I’ll have a full report on my adventures at AWP in Chicago next week, but for now, enjoy this piece by Ryan Krausmann, who kindly offers us all the cocktail chatter we’ll ever need about Kingsley Amis.
(And check out Ryan’s wonderful previous post, one of the site’s most popular, about his bold move to quit his job and write his novel.)
Fourteen Things You Don’t Know About Kingsley Amis
By Ryan Krausmann
I just finished Zachary Leader’s 2006 biography The Life of Kingsley Amis. Amis (1922-1995) is considered the greatest English comic novelist of the second half of the twentieth century. It’s an excellent book. Haven’t got around to it yet? Don’t worry, I have blog-ified its 996 pages for you. Personally, it took me three renewals from the Philadelphia City Institute Library to finish it.
1. As an only child his mother, Peggy Amis, offered verbal encouragement for him to finish the food on his plate. She would divide the unconsumed portion into what he was allowed to leave and what he must eat.
2. While at Oxford University he met the poet Philip Larkin who would remain a life-long friend. Their constant correspondence – spanning six decades - provides much of the material for The Letters of Kingsley Amis published in 2000.
3. During the Second World War, which interrupted his studies at Oxford University, Amis choose to join a Royal Signals unit for officer-cadets as he was less likely to get killed there than in other service branches.
4. Amis’s first finished book-length fiction “The Legacy” was conceived in the winter of 1945-46, begun in the summer of 1947, completed in the summer of 1948, much revised and rejected in the next two and a half years and never published.
5. His first published novel Lucky Jim received almost uniformly positive reviews. Anthony Powell writing in the defunct weekly Punch called Amis “the first promising young novelist who has turned up for a long time.” It remains in print today in both England and the United States.
6. Lucky Jim won the Somerset Maugham Award administered by the Society of Authors in 1955. Twenty-three years later, his second son Martin Amis won it for his first novel, The Rachel Papers.
7. It is speculated, although never corroborated by tests, that Amis’s third child Sally Amis was not his daughter. The supposed father, a family friend, was not confronted and Sally Amis died in 2000 at the age of forty-six having never been alerted to this possibility.
8. In 1968 Amis wrote a James Bond novel, Colonel Sun, under the pen name Robert Markham.
9. Before Amis’s knighthood in 1990 he wrote a note to Julian Barnes worrying that he was bound to fall over the Queen’s foot, fart or say fuck.
10. Due to the extreme generosity of Amis’s second wife, Poet Laureate Cecil Day-Lewis, who was seriously ill, stayed in Amis’s house. He died of pancreatic cancer in that house with his fourteen year old son, actor Daniel Day-Lewis, holding his hand.
11. After winning the Booker Prize in 1986 for his eighteenth novel The Old Devils, Amis signed a two-book contract with his publisher worth 200,000 pounds.
12. In his seventy-three years of life, Amis never learned to drive a car.
13. Amis spent his entire life utterly afraid of the dark and of being alone.
14. In 1996, exactly one year after Amis’s death, a memorial service was held in St Martin-in-the-Fields. Among the novelists in attendance were Iris Murdoch, V.S. Naipul, David Lodge, Ian McEwan, and Salman Rushdie.
About: Ryan Krausmann is still at work on his first brilliant, genius novel. It remains unfinished and unpublished. He lives in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania.
Thursday, February 12, 2009
Wednesday, February 11, 2009
The Half-Finished Book, continued
After being away and dealing with a cranky computer, I’m slowly catching up on my reading and here’s a great article from the New York Times about the issue of whether to dump a book you don’t like or keep trudging through it. (I first explored the dilemma here.) Thank you, Paula Whyman, for passing it along.
Enticing excerpt:
Myla Goldberg (''Bee Season'') tells herself that reading a mediocre book ''would mean that I would eventually be on my deathbed having been deprived of the opportunity to read some other book, perhaps one that would have been really fun, or exciting, or even life-changing.'' [Michael] Chabon gives a book two pages, Goldberg allows it 15 to 50, and a book editor I know says that ''publishing turns you into a person who decides within five pages whether you'll like something or not and who puts it down (whether it's work or personal reading) without one ounce of guilt if the answer is no.'' She added, ''I know someone who swears by nothing more than the first sentence.'' What puts these readers off? The most complained-of quality is ''lyricism,'' the piling on of metaphors, similes and extravagant imagery. Also hated are long passages of description (particularly of weather and geology) and hokey framing devices like ''I remember well the summer I turned 14. . . .'' For the writer, the pitfalls are many, and one imperative rules: ''Your beginning better be just killer,'' Chabon says.
