WEALTH OF IDEAS

Even before I approached the help desk, which they call "Customer Service", I was hesitant, feeling that I was going to waste my time asking where I could find a copy of Binyavanga Wainaina's memoir, but before I changed my direction and walk away from customer service, the clerk noticed me and said, "How can I help you?"  "I don't know if you guys have a book entitled 'One Day I Will Write about this Place'.  It's brand new, just came out." She hesitated, which gave me the chance to think that maybe I had got the title wrong, so I was already entering the Africa-is-a-continent debate within myself. '"One Day I will Write about this Continent'", I say, but before she reponds, I correct myself, "'...about this Country.'" I should know the title of this book, of course. But there is a feeling I get when I am in this bookstore, the only big one remaining in my immediate vicinity. It has all these bo...

Good conversation, Tinashe Mushakavanhu and Paul Williams. We need more honest dialogues like this about Zimbabwe, about any country really. Now I want to read everything Paul has written. I want to interview him even! There is nothing as invaluable as a writer's voice that treats issues as they are (with their complexity), without seeking to impress certain interests or simply following what's in fashon at the time. Examples: everyone is writing a memoir about farm seizures in Zimbabwe, let me write a memoir about farm seizure in Zimbabwe; or everyone is writing a short story about this and that, let me write a short story about this and that too. Of course, this seems to be the case in Zimbabweean writing because of the current rise in themed anthologies; so writers have to satisfy the editor's needs, which is a practical consideration, but eventually, after that one or two short stories, start to treat matters the way you want to, even if it means taking a radically ...

Presents Melinda Moustakis and Leah Grieseman Read by Gay Cooper and Victoria Goldblatt Friday, October 28th, 2011, 7:30PM Sacramento Poetry Center 1719 25th Street (Between Q and R) donation: $5 Doors open 7PM Melinda Moustakis was born in Fairbanks, Alaska and raised in Bakersfield, California. She received her MA from UC Davis and her PhD in English and Creative Writing from Western Michigan University. Bear Down, Bear North: Alaska Stories , her first book, won the 2010 Flannery O'Connor Award in Short Fiction. Her stories have appeared in Alaska Quarterly Review , Kenyon Review , Conjunctions, and elsewhere. She is currently a visiting professor at Pacific Lutheran University.   Gay Cooper is originally from Knoxville, TN, where she performed in community & regional theaters, and was an announcer with the local NPR station. In Sacramento, she has acted with KOLT Run Productions, Resurrection Theater, California Stage & Thi...

On New Year's Day 2009, I stood in a Borders Bookstore on Fair Oaks Blvd, Sacramento, for thirty minutes, reading an interview the Paris Review did with Chinua Achebe in 1994. It's a brilliant interview, dealing with the usual arguments we have come to expect from Achebe: what prompted him to write, racism in Conrad's Heart of Darkness , the birth and importance of the Africa Writers' Series, the issues of writers and audience, advice to budding writers, and how creative writing should not be taught, etc. It was a good Achebe refresher, which one needs once in a while, but I realized that Achebe's works had not been translated into his native language. When asked if he would consider doing so, he answered (then) that what was labelled his native language would not be able to carry the experience of his fiction because its standard version was not a representation of the full potential of the language. His argument was that the standardized version of the language w...

This event already happened on Friday, October 21, but I feel it is important to mention it here. I have been waiting for this book since poet Burlee Vang mentioned it earlier this year. It's a landmark text in Hmong-American literature. I will be posting updates about how the event went. FRESNO HMONG WRITERS PUBLISH HISTORIC LITERARY ANTHOLOGY FEATURING POETRY, FICTION AND NON-FICTION Event to celebrate the official release of How Do I Begin?: A Hmong American Literary Anthology WHAT: The Hmong American Writers’ Circle (HAWC) will host a free community launch event to celebrate the historic release of How Do I Begin?: A Hmong American Literary Anthology published by Heyday . The event will feature opening remarks from local writer and farmer, David Mas Masumoto, along with music and readings from the book. How Do I Begin? is the struggle to preserve the Hmong American experience and explores issues of cultural identity, war and resettlemen...

Joe Melia reports that the 2012 Bristol Short Story Prize is now open.  Melia writes, "Stories can be entered online or by post. The closing date for entries is 31st March 2012. Please read the rules and competition details before entering." The First prize is £1,000.  Twenty stories will be published in the Bristol Short Story Prize Anthology Volume 5. The winning story will, also, be published in Bristol Review of Books and Venue magazine. The 2012 Bristol Short Story Prize awards ceremony will be the final event of our 2 nd ShortStoryVille festival which will be held next July. The 2012 judging panel will be chaired by former Random House editor, Ali Reynolds, who now runs her own Literary Consultancy in Bristol. Ali will be joined on the panel by the writer broadcaster and critic, Bidisha , Anna Britten, writer and contributing editor to Venue magazine, and the celebrated novelist, Chris Wakling , whose latest novel ‘What I Did’ was published by John Murr...

