WEALTH OF IDEAS

I discovered this Naval Langa's blog through Sarudzayi Chifamba-Barnes. The blog is loaded with information to quench your literary thirst. Langa, a writer and lawyer based in India, posts his short stories, book reviews and other people's stories on this blog that receives hits from all over the world. Naval Langa's literature blog is entitled SHORT STORIES AND BOOK REVIEWS and a good starting point would be to get a taste of Langa's short stories , then move on to courageous reviews of J.M. Coetzee's books here and here , but while you are still there, see all the other entries that Langa has made. Naval Langa is also a follower of StoryTime , and hopefully he will consider submitting something there, to add to the growing number of writers who are serious about their art.

Chris Mlalazi has published one of his short stories on StoryTime, an online magazine of new fiction. If you haven't read Mlalazi's stories, check this one out. I like the narrative style and symbolism. The "Matchstick Man" is imagination stretched to the limits. In related news, Molara Wood, the Nigerian writer who blogs at Wordsbody , is featured in the Winter 2009 issue of the reputable Per Contra Magazine . The journal features her short story and a flash fiction piece, and an interview with the Miriam Kotzin, the editor. From Geneva, Petina Gappah writes that her publicity trips for Elegy for Easterly , her upcoming, Faber-published short story collection have begun. She reports that she spent time with some important book people in London. It pays to work with publishers who are willing and able to work for the writer. The Sacramento Bee has published this CRC call for submissions: "The editors of the Cosumnes River Journal – the literary magazine of ...

I borrowed the title of this post from my CRC colleague, Maureen Moore, whose blog title is Dispatches from Brazil . She is on sabbatical to study the cultures of Brazil, and she posts updates of her experiences on the blog. My post is also a dispatch from Brazil by way of poetry: I just finished reading a poetry collection entitled Cage , by the Brazilian poet Astrid Cabral. The bilingual book, originally available only in Portuguese, was was published in English in July 2008, translated by Alexis Levitin. The poems in Cage take us into the cage of the natural world, showing it as both liberating and imprisoning. The poems are either about animals in the jungle, or they make references to the beast inside and outside us. In "Let us Call the Oxen", the poet reminds us to call creatures by "their rightful name", which I take to mean that the barest minimum we could do, if we insist on not doing much else, is to acknowledge the existence of these creatures. Remember ...

“QUILOMBO COUNTRY,” Film about Black Rebel Villages of Brazil, Holds “Uptown Premiere” at Taller Latino Americano in NYC on Friday, February 6th, 2009. 8:00-10:30 [film: 73 min.] Q&A plus discussion on filmmaking with director Leonard Abrams. CONTACT: Leonard Abrams at info@quilombofilm.com First Uptown screening of “Quilombo Country,” the award-winning feature documentary about Brazilian villages founded by escaped and rebel slaves. Brazil was brutal and deadly for millions of Africans. But many thousands escaped and rebelled, creating settlements in Brazil ’s untamed hinterland. Today these communities struggle to preserve a rich heritage born of resistance to oppression. “Quilombo Country” tells the story of these communities, with rare footage of festivals and ceremonies that blend Catholic, African and native Amazonian rituals and customs, and examines issues of political identity, land rights, and racial and socioeconomic discrimination. Narrated by Chuck D, leader of the i...

The current issue of Witness Magazine features two of my poems. Here is a link to the pdf the Black Mountain Institute has posted online: A House for Mother.

Much is being said about Elizabeth Alexander's poem, which I defended on a forum by saying it contains some qualities of the praise poetry tradition, with words that cut deep with their clarity. But some have begun to suggest that Obama's speech was more poetic than Alexander's poem. Jay Parini, for instance, wrote in the Guardian that "President Obama became a poet in his speech. He made the language itself resonate; and he did so not by fancy writing or superficially elevated diction or self-conscious parallelism in the syntax." Parini goes on to point out that the speech will resonate more with the people than Alexander's poem. Could it be, as Parini suggests, that in the context of an Obama speech, the poem (any poem) may not succeed in capturing the hearts of an audience? Is it the poem people didn't enjoy or its rendition, especially since it came right after the speech? I have read the poem several times and have seen many good features, from the s...

