Tales from the Couch

by Erika Dreifus on
6

In case you missed my short story, “Consultation,” when Bellevue Literary Review published it a few years back, you can find it again in the just-released anthology, Tales from the Couch, a collection of stories and poems from the mental healthcare worker’s point of view. (Check out the full table of contents here.) I’m told that my contributor copy is on its way, and I am eager to see it!

(Note, too, that the volume’s publisher, Blue Cubicle Press, is currently seeking submissions for the next book, Tales from the Capitol, which will contain stories from the government worker’s point of view. Click here for guidelines and pay rates. Submission deadline: August 1, 2009.)

I went through a phase when I read any and all fiction I could find that focused on psychotherapy/psychoanalysis. Maybe we can use this post to share some titles and build a bibliography for those readers–and I know they’re out there–experiencing similar reading interests right now. I’ll get us started:

August, by Judith Rossner
The Treatment, by Daniel Menaker
Liliane, by Ntozake Shange

Your turn! Please add relevant titles, and their authors, in comments.

A Celebration of the Chapbook

by Erika Dreifus on
Disabled

Well, folks, I’m going to take a few days off for Passover, which begins this evening. But I’ll leave you with some excellent reading material: the program for the upcoming Celebration of the Chapbook, taking place right here in New York City, April 23-25, 2009. Most of the festival events are FREE, and I can tell you that a lot of work has gone into planning them. I’ll hope to see many of you there–and happy holidays to all who are celebrating in the next several days.

A CELEBRATION OF THE CHAPBOOK
Thursday April 23rd, 2009 – Saturday April 25th, 2009
A Celebration of the Chapbook festival calls attention to the rich history of the chapbook and highlights its essential place in poetry publishing today as a vehicle for alternative poetry projects and for emerging authors and editors to gain entry into the literary marketplace. The festival will forge a new platform for the study of the chapbook inside and outside the academy and celebrate the importance of chapbooks to America’s cultural heritage and future.

Thursday, April 23
at The Graduate Center, CUNY, 365 Fifth Avenue & 34th St

Chapbook Fair
10:00am-6:00pm, The Elebash Recital Hall Lobby

Brief History of Chapbooks
3:00-4:30pm, The Elebash Recital Hall
With Isaac Gewirtz, Curator of the New York Public Library’s Berg Collection; Eric Lorberer, Editor of Rain Taxi; and Michael Ryan, Director of the Rare Books and Manuscripts Library at Columbia University. Moderated by Richard Kaye, Hunter College, CUNY

Chapbooks in the 20th and 21st Centuries
4:30-6:00pm, The Elebash Recital Hall
With Michael Basinski, Assistant Curator of the Poetry/Rare Books Collection of the University Libraries, SUNY at Buffalo; Anne Waldman, Chair and Artistic Director of Naropa University’s Summer Writing Program; and Kevin Young, Emory University. Moderated by Ammiel Alcalay, Queens College, CUNY.

Keynote Reading
6:00pm, The Elebash Recital Hall
Readings by Lytton Smith, Gerald Stern, Judith Vollmer, Kevin Young and others, with an introduction by Kimiko Hahn.

Friday, April 24
at The Graduate Center, CUNY, 365 Fifth Avenue & 34th St

Chapbook Fair
10:00am-4:00pm, Rooms 8301/8304

Chapbook Now: Producing Chapbooks
A Workshop for Poets
10:00-11:30am, Room 8400
With Rachel Levitsky (Belladonna*); Sharon Dolin (The Center for Book Arts); and Ryan Murphy (North Beach Yacht Club). Moderated by Alice Quinn (Poetry Society of America.

Chapbook Now: Producing Chapbooks
A Workshop for Publishers
11:30am-1:00pm, Room 8402
With Jen Benka (Booklyn); Matvei Yankelevich (Ugly Duckling Presse); and Brenda Iijima (Portable Press at Yo-Yo Labs). Moderated by Rob Casper (Poetry Society of America).

To register for these workshops, call (212) 817-2005 or e-mail abozicevic@gc.cuny.edu – registration is offered on a first-come, first-serve basis.

Friday, April 24
at The Center for Book Arts, 28 West 27th Street, 3rd Floor

Bookmaking for Writers: A Studio Workshop
With Susan Mills and Karen Randall
2:00-5:00pm

Bookmaking for Publishers: A Studio Workshop
With Susan Mills and Karen Randall
2:00-5:00pm

To register, call (212) 481-0295 or e-mail info@centerforbookarts.org – registration is offered on a first-come, first-serve basis. There’s a $20 materials fee for each workshop.

