Lit Clips: 6S summer, Electric Literature, Moving Poems, 3Cheers + more

Friday is for literary specials in Daily s-Press. This week's special theme: literary film clips.

the 6S summer film festival
The 6S Social Network is running a summer film festival with short films based on 6 sentence stories. There are 7 films up so far, all listed on this page: the 6S summer film festival. Make sure to check out "My Pirate Neighbour" by Oceana Setaysha - the ship turns to 5 paper boats in the clip: "My neighbour is a pirate. He’s building a ship in his backyard of oiled teak and adventure.."

Electric Literature Single Sentence Animations
Electric Literature, a youtube channel that features electric literature and cross-over projects in bi-monthly anthologies. Now playing: Single Sentence Animations. "These days, we're on an animation kick". Here's one of the clips for starters: "Little Things" by Matt Sumell.

Moving Poems
Moving Poems is an on-going compendium of video poetry from around the web, with a new video every weekday, hosted by Dave Bonta, editor of qarrtsiluni. There is a "Random"-feature in the sidebar - that's how I at first try arrived at "The Art of Drowning" by Billy Collins, which coincidentially connects to the 6S pirate ship video, just like the currently featured "Landlocked" does, too. It's ship video days.

Folded Word 3Cheers
Folded Word has developed a lit clip format called “3Cheers", each Cheer features 3 works from their magazine. An overview of all clips is up here: 3Cheers award. The recent clip is 3Cheers Spring 2010 - literature goes playmobil in this one.

Reviews, Beats, Vimeo Poetry
More lit-clips:
- Referential editor Jessie Carthy reviews books: "4 Book Reviews in Under 7 Minutes!"
- Susan Gibb creates a decade's flash in a poem: "Recycling" (don't get tricked by the title)
- Mel Bosworth goes beat for his new book: "Greasy Beats"
- and there is a huge (and rather miscellangelous) section of "Poem"-clips up in Vimeo: Vimeo Poems / Vimeo Poetry

related links: friday specials, literary summer

summer writing: Folded Word 24/7 Writing Month

This summer is good for writing - if you look for inspiration and motivation, there is A Year of Flash This Summer (a flash writing initiative with a weekly task), the August Poetry Postcard Fest, and now Folded Word just announced their first writing month:

Folded Word invites and encourages everyone to join them for a month of writing. This August, Folded Word will be holding their first writing month event called 24/7: "For the first 24 days of August, everyone will dedicate time each day to write either a piece of twitter fiction (up to 140 characters), prose poetry (up to 100 words), short poetry (up to 9 lines), micro fiction (up to 250 words), or flash fiction (up to 500 words). The last 7 days of August will be dedicated to revising these works."

If you would like to participate just follow these simple steps:
1.Send an email to editors[at]foldedword[dot]com with the subject line “24/7”
2.In the body of the email, include your legal name, the name you prefer to use online, city, state/province, and country.
3.An invitation to join our Basecamp group will be sent to the email address used for the request.
4.Accept the Basecamp invitation when it comes and follow the directions.
Once accepted, feel free to look around and become familiar with the Basecamp. At the end of August those who participated throughout the entire month will receive an “I wrote 24/7 in August” e-badge as well as some special publication opportunities.

related links: writing events, summer special

Daily s-Press summer special

now playing: a summer special. up already is Elephant Summer (a blog filler that turned larger than expected); The Summer of Genji (a joined summer reading project), the 100 Days Project (a creative collaboration with daily projects), and the Most Anticipated Summer Reading (a book preview list compiled by The Millions), A Year of Flash This Summer (a flash writing initiative), the greatly debated New Yorker summer fiction issue 20 under 40, and the August Poetry Postcard Fest.

for more new reads, try the recently featured novellas, or the short story + poetry collections. enjoy~

August Poetry Postcard Fest

Everyone loves getting postcards. And postcards with poems, all the better. That's the idea that lead to the August Poetry Postcard Fest: for 1 month, poets commit to writing a poetry postcard a day, and send it out. In return, they receive poetry postcards from fellow poets.

"What's unique about this approach: Rather than submitting poems for possible rejection, you are sending your words to a ready-made and excited audience awaiting your poems in their mailboxes. In addition to writing 31 wonderful poems yourself, you'll receive these wonderful postcards in your mailbox too."

The August Poetry Postcard Fest invites poets who are interested in taking part to register online now, more here: guidelines and registration link.

How the Poetry Postcard Fest works:
• Get yourself at least 31 postcards.
• On or about July 27th, write an original poem right on a postcard and mail it to the person on the list below your name.
• Starting on August 1st, ideally in response to a card YOU receive, keep writing a poem a day on a postcard and mailing it to successive folks on the list until you've sent out 31 postcards.
• What to write? Something that relates to your sense of "place" however you interpret that, something about how you relate to the postcard image, what you see out the window, what you're reading, using a phrase/topic/or image from a card that you got, a dream you had that morning, or an image from it, etc. Like "real" postcards, get to something of the "here and now" when you write.
• Once you start receiving postcard poems in the mail, you'll be able to respond to the poems and imagery with postcard poems or your own. That will keep your poems fresh and flowing. Be sure to check postage for cards going abroad.

