Envy and New Beginnings: AWP in Chicago, A Streetcar Named Desire on Broadway, Two Small Lit Presses, and One Big Movement
Posted on February 28, 2012 by TT Jax in News
First off: I cannot stand that I am not on my way to Chicago today. Tomorrow, nearly every author, publisher, and indie lit magazine that I drool over in my bed at night is going to be at AWP. Most of them are sharing tables together. (BLOOM and LLF? Table # 726.) Half of them are doing readings together. (PANK, Mudluscious Press, and Annalemma: March 1st, Beauty Bar, 7 PM. Matthew R. K. Haynes-Kekahuna of Educe, Max Wolf Valerio, and Charles Rice-Gonzales: Center on Halsted, March 1st, 7 PM. And don’t forget about this.) And I, in my jealousy, hate them all. Are you going? I hate you, too. (more…)
‘Sacred Monsters’ by Edmund White
Posted on February 19, 2012 by Howard G. Williams in Nonfiction, Reviews
I enjoyed reading Sacred Monsters (Magnus Books), a collection of twenty-two essays on various authors and visual artists written by Edmund White and published in various journals since 1980. This compilation of reviews and criticism seems like an extension of White’s memoirs, telling stories about his subjects who are “above criticism” as well as about himself. In most cases, the summaries of the authors’ novels and stories are perfect distillations of facts and effects, the exact amount of information required to understand or recall a plot or an image and, more importantly, to point out its meaning. (more…)
John Waters: Roles of a Lifetime
Posted on October 4, 2011 by Aaron Tilford in Features, Interviews
“I am neurotic. But at the same time, I’m quite happy being neurotic. I think you must figure out a way, as Freud said, to turn hysterical misery into common unhappiness.”
John Waters is primarily known as a filmmaker (e.g, Pink Flamingos, Female Trouble, Hairspray), but he has also been an exhibited fine artist since the early 90s and a published author since the early 80s (Shock Value , Crackpot: The Obsessions of John Waters). In his new book Role Models (Farrar, Strauss, and Grioux, 2010) he examines the lives of some of his personal role models (including Johnny Mathis, Rei Kawakubo, Tennessee Williams, Leslie Van Houten, and Little Richard). In our conversation we discussed what makes a role model, the nature of genius, a lost Johnny Mathis album, rats, the death penalty, Prozac, and his summer reading list. (more…)
