact Hermine Meinhard or visit the workshop website

NOTICE TO WRITERS SUBMITTING WORK IN FEB/MAR 2005
Mood:  blue
Now Playing: WEB-BASED EMAIL FAILURE
Sorry to have to report this, but submissions sent to the address submissions@flashmail.com during the months of Feb and Mar 2005 seem to have disappeared.

We have contacted support to see about retrieval, but at this point we're more concerned about the reliability of the email service at Flashmail.

Therefore, if you have submitted work to us at the submissions@flashmail.com address during this time, you should check in with us to see if your work was lost, so that you may resubmit it. Some of it was printed out and logged in, but it's impossible for us to know which of all the submissions sent there have been accounted for. In the meantime, send all submissions to magicalrealismmaven@yahoo.com for the time being, until we work out the details for a future submissions email service.

MAGICAL REALISM NEWS FOR THURSDAY, MAR 17
Topic: March 2005
It's contest time again at MARGIN. Next up?short stories! Announcing our 2005 theme for the annual MARGIN short story contest:

WAR STORIES
We're looking for every kind of war scenario:
man v. man ~ country v. country ~ man v. nature ~ man v. woman?
?any sort of collision of power structures, both personal and political. Just make sure it's magical realism!

BASIC DETAILS
Postmark deadline: June 15, 2005. Winner and honorable mentions published in MARGIN's autumn edition, annually.
Prize: $100 and publication.
Entry fee: $8 per story; no limit to stories. Make checks payable to Tamara Kaye Sellman.
All contest proceeds go to our contributor's fund and to pay the prize. Judged blind by staff. See guidelines for more information.

Click here to read the MARGIN 2004 SHORT STORY WINNER.

___________________________

Magical Realist author Daniel Olivas has sent along this call for submissions:

"I am editing an anthology of short fiction by Latinos/as in which the City of Los Angeles plays an integral role. I am interested in provocative stories on virtually any subject by both established and new writers. Stories may range from social realism to cuentos de fantasma and anything in between. Los Angeles may be a major 'character' or merely lurking in the background. I'd like to see characters who represent diverse backgrounds in terms of ethnicity, profession, age, sexual orientation, etc.

"Preferred length: 500 to 5,000 words. Stories may be previously published (please indicate where). Chapters from novels will be considered if they can stand alone. Award-winning publisher is interested but wants to see final manuscript.

"Please e-mail your story, using standard submission formatting, as a Word document to olivasdan (at) aol.com. In the e-mail, include your contact information, list of previous publications (if any), and the ethnicity(ies) with which you identify.

"DEADLINE: September 1, 2005.

"Feel free to visit my Web page at: www.danielolivas.com."

MAGICAL REALISM NEWS FOR TUESDAY, MAR 15
Topic: March 2005
Spotted last weekend at the San Francisco Asian American Film Festival: Turtles Can Fly, an "incredible, magic realist war story, set on the eve of the United States' latest invasion of Iraq." SEE IT TONIGHT! >>> Tues/15, 6:30 p.m., Kabuki screen [Genl Info]

Dr. Gregory Rabassa enjoyed an occasion to discuss magical realist author Clarice Lispector in an appearance at the Center for Jewish History last Sunday. In an article in The New York Times books section, he is said to recall that "I was flabbergasted to meet that rare person who looked like Marlene Dietrich and wrote like Virginia Woolf." Rabassa is a living treasure; keep your eyes open for his memoir, If This Be Treason, which is due for release in April.

Sighted recently on MTV: A 13-second appearance in which Paulo Coelho of The Alchemist fame provides this voice-over?"The desert will give you an understanding of the world. How do I immerse myself in the desert? Listen to your heart"?while the sun sets over a pyramid in Egypt.

Author Anjali Banerjee's debut magical realist YA novel, Maya Running, has received accolades not only in the US, but raves in the old country (India) as well. MARGIN will be offering copies of Banerjee's wonderful book for sale at the AWP Bookfair in Vancouver BC March 30 through April 2. Make sure and drop by table #208 if you are attending the AWP conference and pick up a copy of Anjali's book!

