Mavei Yankelevich, editor and translator of Today I Wrote Nothing: The Selected Writings of Daniil Kharms, will participate in a reading and reception tomorrow night in Brooklyn. The event is sponsored by A Public Space magazine, Russian American Cultural Center, and Overlook. Matvei will be joined by Eugene Ostashevsky for this night devoted to Russian Absurdism. Wednesday, January 16, 7pm at A Public Space, 323 Dean Street, Brooklyn, NY. For more information: 212-673-2524.
What do you do when you are in a writing funk?
I was feeling swamped by all my projects this week, and I tried everything to raise my spirits: the gym, a glass of whisky, and a book by my favorite writer. Nothing worked.
Then, last night, I went out to a reading.
I took some video, and I'll show you something if I get the time. The reading celebrated the literary journal, A Public Space, featuring an amazing list that included Ian Chillag (a producer at NPR's amazing Fresh Air), fiction writer Jack Livings, and my favorite National Book Award nominee, Jim Shepard. And a band, just to break things up...
The event was hosted by kooky novelist Amanda Stern, who actually ended up cutting Ian's hair by the end of the night. It was a friendly, free community that I didn't even know existed.
If you feel swamped, hopeless, or writers-blocked, just go to a reading and meet some new writers, just like the Happy Ending reading series. Within five minutes of sitting down, I remembered why I love writing. That's all you need.
Thanks so much to Jay Baron Nicorvo for inviting me to participate in the CLMP/LWC this weekend (that's Council of Literary Magazines and Presses - Literary Writers Conference for you acronym buffs). I had a great time in the "Power of Blogging" panel with Ron Hogan (of Beatrice and GalleyCat) and BethAnne Patrick (of PW's BookMaven). Though I felt a bit outclassed -- I found out Ron has been blogging since the dark old days of 1995, and BethAnne actually gets paid to blog (though I wouldn't recommend anyone try to make her conform to some corporate idea of what she ought to be writing -- she's got opinions and chutzpah to spare!) I'm tickled to have had the opportunity to talk with them, and I hope we were of some help to the writers in attendance, who struggle (just like booksellers) with how to incorporate blogging into the world of the written word.
If you don't have plans for this evening, and you're in the New York area, may I recommend Between the Lines at the Brooklyn Academy of Music? It's a partnership between BAM and the great literary magazine A Public Space, and brings together innovative writers and filmmakers for a one-of-a-kind evening of collaboration and exploration. My colleague Tom Roberge helps run the series, which is a great recommendation for it -- check it out!
And speaking of upcoming events: have you heard the news that the once-moribund New York Is Book Country festival is returning next year, run by Kirkus Reviews -- and that they've scheduled it on the same day as the Brooklyn Book Festival? (It used to be held in July.) You know I try not to be snarky around here, but what the hell?!?! I can't possibly imagine the motivation for choosing this one weekend in the whole year, nor why the organizers have not responded to requests from all sides that they move the date. I suspect NYIBC, not BBF, will suffer for it, but why this strange spirit of competitiveness, rather than collaboration? Curious what you all think, and if there's something I'm missing here...
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Mavei Yankelevich, editor and translator of Today I Wrote Nothing: The Selected Writings of Daniil Kharms, will participate in a reading and reception tomorrow night in Brooklyn. The event is sponsored by A Public Space magazine, Russian American Cultural Center, and Overlook. Matvei will be joined by Eugene Ostashevsky for this night devoted to Russian Absurdism. Wednesday, January 16, 7pm at A Public Space, 323 Dean Street, Brooklyn, NY. For more information: 212-673-2524.