Note to self: Better re-revise that first page again!
Enticing excerpt:
Myla Goldberg (''Bee Season'') tells herself that reading a mediocre book ''would mean that I would eventually be on my deathbed having been deprived of the opportunity to read some other book, perhaps one that would have been really fun, or exciting, or even life-changing.'' [Michael] Chabon gives a book two pages, Goldberg allows it 15 to 50, and a book editor I know says that ''publishing turns you into a person who decides within five pages whether you'll like something or not and who puts it down (whether it's work or personal reading) without one ounce of guilt if the answer is no.'' She added, ''I know someone who swears by nothing more than the first sentence.'' What puts these readers off? The most complained-of quality is ''lyricism,'' the piling on of metaphors, similes and extravagant imagery. Also hated are long passages of description (particularly of weather and geology) and hokey framing devices like ''I remember well the summer I turned 14. . . .'' For the writer, the pitfalls are many, and one imperative rules: ''Your beginning better be just killer,'' Chabon says.
Note to self: Better re-revise that first page again!
South Carolina Poets, Take Note
Hi there, friends at Converse College in South Carolina! Here’s a contest announcement just for you!
South Carolina Poetry Initiative 2009
SINGLE POEM CONTEST
http://www.cas.sc.edu/engl/poetry/singlepoem2009.pdf
Entries are now being accepted for the 2009 statewide Single Poem Contest. The contest is sponsored by the South Carolina Poetry Initiative, which is located in the University of South Carolina’s English Department and The State newspaper. Winners will have their poems published in The State newspaper and will also receive cash prizes.
1st place 400.00
2nd place 300.00
3rd place 200.00
People’s Choice 100.00
Guidelines: Entries must be postmarked by Friday, February 27th, 2009.
1. Each entry is a single poem.
2. Poems submitted must be written by an individual 16yrs. of age or older.
3. Poets may submit more than one poem.
4. Each poem must be accompanied by a $5 fee made payable to USC Educational Foundation. *This is important: Checks made payable to other entities will not be accepted.
5. Each poem must be no more than 70 lines in length.
6. The author's name should not appear on the page with the poem.
7. However, each entry must be accompanied by a cover sheet that includes:
a. name
b) address
c) phone number
d) name of the poem
e) e-mail address
f) author's date of birth,
g) 50-75 word bio.
8. All poems entered must have been written by the poet.
9. Only original poetry will be considered.
10. All entries must be unpublished poems.
11. No entries will be returned to the author.
12. Previous winners must wait a period of two years before submitting work.
13. Announcements about winners will be made in The State.
14. Poets must be South Carolina natives or permanent residents of South Carolina.
15. Note: Individual criticism of poems cannot be given.
16. Mail your entry or entries to:
Kwame Dawes/poetry contest
c/o The State, Features Department
P.O. Box 1333
Columbia, SC 29202
Entry Fee: Submissions should include a check for $5 made out to USC Educational Foundation to help defray administrative costs.
Judging: The contest’s judge will be a nationally acclaimed poet.
Note: On March 30th, the top ten poems, as determined by our judge, will appear in The State newspaper; and from this list, readers will pick the winner of People’s Choice prize. The final winners will be announced at a celebratory event featuring a reading by a renowned poet on Saturday, April 11th. The Awards Ceremony will feature an announcement of the winners for both the Single Poem Contest and the South Carolina Poetry Initiative’s 2009 Book Contest. This event will take place from 2:00 PM to 3:30 PM at 80808 Vista Studios, 808 Lady Street.
South Carolina Poetry Initiative 2009
SINGLE POEM CONTEST
http://www.cas.sc.edu/engl/poetry/singlepoem2009.pdf
Entries are now being accepted for the 2009 statewide Single Poem Contest. The contest is sponsored by the South Carolina Poetry Initiative, which is located in the University of South Carolina’s English Department and The State newspaper. Winners will have their poems published in The State newspaper and will also receive cash prizes.