There is blogger's block, a time (like now) when there is just nothing to say, but as soon as you start writing, you start thinking about many things. Many things; what Obama means to poetry, for instance. His love for poetry has send waves in to poetry community, with listservs and discussion groups dwelling on the subject since a journalist took a photo of Obama holding a Derek Walcott poetry collection. Then when we discovered that there would be a poet at the inauguration, we felt (we, who talk about poetry and write it too) were elated. This is the happy moment for poetry, we said. Most of us wrote their inaugural poems and shared them with forum participants, but we were all waiting for the Elizabeth Alexander moment. There... I tried to blog.

VALENTINE'S DAY/BLACK HISTORY MONTH READING 7:00PM TO 8:00PM BLACK HISTORY POEMS 8:00PM TO 9:00PM VALENTINE'S DAY LOVE POEMS OPEN MIC AND FEATURES FEATURED POETS: ROB ANTHONY, JASMINE CULP AND CLAUDIA EPPERSON. Location: 6391 Riverside Blvd in Greenhaven (Sacramento) 7 - 9 p.m. |Free Admission |

Hello Friends from the Literary World We are happy to announce that we are going to bring forth a book of critical essays titled Amit Chaudhury and Vikram Chandra: A Postcolonial Reading for which we need your scholarly papers/critiques dealing the following theme(s): I) Relocation of Diasporic Consciousness, Exile or Alienation II) Linguistic Innovations III) Subaltern or Marginalization IV) Position, Relevance and Contribution of these Fiction Writers Further possible research issues include but are not limited to: How does their works project a sense of nationalism among its indigenous people? How does their narrative style create their protagonist's identity and what effect does this narrative style have on the Indian society? Apart from the above mentioned themes, we also seek any other argumentative postcolonial interpretations of the above-mentioned writers. The papers must follow MLA guidelines and should be of no more than 7500 words in length, written ...

Seconds after the inauguration reading there were responses to it online. The poetry community is talking; it's poetry's happy hour in the United States. While I can offer not critique or feedback on the peformance yet, I can already see a things I line in the transcript I have in front of me. First, the poem is entitled "Praise Song for the Day".... Surely, America has reason to sing and to praise for this historic moment. I like the connection with the role of poetry as it's traditionally known in my African (and Obama's)heritage-- praise of leaders and ancestry: "Sing the names of the dead who brought us here/who laid the train tracks/raised the bridges, picked the cotton & the lettuce." Elizabeth Alexander is the fourth poet in the history of the United States to read at an inauguration of a president. This event helps not only her career as a poet but also the appreciation of poetry as an artform.

Shaleen Kumar Singh has made this announcement: Contributions are invited toward a collection of critical essays on the poetry of Derek Walcott. We seek essays that address the various postcolonial themes of racism, hybridty, diaspora, linguistic innovations, identity crisis, transnationalism. Essays dealing with comparative studies are also welcome. Original manuscripts of 2500-4000 words in MLA format should be submitted no later than 30th May, 2009.Please include a brief biographical statement. Papers must be submitted electronically (MS Word 2003 or 2007 document only) to om_dwivedi2003@yahoo.com , dropdwivedi@gmail.com or drshaleen999@gmail.com, drshaleen111@yahoo.co.in.

Mark Lillilet of University of Wisconsin-Madison is editing books of the best African poetry for 2009. Work will be selected from submissions of works published in 2008, from, January to December. Below are the guidelines: Submit no more than five (5) different poems. They can all be by a single author, all by different authors, or some mix thereof. Nominated works must have (originally) appeared in print in works with a publication date between 1 January 2008 and 31 December 2008 -- as part of a chapbook, single author book, edited collection, newspaper, magazine, or journal. Please do not submit poetry that has only been published online. Wherever possible, please submit a pdf of the nominated poems as they appear in print. Complete bibliographic information on where the work has appeared should be included with the nomination/s. If the work has been published on the internet as well please include the url. Nominations must be received by 1 February 2009. Get more details here .

