tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-36392833482202146592024-03-21T15:33:13.895-07:00Write On!Read * Write * Publish * EngageJyoti Royhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00364172068900575657noreply@blogger.comBlogger19125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3639283348220214659.post-35157804749204251832017-05-13T15:47:00.000-07:002020-05-13T15:47:51.942-07:00Visit my new website: <a href="http://jyoti-roy.com/">jyoti-roy.com</a>Jyoti Royhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00364172068900575657noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3639283348220214659.post-53619514029648295462012-09-03T14:55:00.001-07:002012-09-03T14:56:21.164-07:00Back to work!So, it's been a long and eventful summer. I left my post as publishing intern at <a href="http://bitchmagazine.org/" target="_blank">Bitch Media</a> (sniff), travelled back to Australia to see my family (yay! and sniff), and landed a position at the literary journal <i><a href="http://portlandreview.tumblr.com/" target="_blank">Portland Review</a></i> as their first ever book review editor (yay!).<br />
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Summer reading highlights have included <a href="http://www.cherylstrayed.com/wild_108676.htm" target="_blank"><i>Wild</i> by Cheryl Strayed</a> - an excellent memoir about transformation, both spiritually and physically by the hands of nature (specifically the Pacific Crest Trail, hiked by a young Strayed with no backpacking experience - motivated by a divorce and the death of her mother).<br />
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I saw Strayed, a local author, read at Powell's Books when <i>Wild</i> was first released, then I saw her book everywhere. And it was not just an association thing. She got some serious marketing $$ set aside from her publisher (Knopf). She was featured in <i>Vogue</i> to <i>Outdoor</i> magazine, on the IndieNext list, and <a href="http://www.oprah.com/own-super-soul-sunday/Preview-Oprahs-Book-Club-20-Interview-with-Cheryl-Strayed-Video" target="_blank">Oprah Winfrey even re-launched her book club</a>. Reese Witherspoon bought the film rights to star as Strayed in the movie version (which was distracting as I read the book - I kept picturing Witherspoon. But she is a good fit for the funny yet serious determined and strong clueless hiker Strayed depicts herself as). I'm not trying to be cynical about the marketing $$; this book deserves this attention. As a book publishing student who took a 'bookselling' class last quarter I just payed close attention to what a big publisher can do to help a book, well, sell.<br />
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Another memoir I read by a local author was <a href="http://www.blogger.com/goog_21630263">Lidia Yuknavitch's </a><i><a href="http://www.hawthornebooks.com/catalogue/#33" target="_blank">The Chronology of Water</a> (</i>Hawthorne Books)<i>. </i>Unlike <i>Wild</i> which depicted a certain chunk of time in the author's life (the hike), <i>The Chronology of Water</i> depicts scenes from childhood, adolescence, and adulthood in a fluid, non-linear, and metaphorical way, with water being the 'element' that ties the scenes together. This technique interests me more in the mechanics of writing creative nonfiction as it is how I seem to approach mine. Yet this memoir, because of this technique, was a little more difficult to read. Also, Yuknavitch, though fluid and metaphorical, speaks directly and clearly about harrowing subjects - rape, incest, birthing a stillborn child, as well as titillating ones (some HOT sex scenes including one with, um KATHY ACKER!). <i>The Chronology of Water</i> is more of a writer's book - one that would be enjoyed by those interested in literature, transgression, the writer's inner life, and technique, where as <i>Wild </i>is more of straight up memoir I would buy for friends and family who don't read a lot (but should!). But I don't want to compare these books- they are both amazing in completely different ways. I just bought <a href="http://www.lidiayuknavitch.net/" target="_blank">Yuknavitch's</a> first novel, <i>Dora: A Headcase</i> which I will be writing about soon.<br />
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So, I thought that Labor Day would be a good time to get back to work, and get this blog going again. Thanks for reading! :)Jyoti Royhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00364172068900575657noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3639283348220214659.post-29966440137913440662012-02-22T23:18:00.000-08:002012-03-18T23:24:59.829-07:00Book Review: Blue Thread by Ruth Tenzer Feldman. (Ooligan Press)<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
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100 years ago, women in Oregon were, after their sixth petition, finally given the right to vote. <em>Blue Thread</em> is a YA novel set during this time in 1912 Portland, and follows the main character—sixteen-year old Miriam Josefsohn—in her discovery of, and growing involvement in, the women’s suffrage movement.