From Playbill comes this heads up for magical realism fans regarding the line-up for the 35th anniversary season of the Manhattan Theatre Club's "Writers in Performance" series: "The 400th anniversary of Cervantes' Don Quixote will be celebrated April 4 in an evening titled The Don. Quixote, which is widely regarded as the world's first modern novel, will be interpreted by Mario Cantone, Ruben Santiago-Hudson and Daphne Rubin-Vega. Don Quixote translator Edith Grossman will introduce the evening, which will also feature a live score by Julie Lyonn Lieberman. ?The literary series is "dedicated to melding fiction, nonfiction and poetry with the stage in creative and provocative ways." The MTC's Stage I is located at 131 West 55th Street in Manhattan. Single-event tickets ($17.50) available at (212) 399-3030.

MAGICAL REALISM NEWS FOR MONDAY, MAR 14
Topic: March 2005
If you're in the San Francisco area, you'll not want to miss Margin contributor Jan Steckel's featured performance at the Stories by the Lake Prose Open Mic in Oakland on Saturday, March 19 from 2 to 4 in the afternoon. Dr. Steckel, an Oakland writer, bisexual activist and former pediatrician, has published over fifty short stories, poems and nonfiction pieces in periodicals and anthologies. The event is free to the public; open mic signups begin at 1:45.

Magical realism in theater gets a nice boost in Portland, ME with the current production of Quiara Alegria Hudes' Yemaya's Belly. And article in MaineToday.com describes the play as "set in the Caribbean?about a young boy from a backwater island village, who dreams of living in America. Using storytelling techniques she learned from her own family, Hudes weaves magical realism and realistic events together to tell the story of the boy's journey." The play has attracted a steady following since its debut on March 1; it runs through March 20.

The film, Millions, is making the rounds with what some have characterized a "buoyant sense of magical realism." The film is directed by Danny Boyle of Trainspotting andShallow Grave fame. Boyle appears to have one-upped himself with this softer, more family-friendly film. Jack Mathews of the New York Daily News describes Millions as a "warmly fanciful movie" which features the saints Clare, Francis, Joseph, Nicholas and Peter, as well as the ghost of the boys' dead mother. Mathews writes: "Boyle has a child's exuberance about him that explains the gentle wit, magical realism and easy sentimentality" of his latest work. The film was widely released in the US on March 11.

Literary favorite Kelly Cherry returns to the limelight with her story, "As It Is in Heaven," in which the protagonist, forced to leave life in Madison, WI to tend an ailing mother, suddenly discovers her late father in the kitchen eating ice cream. The story's ending has been described as "stunning, incredibly moving" and a "flight into magical realism." The story recently appeared in the newly released anthology, Barnstorm, published by Terrace Books, an imprint of the University of Wisconsin Press.

CALL FOR SUBMISSIONS
Topic: February 2005
In recognition of the fourth centenary of the first edition of El ingenioso hidalgo Don Quijote de la Mancha (The Ingenious Nobleman Don Quixote de la Mancha) we announce our special theme for 2005:

RESURRECTING QUIXOTE
Magical Realism from the Iberian Peninsula

Our goal at MARGIN is to explore modern magical realism. In this second in a series of special theme issues, we will address the diversity of voices from Europe's Iberian Peninsula, celebrating their particular manifestations of literary magical realism.

Margin's Iberian Peninsula exploration will be launched in May 2005. Deadline for submissions extended to Feb 28, 2005, postmarked.

Note: For our survey, we are defining the Iberian Peninsula as including Spain, Portugal, Gibraltar, Andorra and The Azores. Contributors need not currently live in the region, nor does the work necessarily need to be set there. However, if we decide to use your work we will ask for you to share with us your connection to the peninsula (through family ties, cultural upbringing, residency), and you must be willing and able to authenticate it. We are interested specifically in anything that serves to answer the question, "What is magical realism from the Iberian Peninsula?" See website for details.

WHAT WE NEED ESPECIALLY: Everyone loves "the Quixote," naturally, so we have a lot of work reflecting this timeless hero. However, more work independent of Cervantes' classic but tied to Spain, Portugal, the Azores, Gibraltar or Andorra is needed. We have plenty of books to review but would love more manuscripts of fiction, poetry, features and other nonfiction addressing our interest in this region. Any submissions accompanied by Spanish- or Portuguese-language translations are also favored. Remember, it must have a magical realist connection to have any chance of publication.

