From the category archives:

Lit News

Bumbershoot!

September 3, 2010

Bumbershoot in Dark Sky Magazine

Bumbershoot is not called Bumpershoot. There are no bumpers and there are no shootings (we hope!). Rather, bumpershoot is another word for umbrella. Obviously, for Seattlites, the umbrella is a common and useful accessory. But we grow weary of hearing the word, and of carrying one with us wherever we may roam. That’s why it is important to call this annual Northwestern event by its appropriate name: Bumbershoot.

Say it with us now, Bumbershoot.

Even so, it’s still our regional duty to recommend bringing your bumpershoot to this weekend’s Bumbershoot. That’s right, the forecast calls for rain…

Raining or not, thousands will gather to watch bands play. Some will go indoors to watch films, look at art, or attend comedy shows.

All of that sounds grand.

But something’s missing, you say?

It’s this right here: A fuggen literary line-up.

In years past, Bumbershoot has seen premier literary hosts grace its stages. But this year we are disappointed to hear the literary portion of the event is squished into the vague “words and ideas” category.

Ummmmm… doesn’t pretty much every artistic genre contain words and ideas?

Anyway, of this three day festival we are recommending two events. The biggest literary headliner is Rick Moody, who undoubtedly will give a straight-up, old fashioned and moderated talk on Saturday.

24 hours later, the folks from McSweeneys will make an appearance. Did you know this literary journal started out in 1998, and that it once only published works by those who had been rejected by other magazines?

We’re so there.

If you don’t own a bumpershoot and so won’t be attending this year’s Bumbershoot, perhaps instead you’ll feel like taking a trip to bookshelf porn, where the shelves are dry, the books are plenty, and the literary lineup is long and, ah, sexually charged?!?

– Lori Huskey

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Whored Out

September 1, 2010

Does networking make you feel dirty?

3 comments

To Kill A Mockingbird in Dark Sky Magazine

Hot Off The Presses!

We stopped by Barnes & Noble, To Kill A Mockingbird was in the “New Fiction” section. Now, considering our locale (South Carolina), this provides an opening for many conventional Southern jokes. You have the illiteracy joke and the racism joke. Well, not all of us are illiterate and not all of us are racist. Anyway, older books and writing come back to us this Tuesday. The Preppy Handbook returns. Recently deceased, Frank Kermode had a love affair with poetry. More on poetry with an interview with Mark Strand. Camille Paglia wonders what the next big idea will be; postmodernism is dead?! And Isaac Asimov wonders what happened to the big ideas of the past. Enjoy your Twosdey –  Andrew Geer

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DSM Chapbook Contest

August 28, 2010

Chapbook Contest in Dark Sky Magazine

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9 comments

Put Your Boots On

August 26, 2010

If you make it to a top 10 list as a writer that’s worth mentioning on your CV, during interviews and when “casually” trying to impress your date. But we hope you never make it to the top 10 Overrated Candaian Authors list. Since the Huffington Post and the Guardian recently ran their version of [...]

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Thursday’s Flurry of Words

August 26, 2010

The cable person will show up sometime between 11 & 2. We’ve heard this before, so have you. We’re normally at work between 11 & 2, so this vague time slot is agitating. Of course, we could always make do without cable, but the pennant races are heating up, and college football is breathing down [...]

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First Love #2

August 25, 2010

by Meg Pokrass _____________________________ Meg Pokrass is a fiction writer who lives in San Francisco where truth is questionable. Her debut collection of flash fiction, “Damn Sure Right” will be published in 2011 by Press 53. Meg’s work was selected for Wigleaf’s Top 50 Flash Fiction 2009. She has published over one hundred stories and [...]

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A Little Longer (Chapbook Deadline Extension)

August 25, 2010

We’ve decided that nothing should end on a Tuesday. Therefore we will be taking chapbook submissions for a few extra days. The new deadline will be Sunday, September 5, 2010. All the same rules apply. Can’t remember? Click here. Good luck!

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Tuesday’s Literary Briefing

August 24, 2010

It’s got to be difficult being a parent. Of course there are the obvious responsibilities that caring for a human being entail. But what about the emotional challenge? My brother and I used to tease our mother about her antiquated mispronunciation of brand names; e.g., Coke-Cola and U-Haul-It. In retrospect, she was the correct one: [...]

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Edwin Morgan (1920-2010)

August 20, 2010

Edwin Morgan died this week. Not everyone likes poetry, and not everyone likes Scotland, but most everyone seems to like the Scottish poetry of Edwin Morgan. And for good reason.

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