The Enpipe Line - poetry written in resistance

The Enpipe Line consists of more than 70.000 kilometers of collaborative poetry written in resistance to Enbridge's Northern Gateway Pipelines proposal and projects like it around the planet.

Initiated and hosted by Christine Leclerc, this project started in 2010 and kept growing continually online. Now it turned into a printed  collection of poetic resistance, published by Creekstone Press.

"These poems, drawings, stories, statements—words and gestures—are more than anathemas to Enbridge's Northern Gateway proposal; they are actual and necessary functions of being here, measures of our own animal presence, and witness to a threatening greed and ignorance. Kilometre after kilometre, The Enpipe Line occupies its space by writing in it." - Fred Wah, Parliamentary Poet Laureate

You can now download your copy of The Enpipe Line as PDF-file at the Enpipe Page. The Enpipe Line in printed form will launch March 23.

About The Enpipe Line
The Enpipe Line goes dream vs. dream with Enbridge's proposed Northern Gateway Pipelines. If built, these 1,170 kilometre pipelines will carry tar sands oil and its poisonous by-products across more than 700 streams and rivers between Alberta and the B.C. port of Kitimat. In Kitimat, crude oil would be pumped into supertankers for export, threatening the fragile coastal ecosystem with a major spill. Originally conceived as a 1,170 kilometre-long collaborative line of poetry to match the length of the proposed pipelines, The Enpipe Line has grown to over 70,000 kilometres.

The Enpipe Line / (pdf-link)
poetry-collection
179 pages

related links: poetry, this world

a brief guide to world domination (or: The Art of Non-Conformity) - Chris Guillebeau

The Art of Non-Conformity project by Chris Guillebeau chronicles notes on how to change the world by achieving significant, personal goals while helping others at the same time. In the battle against conventional beliefs, Guillebeau focuses on three areas: Life, Work, and Travel.

Guillebeau is especially interested in the convergence between highly personal goals and service to others. He uses the metaphor of world domination (ruling and changing the world at the same time) to highlight all the things that can be achieved by choosing to live with gratitude and purpose.

His Brief Guide to World Domination was read by more than 100,000 people in 60 countries during the first six months.

The essence of Guillebeua's philosophy is:
1. You don’t have to live your life the way other people expect you to.
2. You can do good things for yourself and help other people at the same time.
3. If you don’t decide for yourself what you want to get out of life, someone else will probably end up deciding for you.
4. There is usually more than one way to accomplish something.

Chris Guillebeau spent 4 years in West Africa as a volunteer. He is a writer, entrepreneur, and world traveler with the goal of visiting every country in the world. When not traveling, he lives in Portland, Oregon and publishes the Art of Nonconformity blog.

Brief Guide to World Domination
free e-book

related links: e-book, non-fiction, the world these days

Battle Runes - Writings on War (Editions Bibliotekos)

Battle Runes - Writings on War is an anthology that consists of twenty-one authors – thirty-seven works (short stories and poems) from all over the world – writing about the physical and psychological ravages of war on individuals and families. Parts of the book are shocking and horrifying, but in the end there is hope.

In the preface, publisher Fredericka Jacks writes: “Battle Runes opens in a child’s voice and ends with a child’s concern; the book begins in horror and terror and ends with care and hope; the collection starts in darkness and ends in color. The stories and poems – while focused on war – include private and public spaces, often addressing family relationships, such as those between husbands and wives, brothers and sisters, or parents and children. While there is blood in these pages, the emphasis is on the complex psychological dimensions of war.”

Contributors include Muhammad Ashfaq; Thom Brucie; John Gifford; John Guzlowski; Alamgir Hashmi; Margaret Kingsbury; Geoffrey A. Landis; Mitch Levenberg; Hunter Liguore; Mira Martin-Parker; Rebecca Newth; Norah Piehl; Nahid Rachlin; C.R. Resetarits; Nancy Riecken; Dawn Sandahl; Lisa L. Siedlarz; Lisa M. Sita; Patty Somlo; Marko Vešović; Jenny D. Williams.