Miriam wants nothing more than to work in her father’s print shop; however he is strongly opposed to this based solely on the fact that Miriam is female. Her parents want to marry her off to a nice Jewish boy, a fact which alarms Miriam… she may not even want to marry! She meets two sisters who have opened a milliners store in downtown Portland who are quite active in the suffrage movement, and when Miriam learns that her own father printed a scandalous postcard encouraging men to vote "no" during the last petition for suffrage she becomes outraged and flings herself into righting his wrong.
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Author Ruth Tenzer Feldman has published many nonfiction books on historical figures and events for children and young adults, and this is her first novel. Her historian’s research is reflected in impeccable descriptions of clothing, mechanics—such as the old printing presses—and events throughout the novel, but <em>Blue Thread</em> is not just historical fiction. Fans of the fantastical YA novel, don’t despair—along with fighting for women’s suffrage, Miriam travels through time using a prayer shawl handed down through the women in her family that contains blue thread from Joseph’s Coat of Many Colors to encourage the Daughters of Zelophehad to petition Moses for women’s right to inherit land in the absence of a male heir. It’s in the Torah! Well, kind of.
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Somehow it makes sense for a nonfiction author to allow her imagination to truly run free when writing a novel, and although I have not read a lot of YA the weaving of these two worlds happens pretty seamlessly, and seems fitting for the genre. The linking of these vastly different moments of women’s history, separated by thousands of years, came from an actual historical document that Tenzer Feldman references in the novel: a photograph from 1908 of a suffrage parade with women carrying a banner: LIKE THE DAUGHTERS OF ZELOPHEHAD WE ASK FOR OUR INHERITANCE.
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While a relatively minor Biblical story, the Daughters of Zelophehad stood out to Tenzer Feldman when she studied the Torah. She says that <em>Blue Thread</em> is a “modern midrash—a narrative based on a centuries-old Jewish tradition of reinterpreting or 'spinning’ the facts or words in a text—often the Bible—into another story that adds to the original or pulls the reader into another time and place. Think ‘homily’ without the sermonizing.”
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It’s hard to say how young readers will identify with an upper-middle-class Jewish girl from the early 20th century encouraging women to speak up to Moses, but I found Miriam an important literary heroine. Her indignation at being treated like a second-class citizen just because she was female is relatable across all time and cultures. What started as personal became political when she sees she is not the only person being treated like this. The magical prayer shawl does not figure prominently, but it is an important novelistic device that symbolizes the thread running through all generations before us, and all generations to come to fight against oppression. Plus time travel is really cool and I have not read about a lot of young female heroines who do it!
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The nonfiction side of Tenzer Feldman’s brain pushes it way back to the forefront, after the novel is done doing its fiction, by an afterward that documents what is true and not true in the story. Tenzer Feldman touchingly ends with: “The magic in Miriam’s prayer shawl is real. It is that quality of something inside us that pushes us to do the right thing when we least expect it.” That’s a lesson that should ring true no matter what century a young woman finds herself in.
