Outstanding news, this– ‘African Booker’ shortlist crosses continent:
The five shortlisted writers for this year’s Caine prize for African Writing cover all four corners of the continent, from Morocco to South Africa, Kenya to Nigeria. Unusually for a mixed prize, the list also features just one man.
And:
Starting at the top of the continent, Laila Lalami is a Moroccan-born author who has been nominated for The Fanatic, a chapter from her novel Hope and Other Dangerous Pursuits. The book tells of four Moroccans who cross the straits of Gibraltar on a lifeboat in order to emigrate to Spain. According to Lalami, who now lives in Oregon and is the editor of the literary blog Moorishgirl.com, the story was inspired by an article she read in Le Monde in 2001 about 15 Moroccan immigrants who drowned while crossing the straits of Gibraltar in a fishing boat.
It’s Roy Kesey Week at The Elegant Variation. Check it out and buy his book: Nothing in the World.
If you’ve ever been to Walden Pond and Thoreau’s cabin there–you will be touched by how small it all is, how close it seems to the larger world and yet how compact and serene. How very far away. (Unless you happen to be there on a hot summer day when it is packed out with swimmers and children in shitty diapers).
You don’t hear too much about Don Henley and Walden Woods anymore, but this comes as good news today when so much in the world seems wrong–Milestone for Walden Woods:
The staying power of the Walden Woods Project that Henley founded in 1990 is as curious as the enduring appeal of Henry David Thoreau, the cantankerous social activist who holed up in a Concord cabin for two years, wrote ”Walden” and ”Civil Disobedience,” and went on to influence environmentalists and social reformers for more than 150 years. Among those scheduled to appear at today’s dedication are biologist Edward O. Wilson and relatives of luminaries influenced by Thoreau’s work — from Mahatma Gandhi’s grandson to John Muir’s great-grandson to Rachel Carson’s nephew.
I’ve seen rain before but this is RAIN. I tried to walk the dog earlier because I thought there was a break in the weather but quickly realized that I was mistaken as I was drenched within minutes and met Allen in the car on the way home as he had come out to rescue us. The rivers are swollen. The end of our street is nearly washed out. It’s getting just a bit scary.
So here’s the news Floods in New Hampshire force 100 people from their homes:
Gov. John Lynch declared a state of emergency and activated the National Guard on Sunday as torrential rain washed out roads, flowed over dams and forced people from their homes – all while forecasters predicted more heavy rain on the way.
And:
it could total 12 to 15 inches in parts of southern New Hampshire early next week.
and here is the ten day forecast:
Heavy Rain 50°/45°
Showers 54°/47°
T-Showers 62°/48°
Showers 69°/48°
Few Showers 72°/50°
Showers 66°/45°
Few Showers 66°/47°
Showers 61°/45°
Scattered Showers 67°/47°
Partly Cloudy 69°/49°
the good news:
we are no longer in danger of a drought or brush fires
the bad news:
a) the exterior painting on our house was supposed to begin tomorrow
b) my dog hates wet weather and so would rather suffer in silence than go outside and do his “business”
c) I am losting my mind
and last but not least d)
As a Mother’s Day treat, I give you Al Gore on SNL:
Have been dying to see The Squid and the Whale and it was finally available at the library. It totally lived up to and even surpassed expectations. It was funny, honest, poignant, heartbreaking, and humane. Set twenty years ago, there is much of it that remains relevant today. It’s about broken families, desire, competition (and what one is willing to do to win/succeed), betrayal, sex, and, ultimately, seeing the people you love for who they really are.
I don’t want to give too much away if you’ve not seen it, but will only say this: you won’t regret the time you spend watching it.
Read a travel article this morning about visitng Hay-on-Wye during the off-season. I love traveling in the off-season, fewer people and, in my opinion, too many people buzzing around can really spoil a trip.
I’m ashamed to say I’ve not yet been to Wales, though it is top of my list of desired places to visit. When you have a name like mine, you must go. You must. And Hay-on-Wye will be top of the list as well and oh, if we can afford it, so will this gorgeous place listed in the article: Llangoed Hall.
I’m hoping Tom Saunders will pop by this post and offer me some other suggestions of places I should go in Wales.
Often I hear monks chanting and then realize that I am actually hearing chain saws, dirt bikes, or leaf blowers. It’s easy to pretend otherwise. I close my eyes and see Tibetan monks in saffron robes, walking along the path in the woods, carrying something precious, chanting. It’s misty. The light, blue through the haze. They are welcoming the new season.
It is not, actually, the guy next door riding his dirt bike on the path. He wouldn’t do that, right? I mean, this is a path that no one should ride on. In fact, that people are forbidden to ride on. Except on horse—that is allowed. But otherwise, no. Do not do it. You should not ride. No. There are small creatures—salamanders, toads, frogs—and there are precious plants—ferns and pink lady slippers.
These flowers you might miss in our forest, because they are rare here. But when you see one, you stop. Oh, yes. Okay, that is one. Allen found one quite near the path and set up sticks around it so that no one would damage it, but someone did nonetheless.
Do you know that one of the ways I help myself sleep nowadays is to picture the pink lady slippers? I do. When I wake up at night, as I do, I focus on the pink lady slipper. I start from its leaves and move up. It is glorious.
Do you know how rare they have become around here? I read recently that if you wanted to plant one in your home garden, wanted to buy one from a garden shop, it would cost you something like $90 a plant.
They are precious. Perhaps I am fond of them because they take so long to produce their first flower–almost sixteen years. As a late bloomer, I understand this–holding your most precious gift so close and tender and then waiting for that perfect time to share it with the world. It touches me that they are thus. It touches me. I want them to live on.
They are of the orchid family, you see. And they are the state flower of Minnesota, where many fine people live, including several writer friends of mine.
But here in New Hampshire they live sporadically and, ironically, they live in quiet profusion on my dirt-bike riding neighbor’s property.
He moved in last year and neglected his landscape during the time they were blooming. For this I was grateful. They were not mowed down. But this year, I wake up and wonder what will happen. Will he mow them over, uncaring? I don’t know. Maybe not. Maybe not. Perhaps a tender heart exists–one that cherishes these beauties.
Regardless, I have decided that I will ask my neighbors if I might photograph their precious plants, thereby letting them know what bounty they have. They have sweet children and my hope is to enlist the children as protectors of these plants.
Of course, I may chicken out. I may find myself tongue tied as I so do in case of great, blinding love. But maybe not. I want these flowers to survive. It feels more important to me than ever this year that they do when so much of this world is disappearing. It is one thing to hold onto.
This is the most excellent, excellent news and I’ve been sitting on my hands waiting for Pia Ehrhardt to announce her news–as she has done–Oh, happy day!:
MacAdam/Cage will publish my short story collection – FAMOUS FATHERS – in Spring 2007, and my novel – SPEEDING IN THE DRIVEWAY – in Spring 2008.
Since I was eight or nine years old, I’ve kept kept company with other writers in libraries and bookstores. I dreamed that one day the books I needed to write would be on the shelf, wedged in with the Ys and the Zs, and, finally, I soon will have two books. In the nick of time. Between the Ds and Fs. Thank you for reading my work – please don’t stop, and to PJ Mark – please don’t stop.
Pia, I could not be happier for you! Can’t wait until your books are on my shelves.
She’s interviewed all of the writers you wish you could get close to and ask that one important question. She’s interviewed TC Boyle. She’s interviewed Aimee Bender. And each person she’s interviewed, she’s done so with great finesse. And now, thanks to Sue Henderson, Jordan Rosenfeld interviews Jordan Rosenfeld.
myfanwy collins 