About Editions Bibliotekos
Editions Bibliotekos is a small press operating out of Brooklyn, NY, whose mission is “To produce books of literary merit that address important issues, complex ideas, and enduring themes.” Their previous anthologies was also featured in Daily s-Press: Common Boundary: Stories of Immigration. Submissions are now open for the next anthology, theme is: Nature's World (the environment).

Battle Runes - Writings on War
ISBN: 978-0982481943
186 pages, paperback
$15.95US

related links: human condition, the world these days, anthologies
+ previous editions:

Writers Abroad Short Story Anthology

The Writers Abroad Short Story Anthology, with its theme of Expat Life, was compiled during November 2010 during the National Short Story Week in the UK, and features short stories by 29 authors, including Christopher Allen, Valerie Collins, Jill Brown, Paola Fornari, Janice Dunn, and many others.

An online version can be found in the 'Our Books' section of Writers Abroad, there also is an Isuu-version online.

"Containing a variety of fictional tales covering the highs and lows of living abroad, I‘m sure many of the stories will have been based on real life situations – often much stranger than the fictional versions found within these pages. Maybe that‘s one of the reasons so many expats pick up the pen (well, switch on the computer) and become writers. The experience of living abroad enriches our lives to such an extent that we feel the need to share, initially through letters and emails to friends and loved ones back home. One thing leads to another and, before you know where you are, another expat writer is born." - Lorraine Mace

About Writers Abroad
Writers Abroad is a community for Expat writers who wish to join a group of like-minded people. Members are expected to regularly contribute to the group’s aims of developing our writing abilities via mutual reviewing, sharing writing opportunities and working outside our natural comfort zones.

Writers Abroad Short Story Anthology
143 pages

related links: short stories, international, anthologies, bilingual authors

first issue: #3

#3 is a quarterly, independent not-for-profit journal bringing together art and art theory from various global contexts. The editors of #3 are interested in "collaborations with artists, designers, writers and curators from across all media and cultures."The first issue of #3 now launched - the full issue is available as pdf-download: #3 / Vol.1.

The issue features a wide range of themes: architecture, art, media, sociology, for example: "Trace & Intent" by Daniel Staincliffe, "Welcome to the Labyrinth (an excerpt from Sex, Death and Design in the Digital Culture)" by Ken Hollings, "Faces and Phases - an excerpt from "Mapping Our Histories: A Visual History of Black Lesbians in Post-Apartheid South Africa" by Zanele Muholi and
"A Constructed Conversation (between Kay Rosen and Virgina Woolf)" by Kay Rosen - if you like visuals / wordart, make sure to check out the Kay Rosen link, it leads to an online wordart exhibition room.

Also included: a thought-provoking interview with Paolo Pedercini, an artist and game designer who explores the intersection between gaming and politics - here one of the interview questions: "The anti-WTO slogan often credited to Jello Biafara, “Don’t hate the media, become the media,” is cited on your website, and you teach a course at Carnegie Mellon titled “Game Design for Artists, Mavericks, and Troublemakers.” You seem to theorize resistance to major entertainment corporations and, as you stated, are concerned with the opaqueness of more “serious” games."

#3 is edited by Josh McNamara, Neal MacInnes and Hana Tanimura.

website: http://www.journal3.org/
direct pdf-link: #3 / Vol.1

A Thousand Sisters - Lisa Shannon (Seal Press)

A Thousand Sisters is the story of how a single moment can change a life – and the lives of others. How a life’s mission can come to you, not in contemplation, but sprawled out on the couch, watching TV:

"I had a great life—a successful business, a fiancé, a home, and security. But in the wake of my Dad’s death, and soon-to-be thirty years old, I found myself depressed, camped out in my living room watching Oprah. It was there that I learned about Congo, widely called the worst place on earth to be a woman. Awakened to the atrocities –millions dead, women being raped and tortured, children starving and dying in shocking numbers –I had to do something. A Thousand Sisters chronicles how I raised sponsorships for Congolese women, beginning with a solo 30-mile run, and then founded Run for Congo Women..." - Lisa Shannon

Lisa Shannon recently spoke about Congo and her book with ABC World News, you can watch the interview online here.

Lisa Shannon presently serves as an ambassador for Women for Women International. She previously owned a photography production company, where she served as art director and producer. She lives in her hometown of Portland, Oregon. A Thousand Sisters is her first book.