Mark Lilleleht has created an African poetry channel on You Tube. Already he has posted 17 videos, which include over four Zimbabwean poets. Here, in part, is a message Mark posted on his blog : There must be a better way, and there is certainly more out there than is dreamed of in the YouTube-iverse, but in hopes of broadcasting to a wider audience (I am becoming, I feel, something of an evangelist), I've put together an African poetry channel on YouTube. It will be slow going, for sure, and I still have to figure out the best way to capitalize on what YouTube offers, but as I'm working through all that you can help: send along links to clips you find of your favorite poet or just send along the names of new (and established -- I know I've used "old" repeatedly...) poets and I'll search for them too.

I just discovered that the Conference on College Composition and Communication (CCCC)blog is featuring this topic, which I blogged about yesterday. I have posted my whole post as a comment on CCCC. Interesting topic, since often we continue to talk about diversity in college instruction without always thinking seriously about what it is. To read the CCCC dialogue on diversity, visit the entry entitled : "A CCCC Diversity Statement--in Four Voices"

Julian Adomako-Gyimah, a Ghanaian writer and businessman, has announced the birth of a new publisher called Zion Publishing, whose tag line is "we seek to create more published writers that ever seen before in Africa." Adomako-Gyimah has said that Zion came as a result of "years of hassle by poets and writers in Ghana and other parts of Africa to get their books published." It gives the author the opportunity to get "ten complimentary copies of their books and royalties of up to 30% on sales." Zion Publishing comes at a time when most publishers are reducing cost by laying off employees and reducing productivity, making it difficult for writers, especially emerging ones, to get the support they need to publish their works. "Don't look any further as no publishing house gives as much royalties and support as we do," said Adomako-Gyimah in a statement. Julian Adomako-Gyimah is the co-founder of One Ghana, One Voice (OGOV), the online magazine ...

Recently, someone asked how one teaches a multi-ethnic and diverse groups of students to write. My answer here is informed by my experience working with students in California, the most diverse state in the United States. The best way to teach a diverse population is to start by embracing its diversity, asking students to do informal journal entries about themselves and their understanding of writing. Asking students to write journals is already a way of teaching writing, so while the students write about themselves, they will also be learning writing. Why does this make sense? Writing is not something beginning students are ready to dive into, even if it may consist of short exercises: it's writing, so it is a challenge at first for some students, diverse or not. These diagnotic journals are important in that they allow students to warm up and to talk abvout themselves through writing. Most students like writing about themselves (call it the memoir bug),but this is good. Such an ...

Anny Ballardini has announced that the Winter issue of Poet's Corner is out. The anthology featues the following poets: Martha King · Hiram Larew · James Cervantes · Laura Kennelly · Edward Mycue · Alicia Ostriker · Geof Huth · Elizabeth Smither · Daniel Zimmerman · Barry Spacks · Eve Rifkah · Gertrude Halstaed · Beverly Matherne · Donna Pecore · Jeff Harrison · Grace Cavalieri · Diane Lockward · Camille Martin · Dennis Barone · Alan Sondheim · Alexander Dickow · Douglas Clark · David Graham · Bob Grumman · Eileen Tabios · Sarah Menefee · Pam Brown · Ray DiPalma · Jerry McGuire · Henry Reed · Paolo Ruffilli · Allen Bramhall · J.P. Dancing Bear · Mark Weiss · Susan Rich · Karl Young · Ruth Fainlight · Geoffrey Gatza · Jim Leftwich · Alan Michael Parker · Barbara Crooker · Jerome Rothenberg · Deborah Humphreys · Paolo Dalponte · Susan Edwards · Jean Lamberty · Ned Condini · Jill Jones · Lois Roma-Deeley · Fan Ogilvie · Peter Ciccariello · Frank Parker · Jon Corelis · Tim Mayo · Alan...

The Other Voice in Davis, California will present two poets who teach at local universities: Brad Buchanan (CSUS) and Brad Henderson (UCD). The reading will be held on Friday, January 16 (7:30 PM) in the library of the UU Church, located at 27074 Patwin Road, Davis. Refreshments and Open mic will follow. Brad Buchanan Brad Buchanan teaches British and world literature as well as creative writing at Sacramento State. His first book of poetry, The Miracle Shirker , was published in 2005 by Poets Corner Press and his new book, Swimming the Mirror: Poems For My Daughter , appeared under Roan Press, an imprint he co-founded in 2008. He is a board member of the Sacramento Poetry Center, editor for The Tule Revi ew, runs an annual high school poetry contest, and is a visiting poet and judge for the national Poetry Out Loud contest. Brad Hernderson Brad Henderson , also known as Beau Hamel, has deep roots in Davis. His great-great-grandfather, Henry Hartman Hamel, was one of the original se...

