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       ABC.az reports that Azerbaijan's head allocated AZN 5 million for construction of Museum of Literature in Gazakh.
       Seems kind of an out-of-the-way place for a museum, but better than nothing; on the other hand 5,000,000 AZN (or New Manats, as the currency is apparently called) is a decent sum: while the currency is so obscure the currency symbol doesn't even have its own unicode, it is worth more per unit than the US dollar, and so that adds up to more than $6,350,000.
       Apparently:

The Order is motivated by the importance of identifying the potential of young creative generation, preservation and promotion of national directions of literature and literary and cultural heritage of the people, and relevant request made on the occasion by writers and poets of the region.

The Malahat Review (Canada) invites entries for theConstance Rooke Creative Nonfiction Prize. Prize: $1000. Submit creative nonfiction 2000-3000 words. Deadline: August 1, 2012. Entry fee (includes subscription): $35; US$45 for international.

Print journal Descant (Canada) is looking for the stories of the Indian Diaspora -- its triumphs and its tragedies of these 2nd, 3rd, 4th generation expats. Seeking essays, poems, fictions, memoirs, and art. Deadline: August 15, 2012.

...sex, language, and banned books.

From Philip Nel's Nine Kinds of Pie:

Children’s literature is literature. Intelligent adults already know this. However, as those of you who study or write or teach children’s literature are well aware, the world is full of alleged grown-ups who insist on spreading the myth that children’s literature is not literature, and (thus) cannot be studied as such.

(via Cynsations)

...at The Atlantic.

Click on through for loads of info in the form (naturally) of a handy-dandy infographic!

BY JEN VAUGHN - Like any good cartoonist and comics evangelist, a road trip cannot just be days of blasting Mates of State and stopping at roadside attractions like Corn Palace. No, no, on my trip from The Center for Cartoon Studies in White River Junction, VT to Fantagraphics in Seattle, WA will be punctuated by a few stops to conduct portfolio reviews and drop off some Schulz Library tote bags at great comic book stores across America.

Bill over at Copacetic Comics is nice enough to host comics portfolio reviews from noon-2pm on Monday, June 4th while Spokane’s Saranac Art-Projects Gallery will host an event on Saturday, June 9th from 2-4pm (thanks to cartoonist Allen Duffy). You can bet that I’m staying with a cartoonist in EVERY. SINGLE. CITY. More in a future, post-road-trip post!

For more stops and details visit the Schulz Library Blog. Tweet at me @theJenya or @CartoonStudies if you have questions or know of the BEST coffee shops to draw in along the way.

P.S. Don’t forget to VOTE FOR THE EISNERS! If you qualify, that is.

—

Jen Vaughn definitely brought some board games in her car, just saying. We could play Civilization or Power Grid instead of sleeping on the road trip.

Primarily known for his tendency to get slimed, actor Bill Murray is also known to be a rather reclusive fellow. He keeps to himself, and doesn’t have an agent or manager to book work for him. Instead of having to look through job offers, he instead asks of anybody who wants to work with him (although preferably not Dan Akroyd) that they leave a voice message on his answerphone, which he checks whenever he gets tired of staring at himself, deadpan, in the mirror.

This made it rather difficult for when Robert Downey Jr wanted to bring in Murray for a role in the Iron Man movies, as the actor either didn’t pick up the message or was on Captain America’s side during Civil War. In an interview with Esquire magazine, questioneer Scott Raab mentions in passing to Murray that poor ol’ Downey Jr wanted him for a part in the movie, but had no way of getting hold of the actor. Raab mentions this as an example of Hollywood’s inability to grab hold of Murray when they are looking to Assemble, and doesn’t give us the details. Did Downey Jr leave a series of increasingly desperate/drunken messages? Did he sing at any point? We may never know. 

What part Downey Jr had in mind for the star of Garfield is anybody’s guess, although the obvious choices would likely be either Tony Stark’s father Howard, Pepper Potts, or the voice of Jarvis. Or perhaps something even more left-field? Fans have long contested that Murray would be the perfect choice to play Groot, if the Guardians of the Galaxy were ever to show up in the Marvel film universe.