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This blog was <a href="http://bitchmagazine.org/post/bibliobitch-ruth-tenzer-feldmans-blue-thread-books-feminism-YA">first published by Bitch Media</a>.Jyoti Royhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00364172068900575657noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3639283348220214659.post-1740439010371865642012-01-26T15:14:00.000-08:002012-01-26T15:17:14.381-08:00CALYX Journal Review<img src="http://farm8.staticflickr.com/7020/6758408195_163f60476a_o.jpg" alt="cover of CALYX featuring a woman's feet next to a watermelon" align="left" hspace="10" /><p><em><a href="http://calyxpress.org/journal.html">CALYX Journal</a></em> begins its 36th year of publishing fine art and literature by women with its <a href="http://calyxpress.org/271.htm">winter 2012 issue</a> (vol. 27, no. 3). This self-described feminist literary journal allows women’s voices to be front and center, which is why its four female founders created it in 1976. Referencing a <a href="http://vidaweb.org/the-count-2010">recent survey conducted by <em>VIDA: Women in Literary Arts</em></a> the introduction in the summer 2011 issue of <em>CALYX </em>points out that women’s voices are still highly marginalized in the literary journals and magazines, making their mission as relevant as ever.</p>
<p>The summer 2011 issue of <em>CALYX</em> was a transitional one, with longtime founding editor and director Margarita Donnelly and senior editor Beverly McFarland retiring, and two young women filling their shoes: Kelsey Connell as Director, and Rebecca Olson as Senior Editor. After meeting these two women, both in their mid-twenties, at a literary festival (“So, do you both intern at <em>CALYX?”</em> I asked them naively when I approached the CALYX booth) and seeing that this journal was undergoing a huge and exciting transition, I was intrigued by what this meant for the next generation of feminist literary publishing. <em>CALYX </em>helped launch the careers of many successful writers, like Barbara Kingsolver, Natalie Goldberg, and Julia Alvarez (CALYX was also the first to publish the artwork of Frida Kahlo in color in the U.S). I asked Rebecca and Kelsey a few questions on the changes at CALYX (which is a nonprofit organization that also publishes books) and ways that literature- and art-loving feminists of all ages could support and contribute to its future.</p>
<p><strong>How did you both become involved with Calyx? What brought on the transition and was it a smooth one? </strong></p>
<p><strong>Rebecca:</strong> I started at CALYX as an intern in Fall of 2008. In some ways this was a scary time to start working for a small press—the economy had just taken a turn for the worse, funding for nonprofit art and literature projects like ours wasn't looking good, and the publishing industry was taking some major hits. But in other ways it was the perfect time. Our founder and director for 35 years Margarita Donnelly was recovering from breast cancer and CALYX really needed some new energy.</p>
<p><strong>Kelsey:</strong> I came in as Assistant Director in 2010. I was thrilled to be a part of CALYX because of its commitment to sharing the diverse voices of women. As Rebecca said, there are so many uncertainties in the industry. For me, it is crucial that passion for and commitment to your mission drives you through any challenges. For CALYX, the staffing transition was about renewal of a mission-focused commitment to continually build the community of writers and artists that has characterized CALYX for so long.</p>
<p><strong>Rebecca:</strong> The staffing transition went about as well as anyone could have hoped—when you're dealing with organizations that have been operating under the same leadership for so long, there's always the risk of things falling apart or people feeling alienated. That thankfully didn't happen for us. Thanks to a grant from the National Endowment for the Arts as part of the stimulus package to create new jobs, CALYX was able to hire Kelsey and me to train for a year under the direction of Margarita (director for 35 years) and Beverly (senior editor for 23 years).</p>
<p><strong>Do you think the aesthetic/ vision/ delivery of Calyx will change? For example, are you moving to digital formats? Is there going to be a "modernizing" of Calyx for the next generation? </strong></p>
<p><strong>Rebecca:</strong> The mission of CALYX—to publish great feminist art and writing—isn't going to change, but the delivery certainly will. We're in the process now of modernizing our aesthetic—our logo and website specifically (if there are any hot designers out there looking to volunteer, please send us an email!).</p>
<p>This fall we released our first title that's available as an e-book, <em>Who in This Room: The Realities of Cancer, Fish, and Demolition</em>. From here on out, all of our books will be available electronically. As for the journal, we're working to offer our readers more multimedia content online. We're stoked about our new audio archive where you can hear our authors reading their work (our mission is all about "women's voices"... so we decided to take ourselves literally).</p>