A reflection on poetry postcards:
"This was an exercise in community, in discipline (as poets were expected to average a poem a day) and in consciousness. Some poets used the image on the card as inspiration, as in an ekphrastic poem. Some would continue a theme from a card they received as they wrote to someone completely different. Other poets wrote with no connection to the image, or to the poems they received, but developed their own themes. Certain themes started to emerge." - Paul Nelson, Postcard Exercise
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The New Yorker: Summer Fiction: 20 Under 40

In June, The New Yorker released a double fiction issue. What made the headlines wasn't the release of a fiction issue, but the title and concept of it:

"Summer Fiction: 20 Under 40
Our Summer Fiction Issue features twenty young writers who capture the inventiveness and the vitality of contemporary American fiction."
The included authors are: Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie, Chris Adrian, Daniel Alarcón, David Bezmozgis, Sarah Shun-lien Bynum, Joshua Ferris, Jonathan Safran Foer, Nell Freudenberger, Rivka Galchen, Nicole Krauss, Dinaw Mengestu, Philipp Meyer, C E Morgan, Téa Obreht, Yiyun Li, ZZ Packer, Karen Russell, Salvatore Scibona, Gary Shteyngart, Wells Tower.

There are also several stories from the issue online: An Honest Exit by Dinaw Mengestu, The Erlking by Sarah Shun-lien Bynum, The Young Painters by Nicole Krauss.

Also available online are brief interviews with every writer: Author Q & A, the questionnaires are accompanied by an introduction by the editors and by a live chat transcript of the summer issue.

The introduction explains the base approach of the editors, and draws the parallel to their fiction issue of 1999: "Last winter, when we came up with the plan to devote this issue to young fiction writers who we believe are, or will be, key to their generation, we took a look at a similar issue that we published, in 1999, titled “The Future of American Fiction.” Back then, we had to decide how we were going to decide: did we want to choose the writers who had already proved themselves or those whom we expected to excel in years to come? A good list, we came to think, should include both." (sidenote: when the New Yorker's list was issued in 1999, it included future big-name authors such as David Foster Wallace, Jonathan Franzen and Jhumpa Lahiri.)

The 2010 summer issue caused a stir, discussions about the validity of such lists and the methodology - an effect that probably was both expected and intended by the editors. Here's another quote from the introduction: "The habit of list-making can seem arbitrary or absurd, leaving the list-makers endlessly open to second-guessing (although to encourage such second-guessing is perhaps the best reason to make lists)."

To read some of the essays and discussions stirred by the issue, try this search link: google search: "new yorker fiction 40 under 20 discussion" - and dip into essays like the Gawker's "How to Complain About the New Yorker's 20 Favorite Writers Under 40" or the MFA Weblog analysis "The New Yorker's 20 Under 40 List, and MFA Rankings". For some contemplation on writing, visit the "Special Rumpus lamentation with possible added pep talk" by Steve Almond.

The second-guessing indeed lead to additional lists - and also sparked an initative to create a list that focuses on small presses: Dzanc contacted nearly 100 independent publishers, agents, editors, bloggers and reviewers, and based on the feeback, put together: 20 Writers to Watch - An Alternate List

No surprise: like the New Yorker list, this list lead to some debates as to whom should have been included, and which group is missing, and how to compile such a list, and how to feel about it - see comments of the list, and this essay in the Nervous Breakdown: The Lists We Love to Hate: First the New Yorker, Now Dzanc?

editor's note: there is an additional review of "40 under 20" up in the blueprintreview blog, with a different angle: "New Yorker summer fiction issue / 2nd language authors

update, August 2010:
Luna Park featured a series on Race, Class, Gender & Sexuality in Indie Publishing. i contributed an article on gender ratios, and the effects on categorization - it includes this passage on the summer fiction issue:

"Categories influence the viewpoint — I was reminded of this again when The New Yorker launched their fiction issue in June. Instead of just calling it “Summer Reads,” they titled it: “20 under 40.” And that’s exactly what the reviews and discussions then picked up on: instead of focusing on the stories and authors, the focus moved to the age categorization, and the whole topic of “youth” vs” “aging”. What almost went unnoticed was the fact that the issue came in a fine balance of 10 male and 10 female authors, and with more than 30% non-native writers included. That’s another effect of categories: they define the directly accessible statistics."
(link: Tag Poc 50/50, or: the Complexities and Effects of Categorization)

52/250 - A Year of Flash

For some, the best summer reading comes in short bursts. If you are looking for a blast of color this summer, check out 52/250, a site that features flash fiction from a variety of authors, some published, some entirely new to the scene. It began in late May and already has a small following – devoted writers and readers both.