About Seal Press
Inspired by the simple yet radical notion that a book can change a woman’s life, Seal Press is devoted to publishing titles that inform, reveal, engage, delight, and support women of all ages and backgrounds. Seal Press was founded in 1976 as a small DIY publisher to provide a forum for women writers and feminist issues, and since then, Seal has published groundbreaking books that represent the diverse voices and interests of women. "From cultural revelation to pop culture, our books are smart and fun, insightful and hilarious."

Lisa Shannon: A Thousand Sisters
non-fiction, 336 pages
ISBN: 1580052967

related links: the world these days, gender + race + age, non-fiction

Tracers - Uche Nduka (Wheelhouse)

as bait for transparency
break a token
break a token.
into a palimpsest isn't where we're sent.
dust comes bearing truth.

Nduka new chapbook Tracers is a carefully posed collision of extraordinarily contemporary linguistic forms with ancient myth, science, and alchemy elude both the languages of national border and lament: Tracers conjures "seizures of steam to contend with," engages the catastrophe of globalization with strange and destructive joy. This is a recuperation of that which we have yet to name.

Tracers is now available through Wheelhouse Press as a freely downloadable-ebook that also can be browsed online, direct link: Tracers

Uche Nduka was born and brought up in Nigeria. His books include Flower Child (1988), Second Act (1994), The Bremen Poems (1995), Chiaroscuro (which won the Association of Nigerian Authors Poetry Prize for 1997), If Only TheNight (2003), Heart’s Field (2005) and eel on reef (2007). Nduka has lived in Holland and Germany. He presently lives and works in New York City.

About Wheelhouse Press
Wheelhouse Press is the print devision of Wheelhouse magazine. Recent Wheelhouse publications include chapbooks by Matina Stamatakis / John Moore Williams, Lars Palm, Juliet Cook, and Thom Donovan, all available for free download: Wheelhouse chapbooks.

Uche Nduka: Tracers
poetry collection
available as free download, 63 pages

related links: the world these days, poetry, e-books

Life In The Slow Lane - Thomas Sullivan (Unical)

Life In The Slow Lane recounts a year the author spent teaching driver education for a cut-rate company in Portland, Oregon. The business playbook for this family-run operation was similar to that of BP -- use something until it breaks, apologize effusively, and then don't change. However, the company became the largest operator in the state primarily because the other companies were worse. Yet, while the cars kept dying, the kids always persevered. Set in a boomtown suburb being overrun by subdivisions and new Starbucks stores, this story portrays the mid-decade shift in America from business integrity to growth and profit by any means possible.

Thomas Sullivan is a former teacher now living in Seattle. His writing has appeared in Word Riot, Dogmatika, and 3AM Magazine, among others. To view samples of Thomas’ published writing, please visit his author website.

About Unical Press
Founded in 2006, Uncial Press publishes finely crafted and well-written eBooks. Uncial believes readers prefer logically consistent stories with believable characters, leading to the magical willing suspension of disbelief that is the hallmark of fine writing. They publish in the categories of Humor, Romance, Mystery, Fiction, Fantasy, and Historical Fiction.

Thomas Sullivan - Life in the Slow Lane
nonfiction / memoir
190 pages, e-book format $4.99
ISBN 13: 978-1-60174-085-4
ISBN 10: 1-60174-085-9

related links: the world these days, non-fiction

economy (qarrtsiluni)

At the start of recent global economic turmoil, "economy" became the word of the moment. It was a natural choice for a theme issue - in June 2009, the qarrtsiluni guest editors Anna Dickie and Pamela Hart put a call for submissions up for an online issue. Included was a line that asked contributors to go beyond the obvious:

"We urge you to think broadly, associatively and imaginatively about this touchstone word. Consider economy of movement, expression or effort. Think fuel, cash or gift economy. In your investigation, remember the epigram and the epitaph, both concerned with the economics of composition. Think about how the subject might inform style, as well as content."

The result was one of the most consistently high-quality and creative collections qarrtsiluni has ever published. It includes work that explores not only the negative but the positive sides of "economy," and does so in surprising ways. The issue is now available as a printed edition, and as a timely commentary on the current state of both our outer and inner worlds.