If you have any questions about this special theme, don't hesitate to ask!

Tamara Kaye Sellman, Publisher and Founding Editor

Topic: February 2005
Margin's BRIAN EVENSON was recently interviewed by Geoffrey H. Goodwin for Bookslut.

ISABEL ALLENDE, UMBERTO ECO and LEMONY SNICKET will be magical realism's best representatives at this year's BEA (Book Expo America). The trade-only convention is scheduled for June 2-5 at the Jacob K. Javits Convention Center in New York City.

In case you missed it: Last December, the work of Cuban writer ALEJO CARPENTIER was declared "Cultural Heritage of the Nation" by the National Council of Cultural Heritage.

Fans of Don Quixote in New York City might want to catch this exhibit: IMAGES OF DON QUIXOTE: THE ART OF ILLUSTRATION AND PRINTMAKING, a presentation by the Hispanic Society of America, 613 West 155th Street, (212) 926-2234. The show runs through Feb. 20. The society's extensive permanent collection contains virtually every known illustrated edition of the Cervantes classic (17th to 20th century) and paintings by Cervantes's contemporaries (i.e. El Greco and Luis de Morales).

The Guardian reports on the release of the new comic book series, VIMANARAMA, which features an Asian Muslim teenager who discoveres a subterranean world beneath his family's business. DC Comics sums up the plot as "a modern-day Arabian Nights in the form of a Bollywood romantic comedy set on a celestial stage."

DEEP-DISH MAGICAL REALISM
Topic: February 2005
Fans of Stuart Dybek can read a nice review of his work, and especially of his latest I Sailed With Magellan, in this arts feature published in the Barre Montpelier Times Argus. Reviewer Theresa Weaver writes: "Dybek, of Polish and Mexican heritage, occupies a secure place among some of the great writers who have come to define the Chicago tradition. Building on the realism that marks Theodore Dreiser's Sister Carrie, James T. Farrell's Studs Lonigan trilogy and Nelson Algren's "The Man With the Golden Arm, Dybek injects a magic realism more reminiscent of Franz Kafka or Gabriel Garcia Marquez."

Acclaimed Vietnamese author releases first novel
Topic: February 2005
Starborn Books of Wales now offers The Family Wound, written by St. Lawrence University Assistant Professor of English Ngoc Quang Huynh. Huynh, born in South Vietnam in 1957, attended Saigon University until he was thrown into a concentration camp for being a student. He overcame a year of torture and degradation while in prison, but eventually escaped and started a new life in the United States. The Family Wound recounts the horrors of war and the corruption and violence left in its wake through the perspective of a young Vietnamese woman, using touches of magical realism to tell the story.

Mistress of Spices begins filming
Topic: February 2005
Dylan McDermott has been cast opposite Aishwarya Rai in the film adaptation of Chitra Divakaruni's popular novel The Mistress Of Spices. The movie will be shot extensively in northern California. Divakaruni's romance story involves an Oakland spice-shop owner who has the power to cure, at least until she falls in love.

For Chicago-area fans of MR and theater:
Topic: February 2005
The Love Song of J. Robert Oppenheimer
plays through March 6 at the Next Theatre at 927 Noyes in Evanston. Tickets: $20-$31. For more information, call: (847) 475-1875.

Topic: February 2005
Recent Release
Rediscovering Magical Realism in the Americas by Shannin Schroeder

A must-have text for fans, instructors and students of magical realism who challenge the notion that the mode can only claim a South American domain.

from the Publisher:
"Drawing from a variety of contemporary literature?including such works as One Hundred Years of Solitude, Beloved, and Like Water for Chocolate?Schroeder explores magical realism as one of many common denominators in the literature of the Americas, challenging the notion that magical realism should be defined merely in terms of geography or Latin American history. By relying on an all-encompassing vision of this unique mode of writing, the author argues that the Americas share a literary tradition and validates the North American strain of the mode. In addition, she points to fundamentally similar approaches to fiction that illustrate the ways in which the Americas share a common literature and calls for increased Pan-American scholarship."

Look for a review of the book in an upcoming edition of Margin.