The story of 52/250
The whole thing started when one writer decided to set herself a goal of writing one piece of fiction each week for a year. She planned to post the stories on her blog under the heading 52/250 – 52 weeks, 250 words each week. She mentioned the idea to an old friend who, wanting to unsheath his own rusty pen, declared: “I’m in!” So they built a website, fixed it up nice with the help of a third writer whose html is as pretty as his prose, called it 52/250: A Year of Flash, and invited other writers to participate.

Each week follows a theme, which is unlike a prompt in that the words do not have to appear in the stories. The stories must simply be inspired by the themes offered. The process begins and ends in a democratic fashion, in that the editors of 52/250 choose the weekly themes from ideas suggested by writers and readers. They also welcome all writers – submitted stories generally make the cut, so long as they do not exceed the 250 word limit. In addition, each week features one piece of art, and thus far the pieces have come from architects, amateur and professional photographers, and students of art.

52 themes + more than 40 authors so far
The first week opened in May with 17 different stories about Breadfruit. Who knew you could find that many perspectives on a spongy, bland thing packed with nutritional value but more likely found in books than on the shelves of supermarkets? Writers turned out for the challenge put to them that week, and they’ve been doing so ever since. Several writers have met the challenge every week, but everyone is free to come and go. On average, twenty new stories are posted each week, some from new authors and some from old hats. Since writing about breadfruit, authors have contributed stories about fancy me, little worlds, cartography, lovelies on the beach, the balance of terror, broken camera, and corrected vision.

“This site is a little gem,” says Susan Tepper, one of the regular contributors. “I really look forward to the mini-challenges each week!” Other writers agree. Jane Hammons should be writing her novel but instead found herself writing flash back in May. Even poets have tried their hand at flash over at 52/250. You can read poems by Sam Rasnake, Darryl Price, and Peter Larsen at 52/250, and stories by writers as diverse as Beate Siggriddaughter, Sheldon Lee Compton and Linda Simoni-Wastila. And alongside those experienced hands, you'll find other writers such as Ajay Nair, Matthew Hamilton and Martha Williams making their mark, as well as newcomers like student Eddie Kirsch, scientist Michelle Fuller and horsetrainer Liz Irvine.

About 52/25052/250: A Year of Flash is edited by Michelle Elvy, with the help of John Wentworth Chapin and Walter Bjorkman. You can find also find Elvy and Bjorkman at Voices, and, if she's not flashing at 52/250 or listening at Voices, Michelle is sailing on Momo.

Writers, artists, and readers are all welcome at 52/250.

Millions Most Anticipated Summer Reading

In January, the Millions compiled a superb book list for 2010, a compass for the upcoming months, noting: "At The Millions we’ve put together a “Most Anticipated” releases preview, with blurbs on all the books (well, clearly not all) you should be excited about in the next months. Add your own in the comments."

Now, just in time for July, an updated version of the list went online:
Most Anticipated Summer Reading 2010 and Beyond: The Great 2010 Book Preview Continued

The list is sorted by months, starting with July, which brings: Goodman's The Cookbook Collector, Moody's The Four Fingers of Death, Doerr's Memory Wall, Shteyngart's Super Sad True Love Story, French's Faithful Place, Langer's The Thieves of Manhattan, and 2 books by Bolaño: The Return and The Insufferable Gaucho. And that's just July.

For more reads, check out the initial list from January: "Most Anticipated: The Great 2010 Book Preview" - or visit some darker summer reads, as compiled by Emily St. John Mandel in Five Apocalypses: A Particularly Catastrophic Summer Reading List - including Justin Cronin's The Passage, Nick Harway's The Gone-Away World, McCarthy's The Road and other apocylptic books that probably are best read on a sunny day, while the world looks all bright and cheerful.

100 Days Project

One Hundred Days is a summer collaborative project put into motion by artist volunteers:

"The 100 Days Project gathers story writers, poets, painters, photographers, filmmakers, musicians, and programmers together for one hundred days of creative effort: a piece a day for 100 days. Each artist’s work will be unique yet build on the work of others in the collective. Here we make, remake, shape and reshape."

The main page 100 Days 2010 has all the feeds of the participants’ weblogs so that the updates are made and seen automatically. There is also a 100 Days group blog and a group page on Facebook. This year, the project runs from Saturday, May 22 until Sunday, August 29. This endeavor seems to be taking on status as a tradition and is open to all interested in taking part.