Issue editors
Anna Dickie is a photographer and poet based in East Lothian, Scotland. In the last three years she's won or been short-listed in a number of competitions, including having a shot hung in the Scottish Parliament as part of a touring exhibition on the theme of coastal erosion.
Pamela Hart is a former journalist. Her chapbook, The End of the Body, was recently published by toadlily press. She is writer-in-residence at the Katonah Museum of Art and teaches writing at Long Island University's Graduate School of Education.

About qarrtsiluni
As online literary magazines go, qarrtsiluni, at five-and-a-half years old, is positively venerable -- but retains the edginess, openness, vitality and editorial responsiveness that have set it apart from the beginning. The current issue at qarrtsiluni is "New Classics," edited by Ann E. Michael and Jessamyn Smyth. In August, the journal will publish poems from all eleven finalists in its annual poetry chapbook contest, and the winning manuscript in its entirety: Watermark, by Clayton T. Michaels, which will also be published as a printed book available from Phoenicia Publishing. That will be followed by the fall issue on the theme, "The Crowd," edited by Dave Bonta and Beth Adams, the managing editors of qarrtsiluni.

economy (qarrtsiluni)
print edition of the online issue "economy"
96 pages, $13.96
ISBN 978-0978174972

related links: the world these days, mixed formats

Shine (Solaris)

Shine is a collection of near-future, optimistic SF stories that portray the possible roads to a better tomorrow. Definitely not a plethora of Pollyannas (but neither a barrage of dystopias), Shine shows that positive change is far from being a foregone conclusion, but needs to be hardfought, innovative, robust and imaginative. Most importantly, it aims to demonstrate that while times are tough and outcomes are uncertain, we can still bend the future in benevolent ways if we embrace change and steer its momentum in the right direction.

The anthology is edited by Jetse de Vries. A table of contents with links to author bios and interviews is online at DayBreak Magazine: Shine - The Table of Contents.

"For an anthology with a very tight remit — optimistic near-future science fiction — there is a huge variety in the stories themselves. It occurs to me that this book is the perfect introduction to SF for readers who wouldn’t normally venture into the genre." —Catherine Hughes

About Solaris
Solaris was founded in 2007 by BL Publishing as an independent imprint, to trade alongside their existing licence-based imprints Black Flame and the Black Library.
In September 2009, Solaris was taken over by Rebellion, to publish alongside their existing imprint Abaddon. More than anything, Solaris exists to publish fantastic books by great authors, and to bring your attention, as a reader, a plethora of exciting new stories and novels.

Shine
416 pages, £5.99, $7.99
ISBN: 1-90673-567-0

related links:
- the world these days
- anthologies
.

Common Boundary: Stories of Immigration (Editions Bibliotekos)

Editions Bibliotekos announces the publication of its second book, Common Boundary: Stories of Immigration, an anthology of twenty-nine creative works (from nineteen contributors) that treat the theme of immigration (loneliness, alienation, self-questioning, doubt, and uncertainty about the past and future) with candor, humor, and insight. This is a book that will touch you in many ways as it hits home for virtually all of us, whoever we are, wherever we are. These stories might be timely because of what you read in the newspaper, but these stories are timeless since they continually intrigue us, constantly pull us back to take another look at origins and major questions.

In his Foreword, Jason Dubow writes: “. . . this book is really an anthology of anthologies: a collection of stories in which the old inextricably blends with the new, in which the tensions between what has been lost and what can be gained are grappled with (but, inevitably, not resolved), and in which the human capacity to imagine a future and make it real (more or less) is explored from a variety of different perspectives.”

The book is edited by Gregory F. Tague, Ph.D., Professor of English at St. Francis College (NY).

Contributors: Janice Eidus, Omer Hadžiselimović, John Guzlowski, Roy Jacobstein, M. Neelika Jayawardane, Rivka Keren, Eva Konstantopoulos, Dagmara J. Kurcz, Mitch Levenberg, Cassandra Lewis, Tim Nees, Muriel Nelson, George Rabasa, Nahid Rachlin, Ruth Sabath Rosenthal, Azarin A. Sadegh, Ruth Knafo Setton, Patty Somlo, Rewa Zeinati.
Honors and Awards Won by these Authors: O. Henry Prize, Bennet Cerf Award, PEN Syndicated Fiction Project Award, James Wright Poetry Prize, Pushcart Prize Nominations, NEA Grants and Fellowships, New Millenium Writings.