1st place 400.00
2nd place 300.00
3rd place 200.00
People’s Choice 100.00
Guidelines: Entries must be postmarked by Friday, February 27th, 2009.
1. Each entry is a single poem.
2. Poems submitted must be written by an individual 16yrs. of age or older.
3. Poets may submit more than one poem.
4. Each poem must be accompanied by a $5 fee made payable to USC Educational Foundation. *This is important: Checks made payable to other entities will not be accepted.
5. Each poem must be no more than 70 lines in length.
6. The author's name should not appear on the page with the poem.
7. However, each entry must be accompanied by a cover sheet that includes:
a. name
b) address
c) phone number
d) name of the poem
e) e-mail address
f) author's date of birth,
g) 50-75 word bio.
8. All poems entered must have been written by the poet.
9. Only original poetry will be considered.
10. All entries must be unpublished poems.
11. No entries will be returned to the author.
12. Previous winners must wait a period of two years before submitting work.
13. Announcements about winners will be made in The State.
14. Poets must be South Carolina natives or permanent residents of South Carolina.
15. Note: Individual criticism of poems cannot be given.
16. Mail your entry or entries to:
Kwame Dawes/poetry contest
c/o The State, Features Department
P.O. Box 1333
Columbia, SC 29202
Entry Fee: Submissions should include a check for $5 made out to USC Educational Foundation to help defray administrative costs.
Judging: The contest’s judge will be a nationally acclaimed poet.
Note: On March 30th, the top ten poems, as determined by our judge, will appear in The State newspaper; and from this list, readers will pick the winner of People’s Choice prize. The final winners will be announced at a celebratory event featuring a reading by a renowned poet on Saturday, April 11th. The Awards Ceremony will feature an announcement of the winners for both the Single Poem Contest and the South Carolina Poetry Initiative’s 2009 Book Contest. This event will take place from 2:00 PM to 3:30 PM at 80808 Vista Studios, 808 Lady Street.
Tuesday, February 10, 2009
DC at AWP
Thanks to poet Kim Roberts who compiled this helpful guide* to DC authors who will be in Chicago at AWP in Chicago:
Panels:
Many former and current authors from DC participating. Look for panels featuring: Kim Addonizio, Rosellen Brown, Carole Burns, Regie Cabico, Cornelius Eady, Carolyn Forche, JoAnne Growney, David Kipen, Toni Asante Lightfoot, Haki R. Madhubuti, Mark McMorris, Honor Moore, Lisa C. Moore, Valzhyna Mort, Linda Pastan, Minnie Bruce Pratt, Carly Sachs, Ravi Shankar, Susan Richards Shreve, Joshua Weiner, Mary Kay Zuravleff.
Readings:
February 12 at 1:30 pm, "Another World Instead: Readings from The Early Poems of William Stafford, 1937-1947." (Fred Marchant, Linda Pastan, Kim Stafford, Jennifer Barber, Kevin Bowen, Mary Szybist)
February 12 at 7:00 pm (off-site)
"From Chocolate to Chi: DC Poets in Chicago": Poetry reading by Kim Roberts, Sarah Browning, Regie Cabico, Sage Morgan Hubbard, John Murillo, and Melissa Tuckey
Insight Arts, 1545 W. Morse Ave., Roger's Park neighborhood, Chicago, IL (773) 973-1521. Half a block from the Morse station on the Red Line. Free.
February 12 at 7:30 (off-site): TinFish Press & friends with Tom Orange, Craig Santos Perez, Ric Royer, Tyrone Williams, Meg WithersLinks Hall, 3435 N. Sheffield Ave., near the Belmont station on the Red and Brown lines. $5 admission.
