I’ve got some kind of bug this week–I had to leave my Monday class a little early and haven’t quite managed to get everything accomplished that I’ve been hoping to. (And if you’re reading this on Wednesday morning, I may just be undergoing a root canal for the first time as you do so! Fun times!)
But here are a couple of tidbits from the week just past. (more…)
My First BinderCon
This weekend saw me attending the BinderCon conference here in New York for the first time. For those of you not yet familiar with BinderCon, it describes itself as “a conference and community for women and gender non‑conforming writers.” I was there wearing a couple of hats–I’m a woman writer who has been part of the BinderCon community online for a couple of years, but I also went to the conference as a representative from Fig Tree Books, the publishing company that I work for.
There’s good news for those who weren’t able to attend: Sessions were recorded and, co-organizer Leigh Stein assured me when we chatted briefly during a Happy Hour, will be made available online.
Meantime, here are a few highlight nuggets I can share with you: (more…)
As you may already know, tomorrow brings the beginning of the 90th year of Jewish Book Month. And in anticipation, I’m sharing a few poetry titles that are on my tbr list.
But first, a quick look back on my latest read: Inspired by sample poems written by Dan Pagis (1930-1986) about the biblical characters Adam/Eve/Cain/Abel—poems distributed by instructor Amy Gottlieb in a class I’m taking at the Drisha Institute—I spent a chunk of last weekend reading Variable Directions, a full collection of Pagis’s work translated by Stephen Mitchell. And I’m very glad that I did.
Now that I’ve returned Variable Directions to the library, here are three additional poetry titles awaiting my attention.
Pages from Pagis
There are so many things that I love about “Jewish Sources, Literary Narrative: A Writing Workshop,” the class I’m taking this fall at the Drisha Institute. Here’s one: Instructor Amy Gottlieb routinely shares with us work by poets who are new to me. And I’m following up by adding those poets’ books to my tbr lists.
Last weekend, thanks to the collections of the New York Society Library, I dug into Dan Pagis’s work (translated by Stephen Mitchell). And in addition to the overtly “Jewish” poems like the one Amy brought to us in class, I ran across this one, which I can’t help thinking will appeal to all writers.
And Speaking of Poetry
Shabbat shalom.