Below is a press release from Chimurenga. South Africa : Chimurenga ’s new publishing project takes the form of a once-off, one-day-only edition of a fictional newspaper to be released on “Black Wednesday”, October 19th 2011 – a historic day in South Africa that marks the banning of numerous Black Consciousness organisations and independent newspapers by the apartheid regime. Titled the Chimurenga Chronic , the project is an intervention into the newspaper as a vehicle of knowledge production and dissemination. Editor Ntone Edjabe explains, “Knowledge produced by Africans is always curtailed towards simplicity because we are trapped in the logic of emergency. At Chimurenga we’re constantly trying to create beyond this shut hole of relevance. There is indeed famine and war but there is also life. There is also innovation, thinking, dreams – all the things that make life. Our project is to articulate this complexity.” In order to do this, the Chimurenga Chronic takes a step...

ABOUT THE COMPETITION Zimbabwean literature continues to flourish, despite a contracted publishing scene. The recent announcement of NoViolet Bulawayo as the winner of the 2011 Caine Prize shows the immense literary potential from Zimbabwe. This is a way to promote the growth of quality Zimbabwean literature. The competition seeks to inspire, encourage and support many young Zimbabwean writers. While the competition is aimed at encouraging Zimbabwean writers who write in Zimbabwe under severe conditions and with fewer resources and opportunities, it is also be open to Zimbabweans outside the country. An anthology of new writings selected from the very best submissions that will be received for the competition will be published and launched. The shortlist will be revealed sometime in December and the eventual winner at the 2012 edition of ZAA. It is hoped that this competition will become an annual fixture on the Zimbabwean literary calendar. Apart from the ...

Pamberi Trust's  Book Cafe, which recently won  the 2011 Prince Claus Award for its role in “culture and development”, continues to feature a diverse range of literary events: poetry slams, readings, book launches and literary discussions. The Prince Claus award is amongst the most prestigious global awards in culture. Based in Harare, the Book Cafe has been a literary center for decades. Next week, it will focus on book publishing and marketing in Zimbabwe, a very important topic in these hard times. Click poster for more details.

Cosumnes River College 2011/12 Literary Series All readings will be held in the Hawk’s Nest Bookstore, except the final celebration. Wednesday, October 26, 12-1:20, featuring Sacramento Poetry Center Readers, Trina Drotar and Sandy Thomas Trina Drotar, a San Francisco native, comes to poetry through prose, art, music, and design. She is the recipient of two Bazzanella literary awards, the Karen Warmdahl Memorial award for creative nonfiction, and several other awards. She has studied poetry, fiction, art, memoir, and screenwriting. She is currently working on a poetry collection entitled In the Night Garden ; she recently completed her creative thesis, Missing and Other Stories , a collection of fiction, and Cormorant in the Desert , a collection of poems, was published by Rattlesnake Press in 2011. Her work has appeared on Medusa’s Kitchen , The Ophidian 01 , Able Muse , Brevities , Illuminating Echoes , WTF , Primal Urge: A Journal for Diverse Humans , Ratt...

Northern California is invited to a very special and intimate evening with Sacramento's most talented Mother and Daughter Duo Staajabu and VS Chochezi aka Straight Out Scribes. This event takes place on Saturday, October 15 · 6:30pm - 9:30pm at The Soap Salon, 3716 30th Street,Sacramento, CA 95820. A much anticipated return for these two electrifying women. The Soap Salon is humbled and honored to bring this very special event just for you. There is absolutely NO COVER for this event. Won't you join us for an unforgettable evening of poetry. Our Host for the evening is Mr. Vincent Kobelt and special guest appearance by Ms. Annie Jay Live and Russell Brown. This is a FREE event. Wine and Hors d'oeuvres will be served.

Submission Guidelines: We accept simultaneous submissions Poetry: 35 lines, 3-5 Poems Short Fiction: 1-7pgs. Mail Submissions to: The Snail Mail Review 3000 Coffee Rd. Chateau Apt. B6 Modesto, CA 95355 Include: S.A.S.E (Self-Addressed Stamped Envelope) Cover Letter W/ Brief Bio. Submission Deadline: December 31, 2011 International Submissions can be emailed using the address below: E-Mail:   snailmailreview[AT]gmail.com Facebook: Snail Mail Review

There is this feeling I get each time I know I am going to be hosting a reading; it is a mixed feeling of excitement and anxiety. First, there is the email by the events coordinator for the Sacramento Poetry Center, Tim Kahl. He sends out the email to the board and members of the SPC by Thursday every week, and once I see it, I know the event is going to happen. And that mixed feeling assails me throughout the weekend and until the time of the event of when I finally welcome the poets, looking around uneasily, checking if people are already arriving. Attendance at these events depends mainly on members of the organization or anyone in the Sacramento community who is interested in poetry. But there is never a guarantee of good attendance, or any attendance, because much depends on other factors like the weather, the publicity, or even the popularity of poets featured. Some poets will draw their own crowd of fans and fill up the house; others may be from out of town and may not be wel...