FLASH FICTION/PROSE POETRY CONTEST
Topic: February 2005
Just a week remains to get your submissions in for the PERIPHERY flash fiction/prose poem contest! Theme for 2005: PERIPHERY 3 ~"Reasonable Facsimiles: Twins, Mirrors and Doppelgangers."

Postmark deadline: February 15, annually. Winner and honorable mentions published in Periphery, released August 1 annually.

Prize: $50, 3 copies of collectible print zine and publication. All manuscripts also considered for general publication in Margin (www.magical-realism.com). Sim subs okay with notification, but entry fee nonrefundable. Previously published okay; please credit first publisher in cover letter. Entries not returned.

Entry fee: $7.50 covers up to 5 poems or short shorts (each 500 words or less); additional submissions, $2 each. Make checks payable to Tamara Kaye Sellman. Proceeds go to produce the August collector's edition of Periphery and to pay the prize. Judged blind by staff. See general guidelines at the website (www.angelfire.com/wa2/margin/contests.html) for complete details. Questions:

magicalrealismmaven@yahoo.com (no electronic submissions, please)

Winner of the 2004 PERIPHERY contest, "The Living Landscape" ~ Marjorie Manwaring of Seattle, WA for her prose poem, "Sculptor."

Not sure what magical realism is, or aren't certain you can differentiate a prose poem from a flash fiction? Kill two birds with one stone! Buy the 2004 edition, PERIPHERY 2: THE LIVING LANDSCAPE for $5 and see what we're all about! Make checks payable to Tamara Kaye Sellman.

Send to:

Periphery
c/o MARGIN: Exploring Modern Magical Realism
321 High School Road NE, PMB 204
Bainbridge Island, WA 98110
www.magical-realism.com
Since 2000, the world's only continuous
survey of literary magical realism

Member, CLMP, since 2001

NEWSFLASH
Topic: February 2005
Second Thoughts columnist, Githa Hariharan, in Telegraph India's FROM READER TO READER, pays a nice tribute to literature's great ambassador, Alberto Manguel, who has played a key role in validating literary magical realism.

NEWSFLASHES
Topic: February 2005
MUSIC AND MAGICAL REALISM
American musician and composer Conor Oberst, of the popular independent band, Bright Eyes, talks about being really into "that magical realism stuff" in a recent interview with the Belfast Telegraph

In a recent Time magazine retrospective on reggae master Bob Marley, the Caribbean's infamous musician was described as "a musical magic realist" by senior editor Christopher Farley. Go to the article

SEEING DOUBLE
from Mark Sanderson's "Literary Life" column at the Telegraph? "Twins, by their very nature, come in pairs. Now, it seems, so do novels about them. ? Helen Oyeyemi's The Icarus Girl, published this month by Bloomsbury, is a work of magical realism featuring mystical twins with a Nigerian mother. Diana Evans's 26A, to be published by Chatto & Windus in March, is a work of magical realism featuring mystical twins with a Nigerian mother."

Writers of flash fiction and prose poetry who have written work on the theme of twins, mirrors or doubles/doppelgangers might consider submitting to Periphery's current contest, following the theme of "Reasonable Facsimiles." Hurry, the deadline is Feb 15, 2005!

NEW WORK
Dean Bakopoulos earned four stars from book columnist Marta Salij for the Detroit Free Press for his subtly magical realist novel, Please Don't Come Back From the Moon, recently released by Harcourt.

Other recent releases:
Kafka on the Shore ~ Haruki Murakami
The Shadow of the Wind ~ Carlos Ruiz Zafon (audiobook version, narrative by James Wilby)
Out on a Limb ~ Judith Budnitz
Tokyo Cancelled ~ Rana Dasgupta
The Last Song of Dusk ~ Siddharth Dhanvant Shanghvi
Bab Al-Shams (The Gate of the Sun) ~ a film by Yousry Nasrallah

FILM
In the Arkansas Democrat-Gazette, writer Philip Martin raves about Danny Boyle?s "delightful" Millions, a film slated for limited release in the US in March. Says Martin, "The March release date is a shame, for Millions is a funny bit of magical realism that just might be the best Christmas movie I?ve ever seen."