February 13 at 4:30 pm, West Chester University Poetry Conference 15th Anniversary Reading. (David Yezzi, Molly Peacock, David Mason, Kim Addonizio, Andrew Hudgins)
February 13 at 4:30 pm, Pitt Poetry Series Reading. (Ed Ochester, Stephanie Brown, Nancy Krygowski, Jeffrey McDaniel, Afaa Michael Weaver)
February 13 at 4:30 pm, "The Country They Come From: Polish-American Writers Read about the Midwest and Poland." (John Guzlowski, Anthony Bukoski, Linda Foster, John Minczeski, Leslie Pietrzyk)
February 13 at 8:00 pm (off-site)
Red Rover Series "Experiment #26: A Small Press Showcase" with Action Books, Effing Press, Flood Editions, Futurepoem books, Les Figues Press, Slack Buddha Press, Switchback Books, Ugly Duckling Presse. Readings by: Jessica Bozek, Amina Cain, Marcella Durand, Gloria Frym, Bill Fuller, Kim Hyesoon, Alta Ifland, Nancy Kuhl, Dan Machlin, Don Mee, Hoa Nguyen, Mel Nichols, Kathleen Rooney, Susan Schultz, John Tipton, Ronaldo V. Wilson
Links Hall, 3435 N. Sheffield Ave., near the Belmont station on the Red and Brown lines. $5 admission.
February 14 at Noon, "WritersCorps: A Reading from a New City Lights Anthology Celebrating 15 Years." (Chad Sweeney, Jeffrey McDaniel, Thomas Centolella, Elissa Perry, Ishle Yi Park)
Book Signings:
February 12 at 10:30 am
Sarah Browning signs Whiskey in the Garden of Eden at the Word Works table (#792)
February 12 at 11:30 am
Patricia Gray signs Rupture at the Red Hen Press tables (#522-526)
February 12 at 1:30 pm
Leslie Pietrzyk signs Pears on a Willow Tree at the Converse College table (#731)
February 13 at 10:00 am
Elizabeth Oness signs her novel set in DC, Twelve Rivers of the Body at the Gival Press table (#514)
February 13 at 1:00 pm
J.D. Smith signs Settling for Beauty at the Word Works table (#792)
February 13 at 3:00 pm
JoAnne Growney signs Strange Attractors: Poems of Love and Mathematics at the Word Works table (#792)
February 13 at 4:00 pm
Patricia Gray signs Rupture at the Red Hen Press tables (#522-526)
February 14 at 10:00 am
Gregg Shapiro signs Protection (poems set in Chicago, Boston, and DC) at the Gival Press table (#514)
February 14 at 10:00 am
Karren L. Alenier signs Winners, A Retrospective of the Washington Prize (#792)
February 14 at 10:30 am
Kim Roberts signs The Kimnama at the Split This Rock table (#309).
Poet Lore, celebrating its 120th year in print, invites all poets published in the magazine to stop by Book Fair Table #238 to sign issues for their archives. They will be serving birthday cake too.
Book Fair Displays:
American University
Barrelhouse
Gival Press
National Endowment for the Arts
Orchises Press
Phoebe
Poet Lore
Potomac Review
Split This Rock Poetry Festival
So To Speak
32 Poems
University of Maryland
The Word Works, Inc.
*This list may be incomplete.
Panels:
Many former and current authors from DC participating. Look for panels featuring: Kim Addonizio, Rosellen Brown, Carole Burns, Regie Cabico, Cornelius Eady, Carolyn Forche, JoAnne Growney, David Kipen, Toni Asante Lightfoot, Haki R. Madhubuti, Mark McMorris, Honor Moore, Lisa C. Moore, Valzhyna Mort, Linda Pastan, Minnie Bruce Pratt, Carly Sachs, Ravi Shankar, Susan Richards Shreve, Joshua Weiner, Mary Kay Zuravleff.
Readings:
February 12 at 1:30 pm, "Another World Instead: Readings from The Early Poems of William Stafford, 1937-1947." (Fred Marchant, Linda Pastan, Kim Stafford, Jennifer Barber, Kevin Bowen, Mary Szybist)
February 12 at 7:00 pm (off-site)
"From Chocolate to Chi: DC Poets in Chicago": Poetry reading by Kim Roberts, Sarah Browning, Regie Cabico, Sage Morgan Hubbard, John Murillo, and Melissa Tuckey
Insight Arts, 1545 W. Morse Ave., Roger's Park neighborhood, Chicago, IL (773) 973-1521. Half a block from the Morse station on the Red Line. Free.