RECEPTION
at The Center for Book Arts, 28 West 27th Street, 3rd Floor
6:00 pm
All are welcome! Visit the exhibitions at The Center for Book Arts: \’fl \:art, text, new media; Roni Gross: Zitouna at 20, and Spotlight: 2008 Artists-in-Residence.

Saturday, April 25
at The Asian American Writers’ Workshop, 16 West 32nd Street, Suite 10A

Collector’s Show-and-Tell:
The Secret History of Asian American Literature
Patricia Wakida
2:00-3:00pm

Publishing from the Margins
4:30-6:00pm
With Tan Lin; Dawn Lundy Martin (Third Wave Foundation, Black Took Collective); and Bushra Rehman. Moderated by Ken Chen (The Asian American Writers’ Workshop). Followed by a brief reading from the Workshop’s Postcard Poetry Project.

RECEPTION
at The Asian American Writers’ Workshop, 16 West 32nd Street, Suite 10A
6:00 pm

Participating Publishers
Achiote Press, Belladonna*, Booklyn, Book Thug, Cuneiform Press, Dancing Girl Press, Diagram/New Michigan Press, Flying Guillotine Press, Noemi Press, North Beach Yacht Club, Octopus Books, Portable Press at Yo-Yo Labs, Rain Taxi, Sarabande Books, Slapering Hol, Small Fires Press, TinFish Press, Toadlily Press, Ubu Editions, Ugly Duckling Presse, X-ing Press, and others.


Co-sponsored by The Office of Academic Affairs, The Graduate Center and MFA Programs in Creative Writing of the City University of New York, The Asian American Writers’ Workshop, The Center for Book Arts and Poetry Society of America.

For more information, please visit http://centerforthehumaniites.org, call 212-817-2005, or e-mail abozicevic@gc.cuny.edu (Ana Bozicevic).

What I Will Be Reading

by Erika Dreifus on
2

When, exactly, I’ll be reading this, I don’t know. I am near the end of a novel, with two books waiting to be read and reviewed, two more sitting on my nightstand, and a host of other titles noted to be bought or borrowed. But I was blown away by the poems by John Updike that were published in the March 16 New Yorker, and you can bet that I’ll be reading the collection Endpoint and Other Poems. Hopefully, sometime very soon.

Friday Find: Agent Blogs (The Best of the Best)

by Erika Dreifus on
Disabled

Over on the Guide to Literary Agents blog, Chuck Sambuchino has compiled a list of five top agent blogs. These are great places to learn about the agents who run them, and they’re also extremely useful for tips on query letters, synopses, and all that scary stuff! Check out Chuck’s winners here. And have a great weekend!

TBR: First We Read, Then We Write

by Erika Dreifus on
4

I smiled immediately when I saw the title of one of NewPages.com’s latest book reviews: First We Read, Then We Write. You see, quite a few years ago, my sister and I played “school” quite often. I, of course, played the role of the teacher. Since our childhood predated video cameras or cell phones-with-cameras, all we have now to replay these scenes, in addition to our memories, is an audio tape recording of one of these “sessions.” This tape was made when I was seven, and my sister was half that age. And if you listen to that recording, as we still do from time to time, you’ll hear my bossy self admonishing my “student”: “First we read, then we write.” (I’m sorry to admit that that line is a lot kinder that some of my other utterances to my preschooler sibling: “That is scribble-scrabble! You get a C-plus on [writing] your name!” and “Don’t do that, dodo-bird!” As if anticipating parental scolding once the tape was played back, I quickly corrected myself: “I mean, not dodo-bird. Sweetie-pie.”)

So I’ll simply have to take a look at this new book, written by Robert D. Richardson and reviewed, in this instance, by John Madera. Alas, the book is not about me and my early teaching “philosophy.” Rather, it is subtitled: “Emerson and the Creative Process.” According to the review, the book “fill[s] a gap in Emerson’s oeuvre by compiling the famed essayist’s reflections, asides, margin jottings on the art and craft of writing.” Given my positive experiences with similar books inspired by Anton Chekhov and Virginia Woolf, that sure sounds good to me!

P.S. Fortunately, I didn’t destroy my sister’s academic self-esteem all those years ago. She did learn to write, after all! No more scribble-scrabble! Check out her blog, MyMomShops, where she shares stylish and often discounted online finds (and giveaways) for moms, tots, and those who love them!