Recommended Listening: Mary Doty, Linda Gregerson, and Jane Hirshfield discuss the history and nature of the lyric poem. Pair with Andrew Kay’s Millions essay on the power of poetry.
An American Lyric
Take a Look
“I remember LeVar shooting at a zoo and an elephant had a cold and kept blowing snot all over him. He never lost his cool. ‘OK, let’s try it again.’” OMG guys, Mental Floss has an oral history of Reading Rainbow! And let us also never forget the reminiscences of our founder C. Max Magee‘s mom upon learning the show would be cancelled.
“Hauntedness is a feeling.”
Wyvern is publishing a “Haunted” theme issue just in time for Halloween this year, and you have until mid-September to submit your work. “Haunting is in your bones,” Wyvern’s editors write. “You know it when you feel it, and you know it when you write it. That is what we’re looking for.”
Andrew Carnegie Medals for Excellence in Fiction and Nonfiction Announced
The Andrew Carnegie Medals for Excellence in Fiction and Nonfiction have been announced! Winners for 2016 are Viet Thanh Nguyen for his novel, The Sympathizer and Sally Mann for Hold Still: A Memoir with Photographs. You could also read Nguyen’s Year in Reading.
Sighs of Relief
There’s good news for all of us with embarrassing social media adolescences. After a 34-part, Pulitzer-nominated piece of investigative journalism disappeared from the internet earlier this year, it became clear that nothing on the internet is permanent. Also, don’t blame the internet for your unproductive day–that’s just you.
AWP Events You Can’t Miss
Brief Hideous Movie
Gawker posted the first trailer for the forthcoming film version of David Foster Wallace’s Brief Interviews With Hideous Men.