About Editions Bibliotekos
Editions Bibliotekos is a small press operating out of Brooklyn, NY, whose mission is “To produce books of literary merit that address important issues, complex ideas, and enduring themes.”
They are now seeking submissions for their anticipated third book, an anthology on the theme of "War" - guidelines.

Common Boundary: Stories of Immigration
Available immediately via Amazon.com
other outlets including bookstores (by request): in late July
198 pages; paperback; ISBN: 978-0982481936; $15.95US

editor's note: there is an additional (and more personal) review of "Common Boundary" up in the editor's blog: "currently reading: Common Boundary"

let a thousand dictionaries bloom - Sean Burn

let a thousand dictionaries bloom: a documentation from anti-racist arts-activist residency with stanley picker gallery / live art development agency

Sean Burn: "i was recently artist-activist with the stanley picker gallery and live art development agency, one of seven residencies under the collective banner louder than bombs. my week focused on anti-racism and central with a durational performance napalm perceptible : a dictionary for the bnp - redactin 'non-indigenous' words to leave a blank dictionary. like each ov us, language is ovcourse outta everywhere. a series ov interviews on identity, race, struggle alternatin with speeches from angela davis and nelson mandela played while challenges to some tabloid headlines and other visual poetry wz also on show. walls were written up in charcoal and reverse graffiti'd with putty rubbers to provide poetic responses to the vocabularies ov hate - this included let a thousand dictionaries bloom."

films and photos from the residency:
- film: let a thousand dictionaries bloom
- film: some tabloid headlies by sean burn
- photos: photostream

Sean Burn is a writer, performer and outsider artist with a growing international reputation. He is also actively involved nationally in disability arts. He was shortlisted for a dadafest disability arts award 2009 and is currently outside in artist in residence to the new gallery walsall in association with dash (disability arts shropshire). his twenty five poetry films have received many screenings worldwide, as well as at tate modern and national film theatre studios, london.

Stanley Picker Gallery: Louder Than Bombs
Over the course of seven weeks, the Stanley Picker Gallery handed over its entire exhibition space to host a series of week-long Live Art residencies. Co-curated with the Live Art Development Agency, London, through an open call for proposals, “Louder than Bombs”: Art, Action & Activism was an ambitious programme of public workshops and live events that focussed on challenging social, political and global issues of the day, addressed through the seven invited artist/activist’s individual working practices and the Gallery audience’s direct participation and responding involvement.

Sean Burn: let a thousand dictionaries bloom
28 pages
available as paperback ($5,70)
or as free download

related links
- art
- books available as download

7 x 7 - Crag Hill (Otoliths)

Scattered parts
now lie about what happened.

"Implicitly comparing a book to a deck of cards, and that deck of cards in turn to the world of social violence we’re dealt, Crag Hill stakes his ante on the power of poetry to witness and document the multiply-layered, self-inflicted insanity of US daily life in the Bush years. As readers we become participants and are thus empowered to say no to the game of death." —Maria Damon

"It's pure serendipity that the 49th book to bear the Otoliths imprint just happens to have the title that it does..... 7 x 7"

Crag Hill is the editor and publisher of SCORE Magazine since 1983. He tries to go where no one knows to go.

About Otoliths
Otoliths is a magazine of many e-things, published by Mark Young, Australia. The online issue of Otoliths appears quarterly. The publishing arm of Otoliths began as print editions of the e-zine Otoliths, but has since expanded to include books & chapbooks by authors associated with the journal. Recent publications include wild life rifle fire by Paul Siegell and & cruel red by Mary Kasimor.

Crag Hill: 7 x 7
poetry collection
paperback, 56 pages, $13.45

Zahra’s Paradise - Amir and Khalil (First Second Book & coop)

So a Persian writer, an Arab artist and a Jewish editor walk into a room… Sounds like the beginning of a bad joke. Actually, that’s something like the start of this unusual editorial adventure, the first of its kind. Zahra's Paradise is an online, serial webcomic in various languages: English, Farsi, Arabic, French, Italian, Spanish, Hebrew and more. It is published by First Second books in cooperation with Casterman in French and Dutch, Rizzoli Lizard in Italian, and Norma Editorial in Spanish.