<p><strong>Kelsey: </strong> We're ready for our online presence to show off our legacy while illustrating our commitment to modern artists and authors. Digital formatting offers a platform for the sharing of ideas and connecting of diverse communities that is truly unique and can allow us to grow our audience in ways that they may never have dreamed possible in the 1970s.</p>
<p>The journal will be print-only during 2012, but don't count us out for online expansion. I'd love to see <em>CALYX Journal</em> on online bookshelves sometime soon.</p>
<p><strong>There is a diversity of style in the current issue (winter 2012, vol. 27 no. 1) but the emphasis seems to be first on poetry, and then the short personal essay, and then there was that awesome speculative fiction piece at the very end! Are you open to more experimental writing, or is there something in particular you look for to 'represent' <em>CALYX</em>? </strong></p>
<p><strong>Rebecca:</strong> The issues are all completely unique so it's generalize about our style (but it's funny you say this issue is heavy on the poems—I'm a poetry nerd and I was wondering if that bias was going to start spilling over into my work...). Our issues are pretty representative of the work that we receive—[the editorial collective] loves great experimental writing, we love speculative fiction, we adore weird hybrid pieces, but last year we seemed to get a lot of narrative poetry and personal essays (which is a fair amount of what you'll find in this issue). I hope that next year we'll see even more variety in the styles of submissions we get—we want to represent the very best of women's electric imaginations!</p>
<p><strong>Is CALYX continuing to publish books?</strong></p>
<p><strong>Kelsey:</strong> Yes! One of the staff's commitments to CALYX's future is to expand our book production. We have two titles in the fire right now. One will be published in 2012—a novel entitled <em>The Jewel in The Lotus </em>by Laurette Folk, which is about a young woman exploring the meaning of artistry in her life as she comes to terms with depression and anxiety.</p>
<p><strong>Rebecca:</strong> We'll also be publishing a short story collection about love in small places by Helen Klonaris, a queer Greek-Bahamian writer. There's even more coming around the bend for 2013!</p>
<p><strong>What is one of the most exciting things about CALYX in 2012?</strong></p>
<p><strong>Rebecca:</strong> One of the things that I think is most exciting about CALYX is our perfect position to act as a bridge between feminists of different ages. We receive many submissions from women who have known about our magazine since the late 70's—they grew up as wild women alongside CALYX back when feminists were rolling up in cars wearing witch hats and slapping "this offends women" stickers onto sexist print media at newsstands (true story from one of our current volunteers...). These second-wavers are still writing and still sending work out today, and we publish plenty of their work in our magazine. But what's so great is now we're starting to see more submissions from young women who are just starting out and have something to say about what it means to be a feminist today. And so we become a multi-generational space for feminist art (and that's rad).</p>
<p><em>CALYX Journal</em> is currently seeking submissions for our full-color art center section. Visit our <a href="http://calyxpress.org/artguidelines.html">art guidelines</a> if you want to send work to be considered for the summer 2012 issue!</p>
<p>You can purchase a copy of the current issue <a href="http://calyxpress.org/271.htm">here</a>.</p>
<a href="http://bitchmagazine.org/post/calyx-journal-is-still-going-strong-publishing-bibliobitch">This review was originally published by Bitch Media</a>Jyoti Royhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00364172068900575657noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3639283348220214659.post-87748306641113329212012-01-06T20:00:00.000-08:002012-01-06T21:48:14.717-08:00Book Review: Glaciers, by Alexis M. Smith. Tin House Books<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgj-Z7acHwoiU_-xFKZx6bf30uU2Mw4WB7iyalgIKr5qUufxjCHII4z1YbtD5HRbrJfMMzXd95NSu1Q2CPcaFZl0LAxyx82HSqmR0nbnBxoUAcKqP9544AU26BY8If7Sxg02fNrqerkT64/s1600/glaciers.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgj-Z7acHwoiU_-xFKZx6bf30uU2Mw4WB7iyalgIKr5qUufxjCHII4z1YbtD5HRbrJfMMzXd95NSu1Q2CPcaFZl0LAxyx82HSqmR0nbnBxoUAcKqP9544AU26BY8If7Sxg02fNrqerkT64/s320/glaciers.jpg" width="220" /></a>I read <a href="http://www.tinhouse.com/books/fiction-poetry/glaciers.html">this 'novel'</a> in one sitting. (Although I loved the book I am still skeptical of this work being called a novel: it's 174 pages, and the page layout has top and bottom margins of almost two inches). But me reading it in one sitting has as much to do with being carried away with the story which is sweeping in its brevity. <br />