The UC Davis Extension is hosting a free discussion on Publishing Ethics entitled "Getting Caught: What Happens When Writers Don't Tell the Truth?". The event will be held at the UC Davis extension campus in dowtown Sacramento, Sutter Square Galleria, 2901 K Street, Room 200 A/B. A panel of authors and literary professionals will discuss publishing ethics using two current, high profile examples of unethical behavior as a framework for the conversation. Jennifer Basye Sander, a non-fiction writing instructor at UC Davis Extension will serve as moderator. Panelists include: Andrea Hurst, the literary agent for Herman Rosenblat whose book, "Angel at the Fence," was cancelled when he revealed that he'd made up the central part of his story. See the Sacramento Bee story at http://www.sacbee.com/livinghere/story/1515983.html for details. Candy Chand, a writer who caught a bestselling author plagiarizing one of her stories and claiming that it was a true incident ...

The Sacramento Poetry Center has announced its Third Annual High School Poetry Writing Contest. There is no cost to enter. All entries should be submitted by April 15, 2009 and entrants can submit up to three poems. Below is the rest if the information about this contest: Prizes include: $100.00 for our Grand Prize winner Free books and swag for finalists Publication in Poetry Now, the monthly journal of the Sacramento Poetry Center Grand Prize winner will receive an invitation to read their work at the Sacramento Poetry Center in the Summer. Be sure to include an SASE (Self-addressed, stamped envelope) if you want notification of winners. Note: poems should not have your name on them – include a separate cover letter with your name, address, phone and email address, and the titles of your poems. Also indicate the name of your school. Send your original poems to: High School Poetry Contest Sacramento Poetry Center P.O. Box 160406 Sacramento, CA 95816 email submissions will be accepte...

A new report published by the National Endowement for Arts shows that American reading is on the rise. The report reveals, "After decades of declining trends, there has been a decisive and unambiguous increase among virtually every group." This new trend cuts across racial, ethnic, age, and gender, showing an increase in the reading thirst of the groups. Young adults have the most significant increase in reading. "The youngest group (ages 18-24) has undergone a particularly inspiring transformation from a 20 percent decline in 2002 to a 21 percent increase in 2008—a startling level of change," the report shows. The NEA does not know yet what has caused this sudden shift, but is confident that its "26 years of detailed statistical data—augmented by data from the dozens of other substantial studies summarized in the NEA’s To Read or Not to Read report—do provide some basis to make an intelligent hypothesis." The outgoing chairman of NEA, Dana Gioia, has comm...

There is a really nice poetry called One Ghana One Voice which I have been following for more than a year. I have been doing more than following; I have contributed my poems, have participated in previous roundtable discussions, and I also serve as their Writer's Service editor or advisor. Let's start with last role: I receive poems by email directly from the poets, then I read and annotate the peoms with my suggestions, which sometimes are simply highlights of lines, stanzas, etc, that I did not find interesting. The poets are given the option to ignore my comments if they wish, but those who go ahead and make revisions always make me feel proud that I have contributed something to the OGOV mission of discovering new poetry talent. On this note, all poets are invited to utilize this service. This is a voluntary gig for me, so I may take longer than you like to give my feedback. Although I use my expertise as a poetry teacher to make suggestions on the manuscripts, my comments...

For those who do not know it, there is a fiction website called StoryTime, to which I have contributed two short stories so far. Founded and webmastered by the Zimbabwean writer Ivor Hartmanm, the website had been in existence for over a year. It has so far featured names like John Zur, Masimba Muzodza, Bruce Menin, Beaven Tapurata, Esi Cleland, and others. The website is a good international collaboration of beginning and seasoned writers, which may culminate into a a hardcopy anthology of the works. In the meantime, StoryTime invites more writers to submit works as part of their effort to showcase the best of the world's writing. Visit the website, read the stories and leave your comments; go here

I have started a new place for reviews of all kinds. If I read a book, I will say what I think about it at Sigauke Reviews. This also applies to other forms of the arts--music, art, movies, etc. Visit the website .

