News & Events
Good Things Come in Threes
My brilliant husband has three recent publications in which you might be interested: a new short story in Fence (both the print and online editions), whose new issue also features new work by Deborah Eisenberg and Fiona Maazel; an essay on observing the yarzheit of a non-Jewish parent, currently up on Tablet; and an article called “Network: How to Use LinkedIn to Connect With Your Community” in the November/December Poets & Writers. I recommend all three!
New Work from the Hopkins & Barton Book Trailer Manufactory
The Hopkins & Barton Book Trailer Manufactory proudly presents the second installment in its book trailer manufacturing project, Tobias’s incisive yet glowing review of Michael Griffith’s new novel, Trophy:
“They Don’t Have On Clothes,” A Paul La Farge Book Trailer
Or, as Tom Hop so aptly put it on his website, a trailer for “They Don’t Have On,” by Clothes.
Our three-year-old son, Tobias, made this unofficial trailer for Paul La Farge’s new novel, Luminous Airplanes, whose print and online versions I most wholeheartedly recommend.
An Essay in the Threepenny Review!
I am absolutely thrilled to have a long essay in the Summer 2011 edition of The Threepenny Review. The essay, entitled “The Jazz Singers,” is about the three different movies—all iconic Jewish films—by that name. I hope you’ll enjoy it!
A New Piece in the New York Times Book Review
Here’s my review of Michael Parker’s new novel, The Watery Part of the World. The essay ran in the New York Times Book Review on Sunday, May 22nd, 2011—further proof that the world didn’t end on the 21st!
The Frogs on the Roof at Yaddo
My husband, Thomas Israel Hopkins, has an excellent article on “The Future of Family-Friendly Residencies” in the March/April 2011 issue of Poets & Writers magazine. Though the article is only available in the print edition (as if you needed another reason to purchase—or better yet, subscribe to—the magazine), you can watch a video on the subject right here on the Internets. Tom talks about his inspiration for the article; Tobias talks about the frogs and monkeys writing poems on the roof at Yaddo (who knew?); and I hold a toy seal pup.
The Department of State & Literary New York
When the Department of State contacted me to ask if I’d be willing to record the ice bridge segment of Brookland for their Literary New York website, I was beyond bowled over. I had not, until then, realized that part of State’s mission involved the promotion of American literature, both at home and abroad . . . but it turns out it does. I had the pleasure of recording the segment at WAMC, Northeast Public Radio (my favorite NPR affiliate); and I’m honored to see my work up on the website now alongside that of Tom Wolfe and Pete Hamill. I hope you’ll go listen to all of the recordings and enjoy the other articles on the page.
FSG’s “Work in Progress”
FSG keeps a wonderful blog called Work in Progress, and I’m proud to be part of it for the first time: they’re reprinting my advice to students about when and why to apply for an MFA (if ever) as part of the ongoing dialogue about what MFAs are really for.
Thus far, there is advice about applying for an MFA, beginning to get one’s work published, and looking for an agent on this website’s advice page, which I invite you to visit. Please check back soon for new postings to the section; future topics will undoubtedly include “How to Write a Cover Letter That Will Actually Get You Into That Writing Class” and “How Best to Request a Letter of Reference (or Anything Else You Might Need).” I’d also like to do a post about the more general topic of humility, but that might be more of an essay. We’ll see.
Upcoming Events
I’m delighted to have two readings to look forward to this winter: at Bates College in February and at NYU in March. I’ll post details as the time approaches, but for now would just like to say that if you’re in Portland, ME or in NYC, I’d be very happy to see you there! My intention is to read new work at both events, which seems not completely impossible, given that I’ll have the great good fortune to be at Yaddo working on said work for a few weeks in between now and then. (Keynahora.)
Golems! A Musical
Charles Orr's poster for the hypothetical play Di Goylemim
Charles Orr’s Hypothetical Library is one of my favorite projects on the internet. Orr, a brilliant book-jacket designer, partners with authors, asking them to provide flap copy for a book they could write but never actually will. He then designs a cover for this book, and together they seek a blurb from another real author. In complex and fruitful ways, the Hypothetical Library blurs the distinction between the real, the potentially real, and the pure dream of fiction.
It’s an honor and a great pleasure to have a hypothetical novel newly out on the Library: Golems! A Musical, a campy yet semi-theological story of the Second Avenue theater. Orr designed both a jacket for the novel and a hypothetical poster for the play within the novel, Di Goylemim. And Michael Chabon has been kind enough to provide a blurb for the project.
Please go take a peek!
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