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<em>Glaciers</em> is beautifully written, which is not suprising considering it is published by Tin House Books. <em>Tin House</em> literary journal is one of the most distinguished literary journals in North America. I am sure the task of publishing a young unknown writer for their 'new voice' series is a hard one, but one that I am glad they make.<br />
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The story follows one day in the life of twenty-something narrator Isabel, who is a librarian living in Portland, OR (represent!). It is a quiet third person narrative that follows Isabel's internal thoughts and longings. Although she lives in a city she notices the little things that get can get lost in our fast-paced world: the sounds of birds, the light through leaves, the small patch of sunlight in the kitchen in the morning, the taste of honey on a spoon warmed from tea. She collects old postcards from thrift stores and dreams of traveling to Amsterdam. She is even in love with a soldier who works with her at the library- a veteran from Iraq. <em>Glaciers </em>is a modern day American twist on the romantic aesthetic of Europe in the early twentieth century; Isabel is the heroine of the nerdy, book-loving, vintage clothes wearing, tea-drinking lady who loves her cat (yes, this is why I loved the book so much).<br />
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I can see the comparisons to Margarite Duras and Virginia Woolfe that Tin House touts - Smith reveals the inner longings of a woman on an extremely macro level while setting it beside a metaphor of something larger (in this case Glaciers, a natural wonder under threat from global warming). Part of my frustration with this work being called a novel is that I would have loved it to go further - to truly unpack the wonderful imagery, to go deeper into the characters, to extend the story beyond the postcard and into letters spanning years. However the sparseness adds to the modern day twist. (I loved that I could read a 'novel' in one sitting, something I can barely do these days with all that flashy information out there competing for my short attention span)<em>. Glaciers</em> is like a little analogue warmth in a cold digital world, like listening to vinyl, or posting a letter in the mail. It is a story that resonates and humanizes, and seeks to connect. <br />
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***I am lucky I am a book nerd living in Portland, OR 'cuz I get to see Alexis M. Smith read at Powell's on Burnside this Monday, 9th January at 7pm.Jyoti Royhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00364172068900575657noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3639283348220214659.post-16019350180993514262011-12-14T20:51:00.000-08:002011-12-14T20:52:41.643-08:00Book Review & Author Interview: One More for the People, by Martha Grover<br />
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhGxR_i9Pa4pGjG3J4j4Vjsa5HfHwr1cGvPBJTRl-ywzBCM7Yhhl_WKYmAQ7ZDFVMMmECIxj_xZ4tplf5E8_-BnivkUzkB8idmhges9dfF2AfIxJ1IydltFlvcKvKqoYpA5Hp5hBUxRRxc/s1600/one+more+for+the+people.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhGxR_i9Pa4pGjG3J4j4Vjsa5HfHwr1cGvPBJTRl-ywzBCM7Yhhl_WKYmAQ7ZDFVMMmECIxj_xZ4tplf5E8_-BnivkUzkB8idmhges9dfF2AfIxJ1IydltFlvcKvKqoYpA5Hp5hBUxRRxc/s1600/one+more+for+the+people.jpg" /></a>Martha Grover has been publishing her zine <em><a href="http://somnambulistzine.blogspot.com/">Somnambulist</a></em> since 2003. The first collection of this zine, <em><a href="http://perfectdaypublishing.com/books/one-more-for-the-people/">One More for the People</a> </em>came out on Tuesday from <a href="http://perfectdaypublishing.com/">Perfect Day Publishing</a>, a small press based out of Portland, OR. Unlike other zine collections, <em>One More for the People</em> is not a linear anthologizing of <em>Somnambulist</em>, but instead a selection of writing from the zine along with some new work, allowing the book to stand alone in its own right.<br />
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Grover’s writing doesn’t just document, it shifts stylistically depending on the subjects she is writing about, displaying her immense talent as a nonfiction writer. For example, when Grover recounts her childhood growing up with six other siblings and vaguely irresponsible parents on a property outside of Portland, she effectively captures the suffocation of so many people, the ways in which we escape, and the strange bonds of family. In the section about her diagnoses with Cushing’s disease, a rare hormonal disorder, the prose is stark, tough, and somewhat lonely. There is a notable absence of people other than Grover and medical providers, capturing the loneliness of chronic illness, even when one comes from an immediate family of nine.<br />
