Oh dear. This is sad news, indeed–August Wilson, 60: Wilson died Sunday at Swedish Medical Center in Seattle, less than two months after he announced he had inoperable liver cancer. He was 60. Among his plays were “Fences,” the writer’s biggest Broadway hit, “Ma Rainey’s Black Bottom” and “The Piano Lesson.” At the time of his death, Wilson was still working on the last … Read More

Jim Ruland’s debut story collection, Big Lonesome, is not a book you will breeze through. After each story, you’ll need time to think, to reflect, and most likely to catch your breath. It is, in short, quite dark and yet astonishing. The world the characters of Big Lonesome inhabit is one that is unfamiliar in its bleakness and yet familiar in its honesty and … Read More

Check out this great story by one of my favorite people in the world, Ray Collins: Smell of Rain

The final issue of Ink Pot (#7) is available. While I’m sad that this is the final issue, I’m delighted that thanks to the doggedness of Bev Jackson, Publisher and EIC, and the donations of many generous individuals, that this issue exists at all. And I’m proud to have played a part in it. For a sample of work found in this issue, please … Read More

A new blog: Word by Word: Literary Radio

I’m delighted to announce that the brilliant Jordan Rosenfeld and her team at Word by Word have started a blog for their excellent radio show, Word by Word. Book mark it, link to it, and check back often because you will not want to miss what they have going on.

Read this awesome article by my pal, Stepanie Anagnoson–Zion National Park – In the Off Season: The first time I visited Zion National Park, outside of Springdale, Utah, I was sixteen and it was July. My family was on a car trip to see the national parks of the west over three weeks with my grandmother wedged in between my brother and I in … Read More

Tobacco Road, an essay written by me, is featured at AGNI this week: Their kitchen was scrupulously clean, all white metal cabinets and red-checked curtains. And upstairs there were three or four bedrooms where the children had slept, now guestrooms. Few people came to Tobacco Road on holiday, though, so it is unlikely they had overnight visitors until I ended up as a guest … Read More

Why?

Supreme Court Takes Up Anna Nicole Case: The Supreme Court shed its staid image Tuesday, giving stripper-turned Playboy model Anna Nicole Smith a new chance at a piece of the fortune of her 90-year-old late husband. The court said it would hear arguments early next year as part of Smith’s effort to collect as much as $474 million from the estate of J. Howard … Read More Why?

Had a dream that I was on the island where I used to live, walking on the beach. It was cold–winter, late fall. The sky was all cloud, blue-gray with a white tinge around the edges. The wind was blowing in off the water. Up the beach near the jetty I saw a structure. As I got closer I saw that it was a … Read More

Hurrah! JIM HENSON, MUPPETS, GET STAMPS OF APPROVAL: Jim Henson and his beloved Muppets were immortalized on United States postage stamps today in Los Angeles at the Academy of the Television Arts & Sciences (http://www.emmys.tv), the same organization that bestowed several Emmy Awards upon the extraordinary artist and visionary, and also inducted him into the Television Academy Hall of Fame. The first-day-of-issue dedication ceremony … Read More

A couple of things of note:

Swivel issues #1, 2, & 3 are available for order or you can now order a subscription for $18. Swivel has featured the worker of such writers as Aimee Bender, Vendela Vida, Hannah Tinti, Lisa Glatt, Lauren Weedman, and yours truly (also, in Issue #3 there’s an interview with Melissa Bank). It’s a beautiful journal–one which I read cover to cover. So if you … Read More A couple of things of note:

WOW–Jury indicts top US congressman: The Republican majority leader in the US House of Representatives Tom DeLay has been indicted with criminal conspiracy by a grand jury in Texas. and this one–DeLay indicted in Texas campaign finance probe: The charge carries a potential two-year sentence, which forces DeLay to step down under House Republican rules. “The defendants entered into an agreement with each other … Read More