February 12 at 7:30 (off-site): TinFish Press & friends with Tom Orange, Craig Santos Perez, Ric Royer, Tyrone Williams, Meg WithersLinks Hall, 3435 N. Sheffield Ave., near the Belmont station on the Red and Brown lines. $5 admission.
February 13 at 4:30 pm, West Chester University Poetry Conference 15th Anniversary Reading. (David Yezzi, Molly Peacock, David Mason, Kim Addonizio, Andrew Hudgins)
February 13 at 4:30 pm, Pitt Poetry Series Reading. (Ed Ochester, Stephanie Brown, Nancy Krygowski, Jeffrey McDaniel, Afaa Michael Weaver)
February 13 at 4:30 pm, "The Country They Come From: Polish-American Writers Read about the Midwest and Poland." (John Guzlowski, Anthony Bukoski, Linda Foster, John Minczeski, Leslie Pietrzyk)
February 13 at 8:00 pm (off-site)
Red Rover Series "Experiment #26: A Small Press Showcase" with Action Books, Effing Press, Flood Editions, Futurepoem books, Les Figues Press, Slack Buddha Press, Switchback Books, Ugly Duckling Presse. Readings by: Jessica Bozek, Amina Cain, Marcella Durand, Gloria Frym, Bill Fuller, Kim Hyesoon, Alta Ifland, Nancy Kuhl, Dan Machlin, Don Mee, Hoa Nguyen, Mel Nichols, Kathleen Rooney, Susan Schultz, John Tipton, Ronaldo V. Wilson
Links Hall, 3435 N. Sheffield Ave., near the Belmont station on the Red and Brown lines. $5 admission.
February 14 at Noon, "WritersCorps: A Reading from a New City Lights Anthology Celebrating 15 Years." (Chad Sweeney, Jeffrey McDaniel, Thomas Centolella, Elissa Perry, Ishle Yi Park)
Book Signings:
February 12 at 10:30 am
Sarah Browning signs Whiskey in the Garden of Eden at the Word Works table (#792)
February 12 at 11:30 am
Patricia Gray signs Rupture at the Red Hen Press tables (#522-526)
February 12 at 1:30 pm
Leslie Pietrzyk signs Pears on a Willow Tree at the Converse College table (#731)
February 13 at 10:00 am
Elizabeth Oness signs her novel set in DC, Twelve Rivers of the Body at the Gival Press table (#514)
February 13 at 1:00 pm
J.D. Smith signs Settling for Beauty at the Word Works table (#792)
February 13 at 3:00 pm
JoAnne Growney signs Strange Attractors: Poems of Love and Mathematics at the Word Works table (#792)
February 13 at 4:00 pm
Patricia Gray signs Rupture at the Red Hen Press tables (#522-526)
February 14 at 10:00 am
Gregg Shapiro signs Protection (poems set in Chicago, Boston, and DC) at the Gival Press table (#514)
February 14 at 10:00 am
Karren L. Alenier signs Winners, A Retrospective of the Washington Prize (#792)
February 14 at 10:30 am
Kim Roberts signs The Kimnama at the Split This Rock table (#309).
Poet Lore, celebrating its 120th year in print, invites all poets published in the magazine to stop by Book Fair Table #238 to sign issues for their archives. They will be serving birthday cake too.
Book Fair Displays:
American University
Barrelhouse
Gival Press
National Endowment for the Arts
Orchises Press
Phoebe
Poet Lore
Potomac Review
Split This Rock Poetry Festival
So To Speak
32 Poems
University of Maryland
The Word Works, Inc.
*This list may be incomplete.
2/28 Fiction Writing Seminar
Here’s an event worth looking into:
American Independent Writers Fiction Writing Seminar
Saturday, February 28, 2009
George Mason University, Johnson Center, Campus Cinema
Sponsored jointly by George Mason University, Masters of Fine Arts in Creative Writing Program
and American Independent Writers
Panels include:
Literary Fiction versus Genre Fiction
Novelists Who Write Reviews and Criticism
Second Novels
New Media and Publishing Creative Writing
Panelists include:
John Gilstrap, Donna Andrews. Alan Cheuse, James Grady, Reb Livingston, Sudlip Bose, and Louis Bayard
With several more speakers TBA.
