As I put it on Face Book a week or so ago when Aldon Nielsen’s review of SOS (Poems 1961-2013) came out: “An excellent corrective to the ignorant NYT put-down piece of a week ago. Aldon Nielsen knows exactly what he is speaking of, i.e. knows in detail the incredible width & depth of Amiri Baraka’s oeuvre — one of the major literary achievements of the second part of … Read more Aldon Nielsen on Amiri Baraka’s SOS (Poems 1961-2013)
Yesterday was Ken Irby’s 78th birthday, and I’m extremely happy to announce that the Jacket2 special feature (edited by Kyle Waugh & Billy Joe Harris) is now live. Happy Birthday, Ken! This feature devoted to the work of Kenneth Irby collects a number of papers delivered at the 2011 colloquium devoted to Irby in Lawrence, Kansas, along with new essays by Robert Bertholf, Dale Smith, Matthew Hofer, and others; a chronology, a poem … Read more Ken Irby @ 78!
Abdelwahab Meddeb passed away in the night from Wednesday to Thursday in Paris. Born in Tunis in 1946, he was a poet, scholar, writer, translator, traveller, magazine editor (“Dédale“), book editor (as series editor with Editions Sindbad from 1974 to 1987 he published the classics of sufism as well as many of the most outstanding contemporary Arab authors), radio producer (check out his France Culture broadcasts Cultures d’Islam which he did weekly for 17 years) & … Read more Abdelwahab Meddeb (1946-2014)
Old Eric Mottram friend John Whiting has done us all a great favor by making available some of his tapes of Mottram’s most amazing graduate seminar from the early seventies, “American Imagination of Synthesis,” which I myself also took around 73/74 (my cassette tapes have in the main gone bad — so, double thanks to John!) Here is his latest web announcement: “There’s nothing more exciting than something you don’t … Read more Eric Mottram Lives!
!OUT NOW! It is no exaggeration to suggest that Robert Kelly may well be America’s most prolific poet, and certainly one of the most singular and ceaselessly innovative writers the country produced in the 2nd part of the past century. To date, he has published more than 70 books of poetry and fiction — books that reveal a breathtaking range, from freshly minted trobar clus and contemporized sonnet forms, … Read more A Voice Full of Cities: The Collected Essays of Robert Kelly
via the always excellent Arab Literature (in English): Translation as Mourning, Translation as a ‘Form of Cultural Interrogation’ by mlynxqualey In a lecture at the American University in Cairo last March, Iraqi poet and translator Sinan Antoon wove together poetics and politics, linking an understanding of translation as “extended mourning” with observations from his experience as a translator of Arabic poetry into English. Anny Gaul reflects on the lecture … Read more Anny Gaul on Sinan Antoon on Translation, Poetics & Politics
1) Today, Wednesday 14 May, for those who have German, portrait-interview by Vesna Andonovic in the Luxembourg “paper of record,” the Luxemburger Wort, entitled “The Integral in the Open Field.” E-version not available yet. 2) check out maintenant #94 – pierre joris: An interview with Pierre Joris by SJ Fowler. 3:AM: The primary legacy of your work and your thought to me has been your ability to make clear the axiomatic negative … Read more 2 Or 3 Things I know About Him
Friday, April 25 Contemporary French Poetry in the U.S.: Translating, Publishing, Adapting Location: Afternoon sessions: La Maison Française, NYU, 16 Washington Mews (corner of University Place) Evening session: McNally Jackson Books, 52 Prince St. There have been strong transatlantic poetic ties between France and the United States since the 19th century. Dialogues continue through the translation, publication, and adaptation of contemporary French poetry in the U.S. Organized by Vincent Broqua (UPEC) and … Read more Contemporary French Poetry in the U.S. Conference
Via the incomparable Arab Literature (in English) website: ‘Makhzin’ and the Link Between Multilingualism and Experimental Writing by mlynxqualey At 6 p.m. tomorrow, the new experimental, trilingual Makhzin will launch its first issue in Beirut. Editor Mirene Arsanios answered a few questions about the project: ArabLit: Why experimental works? What role do you think experimental and avant garde works play in the literary arts? Locally, regionally, globally? Mirene Arsanios: Experimental work is a broad term. I … Read more A New Arab Magazine of Experimental Writing
Master Class with Pierre Joris Class Date: Saturday, April 26, 2014 Time: 1 p.m. – 4 p.m. CST Duration: 1 day (class meets once, for 3 hrs.) Instructor: Pierre Joris Location: Online Description: Study with poet Pierre Joris in this one-day online class. “Writing translation / translating writing” inverts the traditional relationship of original text & translated copy & reinscribes the activity of translation as core process of the act of writing. Students will be … Read more “Writing translation / translating writing” Master Class