Some Sundance Film Festival selections to look for:
Thumbsucker by Mike Mills and Chumscrubber by Arie Posen

LITTLE GREEN MEN, RUSSIAN-STYLE
Recently reviewed in the St. Petersburg Times: Irina Denezhkina's "Vasya and the Green Men," a short story described as "a darkly humored, grim, and violent exercise in magical realism" from her new collection, Give Me.

ON THE OSCAR TRAIL
Notable screenwriter and playwright Jose Rivera studied with Gabriel Garcia Marquez and was the co-creator of the short-lived, but memorable, '80s television series, Eerie, Indiana. His work on both the screen and stage pushes the limits of reality in ways that are uniquely American. His latest script effort, The Motorcycle Diaries, a film about Che Guevera, was recently nominated for an Oscar. Read more

Now Playing: Pay Pal added for sale of Periphery
Topic: January 2005
Readers from all around the world can now purchase Periphery, Margin's magical realist zine offshoot, using the convenient Pay Pal service.

More information about Periphery: what it is, how to buy it, how much it costs, why you should?

Now Playing: Magical Realism Contest: Flash Fiction/Prose Poetry
Topic: January 2005
PERIPHERY
A flash fiction/prose poem contest
Theme for 2005:
PERIPHERY 3 ~

"Reasonable Facsimiles: Twins, Mirrors and Doppelgangers"

Postmark deadline: February 15, annually.

Winner and honorable mentions published in Periphery, released August 1 annually.

Prize: $50, 3 copies of collectible print zine and publication. All manuscripts also considered for general publication in Margin. Sim subs okay with notification, but entry fee nonrefundable. Previously published okay; please credit first publisher in cover letter. Entries not returned.

Entry fee: $7.50 covers up to 5 poems or short shorts (each 500 words or less); additional submissions, $2 each. Make checks payable to Tamara Kaye Sellman.

Proceeds go to produce the August collector's edition of Periphery and to pay the prize. Judged blind by staff. See general guidelines at the website.

Email for inquiries only, no electronic submissions, please.

Winner of the 2004 PERIPHERY contest, "The Living Landscape" ~ Marjorie Manwaring of Seattle, WA. Periphery is published as a limited edition, high-quality zine. Get your copy before they sell out!

Now Playing: Magical Realist Author DANIEL A. OLIVAS Signs New Short-Story Collection
Saturday, January 22 from 4 to 6 p.m.
Tia Chucha's Cafe Cultural
12737 Glenoaks Blvd.
Sylmar, CA
Free admission

Magical realist author Daniel A. Olivas will read and sign his new collection, Devil Talk: Stories (Bilingual Press/Arizona State University).

"In a stunning departure from the social realism of his previous collection...Olivas takes readers into a disarming otherworld of the surreal and the supernatural....The quick succession of 26 narratives covers a wide territory of moods, from the strangely elliptical to the whimsical." ? El Paso Times

Info: Tia Chucha?s (818) 362-7060 or www.danielolivas.com

Please pardon this brief departure from the discussion.

Below is Tamara Sellman's prelude to her reading of a section of Pearl S. Buck's The Big Wave, to be presented at A Wave of Caring: a concert for tsunami relief to be held at the Bainbridge High School gymnasium on Sunday January 16 at 3pm in Bainbridge Island, Washington.

"I read the story, The Big Wave, about a year ago to my daughters as a bedtime story.

The Big Wave is the prizewinning children's book written by Pearl Buck, about a Japanese fishing village that is wiped out by a tsunami.

One year later, I am tucking my oldest daughter in one night, and we are discussing the tsunami when she asks, Is it like The Big Wave?

I am reminded then how providing a human context for the disastrous events of our lives, big and small, close and far away, is essential for healing the human spirit.

Watching the TV news or reading the paper only provides information and facts, but information and facts are not enough to help people, including children, to cope with bad news.

I've found, as a lifelong writer, that literature is one of the best ways to explore the uncertainties that befall the human condition. The Big Wave filled in blanks for my daughter that I was not sure I could fill in myself.

When I tell my daughter that, Yes, the tsunami is the same thing as The Big Wave, she does not respond with fear. Instead, I see her process the comparison, and her next response is not one of panic, but of compassion. How can we help? she asks. How can we help?

Thanks to Pearl Buck my daughter makes that important leap. She understands that if we share and have faith as a global community, life will persist."