Clayton Eshleman has been one of this country’s most serious, engaged & productive poets, translators & thinkers on the matter of poetry for more than half a century now. As Adrienne Rich wrote about the volume Companion Spider: “As a poet and translator, Clayton Eshleman has gone more deeply into his art, its processes and demands, than any modern American poet since Robert Duncan or Muriel Rukeyser… Eshleman has … Read more Clayton Eshleman’s Experience
The second part of Peter Riley’s reveiw of Ed Dorn’s Collected just cam eout in the Fortnightly Review. Below, the opening paras, for the whole piece, click here. The relentless fury of Ed Dorn 2. A Fortnightly Review of Collected Poems Edward Dorn Edited with a preface by Jennifer Dunbar Dorn Carcanet Press 2012 | 1023pp. | $40.00 £25.00 Two Interviews Edward Dorn Edited by Gavin Selerie and Justin … Read more Peter Riley on Ed Dorn’s Collected 2.
Chinua Achebe on Palfest, African Books You Should Readby mlynxqualey According to his publisher, beloved Nigerian novelist Chinua Achebe has died. Palestine Festival for Literature organizers shared this video message Achebe recorded for the 2008 festival:
Via & thanks to the as always excellent blog Arab Literature (in English): Posted on March 21, 2013 by mlynxqualey | Leave a comment This is the month, the week, the fifteen minutes that the world is grappling with and reflecting on the US-led invasion of Iraq. But it’s been more than fifteen minutes for Iraqi authors; particularly those, like Ahmed Saadawi, who are still in Iraq: Ahmed Saadawi: A Decade of Despair (New York Times) … Read more Iraqi Authors on ‘A Decade of Despair’
This morning’s riddle, dear bloggiste: Who is the famous German writer from the days of Goethe and Schiller, known by his French first name, if known at all, and who was born today 250 years ago? Well, give your tongue to the cat, as the French would say? He is known as “Jean Paul” & his full name is Jean Paul Friedrich Richter (21 March 1763 – 14 November 1825). … Read more Happy 250th, JP!
Our friend Gilles Rigaud who works as a skipper on sailboats between the tip of South America & Antartica, just returned from his latest trip, bringing back a wonderful trove of pictures after ecologically sound diving experiences. Below the text that accompanies the full photoshow: Six strong minded freedivers and an experienced skipper on a 50 foot fast sailboat for 5 weeks is the recipe for a successful and inovative … Read more Ecological Freediving in Antartica
Courtesy of Al Mudon electronic newspaper Dima Wannous, a Syrian journalist and daughter of the late noted playwright Saddallah Wannous, has been providing exceptional coverage of the Arab art and cultural scene for the newly established Lebanese electronic newspaper, Al Mudon. She recently talked with Syrian artist Tamam Azzam, whom she claims remains as engaged in documenting the events of the Syrian revolution through his paintings as he … Read more Tamam Azzam: Artist from Art to Revolution
On the 11.21. 1965. Paul Celan undertook a trip to Switzerland. That day he wrote the poem Die längst Entdeckten | The long discovered, which he included in the volume Threadsuns, but also wrote the following poem, not published in his life time, though now in the Collected Poems: BELEAGUERED The delusion-runs: say that they are delusion-runs, of the murder- mouths and -writings and -signs, say, that they are composed … Read more Another Paul Celan Poem