Zahra’s Paradise weaves together a composite of real people and events: Set in the aftermath of Iran’s fraudulent elections of 2009, this webcomic tells the fictional story of the search for Mehdi, a young protestor who has disappeared in the Islamic Republic’s gulags. Mehdi has vanished in an extrajudicial twilight zone where habeas corpus is suspended. What stops his memory from being obliterated is not the law. It is the grit and guts of a mother who refuses to surrender her son to fate and the tenacity of a brother—a blogger—who fuses culture and technology to explore and explode absence: the void in which Mehdi has vanished.

author Amir + artist Kahlil
The author Amir is an Iranian-American human rights activist, journalist and documentary filmmaker. He has lived and worked in the United States, Canada, Europe and Afghanistan. His essays and articles have appeared far and wide in the press. Khalil’s work as a fine artist has been much praised. He sculpts and creates ceramics and has been cartooning since he was very young. Zahra’s Paradise is his first graphic novel. The authors have chosen anonymity for obvious political reasons.

About First Second Book, Casterman, Rizzoli Lizard, Norma Editorial
First Second Book is an imprint of Roaring Brook Press, a division of Holtzbrinck Publishers. Casterman is a French comic publisher ("La maison Casterman a intégré le monde de la bande dessinée dans les années 1930 en éditant les albums de Tintin"). Rizzoli Lizard is an Italian comic publisher. Norma Editorial is a Spanish comic publisher.

Amir and Khalil: Zahra’s Paradise
online serial webcomic in English, Farsi, Arabic, French, Italian, Spanish and other languages
start reading at page 1

following the theme: more daily s-press books that focus on the theme of middle east / prohibited stories / east/west etc.

Other Prohibited Items - Martha Greenwald (Mississippi)

Other Prohibited Items is Martha Greenwald’s first poetry collection. The poems focus on what is banned in American daily life, post 9/11—physical objects, but also the meanderings of the subconscious. Precise, playful language, set against a scaffolding of forms, support the sense that ghost narratives can locate the beauty lost in chaos.

Other Prohibited Items is a winner of the 2010 Mississippi Review Poetry Series.

“Sonic delight in words and word combinations dominate Other Prohibited Items. The poet, almost, not quite, but almost, bows out to let something else think for her..." - Dara Wier, contest judge

Martha Greenwald’s poems have appeared in many journals including Best New Poets 2008, MARGIE, Slate, The Threepenny Review, Poetry, The Sycamore Review and Shenandoah. A former Wallace Stegner Fellow, she has received awards from the arts councils of North Carolina and Kentucky. Currently, she lives in Louisville, KY.

About Mississippi Review Press
Mississippi Review Press is a spin-off of the Mississippi Review Magazine. The MR poetry series was started last year with a contest to select three collections of poetry for publication, the other selected winners are: Minimum Heroic by Christopher Salerno and Fifty Poems by Liana Quill.
Mississippi Review Magazine also publishes Mississippi Review, one of the oldest and most popular literary magazines on the Web, established in early 1995 as a site for the publication of literary writing.

Martha Greenwald: Other Prohibited Items
poetry collection
Mississippi Review Poetry Series 2010
64 pages, paperback, $9
ISBN: 978-0-9842652-0-6

The Asian American Literary Review - Issue 1

The Asian American Literary Review is a space for writers who consider the designation “Asian American” a fruitful starting point for artistic vision and community. In showcasing the work of established and emerging writers, the journal aims to incubate dialogues and, just as importantly, open those dialogues to regional, national, and international audiences of all constituencies. AALR selects work that is, as Marianne Moore once put it, “an expression of our needs…[and] feeling, modified by the writer’s moral and technical insights.”

Published biannually, AALR features fiction, poetry, creative nonfiction, translations, comic art, interviews, and book reviews.