REGISTRATION FEES
Register online at www.aiwriters.org, by telephone to (202) 775-5150 or by FAX to (202) 775-5810.
AIW Members $119, Non-members $189, and Students $69.
American Independent Writers Fiction Writing Seminar
Saturday, February 28, 2009
George Mason University, Johnson Center, Campus Cinema
Sponsored jointly by George Mason University, Masters of Fine Arts in Creative Writing Program
and American Independent Writers
Panels include:
Literary Fiction versus Genre Fiction
Novelists Who Write Reviews and Criticism
Second Novels
New Media and Publishing Creative Writing
Panelists include:
John Gilstrap, Donna Andrews. Alan Cheuse, James Grady, Reb Livingston, Sudlip Bose, and Louis Bayard
With several more speakers TBA.
REGISTRATION FEES
Register online at www.aiwriters.org, by telephone to (202) 775-5150 or by FAX to (202) 775-5810.
AIW Members $119, Non-members $189, and Students $69.
Monday, February 9, 2009
Perfect Gift for Valentine's Day!
Okay, so maybe I’m slightly biased, since one of my stories has been included. But I am such a HUGE fan of The Sun magazine (which I plan to subscribe to until I die) that even if they hadn’t selected my story “Ten Things” to appear in this anthology, I would still buy a copy of this newly released book.
Here’s the description of The Mysterious Life of the Heart:
"In fifty personal essays, short stories, and poems that originally appeared in The Sun, some of the magazine’s most talented writers explore the enigma of love. With unremitting candor, they take us on a journey through ecstasy and heartbreak, anger and forgiveness, fleeting crushes and lasting relationships. The result is an unforgettable tapestry of love: vibrant, messy, mysterious, and enduring."
Enticing excerpt from the introduction:
“Love is a house with many rooms, and The Mysterious Life of the Heart explores only one of them: not a child’s love for a parent or a parent’s love for a child or love between siblings or love between friends. It’s about the room upstairs at the end of the hall, shared by two lovers who’ve decided to stay — for a weekend or forever, no one can say. Sometimes they kiss, sometimes they bite. They dream they’re in heaven. They swear they’re in hell. That room.”
Enticing excerpt from my story, “Ten Things”:
“He once compared you to an avocado. He was never good at saying what he meant in fancy ways. (You had a boyfriend in college who dedicated poems to you, one of which won a contest in the student literary magazine, but that boyfriend never compared you to anything as simple and real as an avocado.)"
And here’s where to click if you’d like more details or ordering information:
--Read the introduction
--Browse the table of contents
--Order the book
Here’s the description of The Mysterious Life of the Heart:
"In fifty personal essays, short stories, and poems that originally appeared in The Sun, some of the magazine’s most talented writers explore the enigma of love. With unremitting candor, they take us on a journey through ecstasy and heartbreak, anger and forgiveness, fleeting crushes and lasting relationships. The result is an unforgettable tapestry of love: vibrant, messy, mysterious, and enduring."
Enticing excerpt from the introduction:
“Love is a house with many rooms, and The Mysterious Life of the Heart explores only one of them: not a child’s love for a parent or a parent’s love for a child or love between siblings or love between friends. It’s about the room upstairs at the end of the hall, shared by two lovers who’ve decided to stay — for a weekend or forever, no one can say. Sometimes they kiss, sometimes they bite. They dream they’re in heaven. They swear they’re in hell. That room.”
Enticing excerpt from my story, “Ten Things”:
“He once compared you to an avocado. He was never good at saying what he meant in fancy ways. (You had a boyfriend in college who dedicated poems to you, one of which won a contest in the student literary magazine, but that boyfriend never compared you to anything as simple and real as an avocado.)"
And here’s where to click if you’d like more details or ordering information:
--Read the introduction
--Browse the table of contents
--Order the book
MD Fiction Contest
Bethesda Magazine is sponsoring a no-fee short story contest for writers and high school students who live in Montgomery County, Maryland. You can get all the details here, but note that the deadline is March 16, so don’t wait too long.
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