We may never know.

Well, not a fan of her new book, at any rate.

The YA winner is Blink and Caution, by Tim Wynne-Jones.

See the rest of 'em here.

NPR's 2012 Summer Reads series will focus on YA fiction.

Knock, knock.
Who's there?
Who?
Who, who?
But... what's the punchline? 

This issue opens with Bode—who, judging by his dream, might be A) developing some pre-cog abilities or B) tapping into the woo-woo of Keyhouse—but quickly switches gears to follow Sam Lesser on his trek to Lovecraft.

Artwork? Continues to be top-notch. Example? Flashback Sam vs. present-day Sam: they both look haunted, but flashback Sam looks younger, more unsure of himself, and like he's got some serious problems, but is making an effort to move up and past them, whereas present day Sam has clearly thrown sanity to the winds. It's in his face and his eyes, yes, but it's also visible in details as simple as his hair being combed in the flashback and not in the present day.

There's also a panel that shows just how much Tyler looked like his father: their facial features, angry expressions, even their haircuts. If their personalities were as similar as their looks, it's no wonder that they butted heads so often.

It's really, really cinematic. While I'm sad that the pilot didn't get picked up, I also felt that the trailer didn't really jive with my vision (so far) of the story. Maybe someone else'll pick it up at some point and give it a go. Because it would make a great show.

Storyline? After getting Sam's backstory, it's impossible to not have some amount of sympathy for him—he's a sad, damaged kid being used as a pawn by a force much more powerful than he is—though I'm in no way rooting for him to succeed in freeing Dodge (the lady in the well). The flashback to the moment she first communicates with him is wonderfully creepy, and straight out of a horror movie like Shutter.

Speaking of, I love this book because each issue really does build on what came before: the flashbacks, for instance, aren't simply used to remind old readers of the history and catch up new readers. They do that, but they also explore the backstory in greater detail, allow us different perspectives of the same moments, and create a deeper emotional tie with the story and the characters.

The use of language in triggering the flashbacks is fabulous, and Hill's choice in what to flashback to is also lovely: Sam's "I was really close to my mom. My dad, too. But they both passed away. A couple months ago" line is printed on a few panels that show just how awful his home life was... and readers who've been in on the series since the first issue will also already know that Sam's parents didn't just "pass away": he killed them.

A couple more instances of great use of flashbacks: we see that Sam's disgusting rapist friend Al had had his eye on Mrs. Locke before the day of the murder. And we finally see the conversation with Sam Lesser that's been haunting Tyler. And... wow. It's very, very understandable why Tyler's so wracked with guilt.

Speaking of Tyler, there's a scene focusing on him that highlights another thing I'm loving about this book: the subtleties. In the scene, he's in the shed, clearly on the edge—he's staring at a shotgun, thinking, "enough enough enough", when Bode comes in asking about the joke, both jogging him out of his almost-trance and reminding him of what another violent death would do to the family. Bode's Death Door isn't mentioned (or even alluded to), but his behavior made it seem very likely that he'd been spying on Tyler—that on some level, Bode realized

So thrilled I got to see the end of this game and the Mets no-hit dearth—a 50-year legacy of 9th inning heartbreak—ended.

Print and online journal Vallum: contemporary poetry (QC) invites poetry entries for their contest. First prize: $500 plus publication. Deadline: July 15, 2012. Entry fee: $20 (includes subscription).

Online magazine BareBackLit (ON, Canada) seeks fiction, poetry, and art for their monthly issues. Length (fiction): 2500 words max. Emerging writers welcome.

A new photo from the movie "The Perks of Being a Wallflower" is now up on Emma Watson's Facebook page.
You can see it here.

Emma says it is a "never-before-seen image" from the new movie which opens September 14th.
You can also see a sneak peak on the MTV Movie Awards on Sunday night.