Issue 1, debuting in April 2010, features poetry by Cathy Song, Oliver de la Paz, Paisley Rekdal, April Naoko Heck, Mong-Lan, Eugene Gloria, Nick Carbo, and David Woo; Karen Tei Yamashita interviewed by Kandice Chuh; prose by Ed Lin, Marie Mutsuki Mockett, Sonya Chung, Hasanthika Sirisena, David Mura, Gary Pak, and Brian Ascalon Roley; fourm responses by Alexander Chee, David Mura, and Ru Freeman; and book reviews by Paul Lai, Timothy Yu, and Jennifer Ann Homany other Asian American authors.

About AALR
The Asian American Literary Review was founded by Lawrence-Minh Bùi Davis, Gerald Maa and Larry Shinagawa, and is sponsored by the Asian American Studies Program, University of Maryland, College Park. Regular AALR pieces can be found on Discover Nikkei, posted on Sundays.

The Asian American Literary Review - Issue 1
single issue, $12

Gristle (The New Press)

More than ever before, people are increasingly concerned about the impact of our factory-farming system of raising animals for food - and rightfully so. Gristle is for the growing number of people - from ominvores to vegans - who are thinking twice about the consequences of our industrial farm animal prodcution practices on workers, our health, the environment, communities, the animals, and more.

Multi-platinum musician Moby and leading food policy activist and expert Miyun Park have brought together fifteen of the country's leading voices on this issue--an eclectic group from such diverse backgrounds as farming, workers' rights activism, professional athletics, science, environmental sustainability, food business, and animal welfare advocacy--who together eloquently lay out how and why industrial animal agriculture unnecessarily harms workers, communities, the environment, our health, our wallets, and animals.

In the tradition of Michael Pollan’s The Omnivore’s Dilemma, Gristle combines hard-hitting facts with a light touch and includes fascinating charts and illustrations depicting the stark realities of America’s industrial food system

About the New Press
Established in 1990 as a major alternative to the large, commercial publishers, The New Press is a not-for-profit publishing house operated editorially in the public interest. It is committed to publishing in innovative ways works of educational, cultural, and community value that, despite their intellectual merits, may be deemed insufficiently profitable by commercial publishers. The New Press publishes about fifty titles each year.

Gristle
on factory farms & food safety
paperback, 160 pages, $14,95
ISBN: 978-1595581914

Too Young to Fall Asleep - Sally Weigel (CCLaP)

Why would a poetry-writing high-school emo girl from suburban Chicago volunteer for the Iraq War? And when both of her legs are blown off in a non-combat IED explosion, how will she ever recover?
The Chicago Center for Literature and Photography is proud to present its newest original novella, Too Young to Fall Asleep, the literary debut of talented local up-and-comer Sally Weigel. Originally written when she was still in high school, Asleep is one of the first-ever adult character dramas concerning the so-called "Millennials," a prescient and eerily mature look at the generation of youth just now entering college -- an entire nation of idealistic sincerity-seekers within a maelstrom of suicidal Gen-X parents, a nation of kids who have no problem getting wasted on weekends but feel horribly guilty when smoking cigarettes while doing so.
Weigel takes a razor-sharp look at this generation here, through the filter of the two events that have so far most influenced them -- the rise of the dark post-9/11 supergroup Radiohead, and the decimating of their numbers by Bush's 'war on terrorism' -- delivering at the end a haunting and thought-provoking snapshot of our current zeitgeist, in a sophisticated way that can only be done by an actual member of that generation.
A "pay what you want" experiment which can be downloaded for free if one chooses, Too Young to Fall Asleep marks the debut of a rising voice in the American arts, and you are sure to be both informed and moved by what she has to say.

Sally Weigel is a sophomore at Chicago's DePaul University. This is her first book.

About CCLaP
CCLaP Publishing is an imprint of the Chicago Center for Literature and Photography, an organization dedicated to promoting the best of the underground and cutting-edge arts. On top of the seven books it has put out since 2008, the center also maintains a popular website, produces a bi-monthly podcast, and hosts a growing amount of live events all over the city of Chicago.

Sally Weigel: Too Young to Fall Asleep
novella
37 pages, electronic book (EPUB, PDF, MOBI, Kindle)
"Pay what you want" at website, or US$4.99 at Amazon