About 100 DaysThe history of 100 Days is pretty simple: the first One Hundred Days began as a collaboration between Carianne Mack Garside and Steve Ersinghaus that resulted in a pretty cool book available on Blurb and wildly fun gallery showing at Tunxis Community College. Garside painted a watercolor a day and Ersinghaus followed her painting with a poem interpreted from the painting. The joining was demanding, fun, a great opportunity to problem-solve.

The 2009 One Hundred saw a larger project, which began every day with a story written by Steve Ersinghaus and followed, this time, by Carianne Garside, as they decided to flip the 2008 procedure. They had fifteen other collaborators join in, from fiction writers, poets, photographers, designers, and programmers. That project can be found here: 100 Days Summer 2009.

For 2010, they’re continuing the tradition with John Timmons starting off the summer work with a short film. People who’d like to take part in One Hundred Days 2010 choose to develop a daily project that follows Timmon’s work or other work that develops from it. “We’d love to see how a larger body of work develops, like a massive root and plant system from either the films or other work that develops from the daily films.” In both years, self-constraint, like the confines of a sonnet, really opened up the flow.

Ersinghaus made some suggestions to help inspire the participants:
1. Follow the daily film, which will be available when the film maker uploads it his blog, and develop a work from it
2. Follow a person working with the film and develop a work from it, extending it, reshaping it in another form
3. Figure out a project and then work it back into the collective body of works in some way.

100 Day Links:
project main page: 100 Days 2010
group blog: 100 Days group blog

The Summer of Genji

The Summer of Genji is a joined approach to tackle a classic read: The Tale of Genji by Murasaki Shikibu. This book is considered to be one of the world's first novels, its size: a sound 1216 pages, the author: a lady in the Heian court of eleventh-century Japan.

Two online lit magazines - The Quarterly Conversation and Open Letters Monthly now teamed up to read this book between June 15 and August 30, at the pace of 90 pages a week, as summer read. Their reading blog is: The Summer of Genji

The readers invite everyone to join their journey: "We’ll be offering lots of commentary and candid opinions on a classic text that many consider the world’s first novel. We hope that you’ll join us! We want to have as many people as possible reading along with us, offering their own thoughts in the comments."

Even if you don't have the time (or patience) for a 1000+ book, it's well worth visiting the reading website. It already includes a whole string of posts that lead far beyond the story, to topics like translation / categorization, and to the process of reading itself, especially when it comes to books from other hemispheres. How to approach such a book? That's what George Fragopoulos considers in his blog entry "Thoughts of Genre": ".. the need to situate, or “triangulate” oneself as a reader in relation to a text that comes to us with an insurmountable amount of historical and cultural distances. The distances between ourselves and the Genji are vast, and many of them are, in fact, rather insurmountable—as they would be with any other text, albeit it in different ways; and before many of us begin reading the Genji—or begin re-reading it—I would simply like to raise some questions in regards to genre and translation."
But despite the distance, human nature is universal - as the blog post "Coming Back to Genji" by genjimaureen points out, in an unexpected parallel: "Back in New York, I loved The Tale of Genji, and hated that I loved it. It was about people who appeared to lack both moral and practical sense, were bound by the conventions of a be-numbingly complicated caste system, and spent inordinate amounts of time judging other people by their clothes. Even when they managed to be charming, most of the characters – Genji himself in particular – were only so in the service of being odious in some other respect. It was rather like high school. It was very like New York."

Reading blog: The Summer of Genji
Book details (Penguin Edition):
The Tale of Genji by Murasaki Shikibu1216 pages, weight: 3.4 pounds
ISBN: 014243714X

Elephant Summer (notimetosayit)

Elephant Summer: a collection of all things elephant, published on notimetosayit.com during the summer of 2009 by 35 writers and artists. The collection contains artwork, stories, poems and prose all centered around an elephant theme.

This project started as a lark by writer/blogger xTx who wanted her blog to be occupied by more than dead space when she went away on multiple vacations during the summer. She deemed it Elephant Summer and put out a call for anything elephant to be sent her way and received an unexpectedly enthusiastic response from her readers. Elephant Summer ended up being extended into October and turned into an ebook!

Writers and poets in Elephant Summer include: Ben Brooks, Dennis Mahagin, Crispin Best, Sam Pink, Mel Bosworth, R.C. Miller, Ani Smith, Matt DeBenedictis, Janey Smith, Roxane Gay and Nate Innomi to name a few.

Elephant Summer is edited by xTx, a writer living in Southern California. You can find her writing in places like PANK, Smokelong, decomP, elimae, Dogzplot, and >Kill Author. Her e-book “Nobody Trusts a Black Magician” is available for free at nonpress.

Zombie Summer
Due to the overwhelming success of last year's "Summer", there is a call again this year with the new theme of Zombies. Zombie Summer is now in full swing and can be found on notimetosayit.com. And here, the direct link to the Elephant e-book:

Elephant Summer
anthology
free e-book, 60 pages

related links:
- experimental
- natural