"You made yourself something and you didn't make me anything! Get away from me!"

Lately I have been browsing memoirs, and I am now actually reading one (Jennifer Armstrong's Minus Morning ). Memoir-writing is a rewarding field because we like listening to other people's stories; it's a way to understand our lives better by learning how others have lived theirs. So in the spirit of memoir-writing, I will share (in the hope of perfecting, but not embellishing) an experience I had with the English Language at Gwavachemai Secondary School in Zvishavane, Zimbabwe. It's a story that I often share with my composition students to inspire them, a pedagogical strategy I used to get the student's attention. At Gwavachemai I was part of the English Police. Since I wrote good essays, and I got A's in English, my teachers always made me the class monitor. You had to be good in English to be a class monitor, because the job involved reporting to the teacher in good written and verbal English, and sometimes class monitors distributed course content (that is...

Minus the Morning Jennifer Armstrong, a Dambudzo Marechera scholar, has published her memoir, which traces her life from Rhodesia to Zimbabwe. Here is the description of the book: Are some people, defined by skin colour or gender, inherently good, while others are wrongheaded or even downright malicious? The journey towards self-knowledge is never to be underestimated. This is a coming of age memoir about growing up in Rhodesia shortly after the white colonial government declared UDI (Unilateral Declaration of Independence) in November 1965. Rhodesia later became Zimbabwe after it was granted its independence from colonial rule in 1980.

1999 Bella Vista High School Track and Field Team Sacramento Poetry Center Presents Kate Asche Mon. Jan. 12, 2009 at 7:30 PM Host: Emmanuel Sigauke Kate Asche, M.A., a graduate of the UC Davis Creative Writing Program, is a poet/essayist and writing teacher. She won two Elliot Gilbert Prizes in Poetry and was nominated for University of California poet laureate and for Best New Poets 2006 (Meridian Magazine). She is advisory coordinator of The Tomales Bay Workshops (directed by Pam Houston) and also coordinates UC Davis Extension's Arts and Humanities programs. She has recently joined the Sacramento Poetry Center and also started an online writing group. She plays clarinet in a local trio and quintet and loves to cook (and eat) and travel, as well as relax with her photographer-husband and their two black cats, Tuna and Pearl. Sample poems: Hand Song I was going to sleep one night; I couldn’t conceive of the person with my hands. I could conceive of the hands, of them doing thing...

These kinds of stories grab my attention. Shailaja Neelakantan reports that the All India Institute of Medical Sciences has been invaded by a troop of rhesus macaques, and no one can figure out how to get rid of them. A troop of 80 to 100 of the monkeys have terrorized the campus for several years, entering waiting rooms, biting people, and grabbing food from patients and visitors. rhesus macaque photo by Daily Mail (UK) . "They'll take anything cold — Pepsi, Coke — but not hot coffee or tea," says Navin Gupta, a physician who has been among those battling the menace. "They don't like hot things." Last year, he says, several of the creatures smashed open HIV-infected blood samples in one of the laboratories. The institute has tried to get rid of the macaques. A monkey catcher managed to snare and relocate a few of them, but the remaining ones proved too wily to capture. Officials enjoyed success, for a time, by resorting to simple bullying: They brought in a...

Love Letters from a Fat Man , winner of the G.S. Sharat Chandra Prize for Short Fiction. I introduce Naomi Benaron, whose short story will be appearing in the next issue of Munyori Literary Journal . Benaron, MFA Antioch, professor of Creative Writing and Geology in Tuscon, Arizona, has published short story in journals and anthologies. Her award-winning short story collection has been hailed by Gayle Bandeis as "fearless" because it "shines into the darkest corners of human existence and, in doing so, helps us both bear witness to atrocity and find hope and healing." Brad Kessler describes the stories as "tender, knowing, sometimes wicked, often wise, always heartfelf." Love Letters from a Fat Man is one of the books on my reafing list. I have already found the title story to be innovative in style in its utilization of the email format. The stories set in Rwanda seem promising too, and I am always drawn to this introduction of one them: "Lake Kivu...