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Having to move back in with her parents and four other (now adult) siblings, the section “The Grover Family Meeting Minutes” is a hilarious transcription of the weekly house meetings her family had, paralleling the bustling section about her childhood, and the oddities of family. When Grover goes to grad school in the next section, she is again alone, her disease her company, with medical implements, side effects, and drug studies part of everyday life. <em>One More for the People</em> ends with a section called “Personals” that effectively captures the peanut gallery of humanity and how all we really want is to be loved and appreciated for the individual we are.<br />
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Each section of the book could stand alone as its own zine, with its own internal structure , however there is a subtle story arc to the way the pieces are put together, shifting from an overpopulated childhood, to the need to be alone, to the times we don’t choose to be alone, and for the need to be recognized as a unique individual in world of billions.<br />
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<em>One More for the People</em> is a beautiful, substantial book, both in content and design. With letterpressed covers and thick paperstock there is an attention to detail that comes from being born out of the DIY/ zine community with its nostalgia for the tactile act of packaging words.<br />
I asked Martha a few questions about her book, her zine, and how to keep reading her work.<br />
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<strong>Which issue of your zine is the first one that deals with you finding out about your diagnoses of Cushing's? Did this change what your zine was "about"?</strong><br />
I'm thinking issue 12 or 13 was when I started writing about Cushing's. I never devoted a zine to the disease though—not in a direct way. I used my blog more for that—to give people a current take on what was happening with me. But the illness was always there in my zine, under the surface, bubbling up from time to time. I wouldn't say that it changed what my zine was about—<em>Somnambulist</em> has always been about what's going on in my life, or what I happen to be interested in, at any given moment. What's weird is that if you go back and read some old issues—before I knew I was sick, issue 9 in particular—it's eerie because I was dealing with all these health problems and writing about them, but I didn't know how sick I really was. Now that's spooky!!<br />
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<strong>Does it feel different to have a "book" out, even though you have been publishing your zine for so long?</strong>It does feel different to have the book out—this is a medium that people take more seriously. I think the zine has been great practice for the book. I'm used to having my stuff out there where people can read it but now the difference is that more people are reading it and I don't have to constantly explain what a zine is!<br />
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<strong>What was the selection process for the pieces in the book?</strong>Once Michael [Heald, Perfect Day publisher] and I decided on the basic structure we went through the material (there was a ton of it!) and decided what fit and what didn't. There was some stuff that could have made it into the book but didn't, mostly because it didn't fit stylistically or whatever. I think Michael was ingenious in placing the pieces in order—like a curator. He's very good at his job.<br />
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<strong>Are you still writing your zine, and if so, how can people subscribe?</strong><br />
I am still writing my zine! I am just now finishing up number 18. You can subscribe by sending me $15 (this covers four issues): Martha Grover, PO Box 14871, Portland OR 97293, or going to my <a href="http://somnambulistzine.blogspot.com/">blog</a> and paying me fifteen dollars throughout the paypal button (<a href="mailto:marthagrover@hotmail.com">marthagrover@hotmail.com</a>) Either way just make sure you give me your current address. <br />
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<em>One More for the People</em> can be <a href="http://perfectdaypublishing.com/books/one-more-for-the-people/">ordered from the publisher</a>. If you are in Portland be sure to check out the <a href="http://perfectdaypublishing.com/2011/11/08/one-more-for-the-people-release-party-dec-17-backspace/">book launch</a> this Saturday.<br />
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This piece was originally published by <a href="http://bitchmagazine.org/post/somnabulist-zine-one-more-for-the-people-feminist-book-review">Bitch Media</a>:<br />Jyoti Royhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00364172068900575657noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3639283348220214659.post-75439939104159775062011-11-30T10:53:00.001-08:002011-11-30T11:01:22.464-08:00Book Review: 'Why Be Happy When You Could Be Normal? By Jeanette Winterson<a href="http://www.jeanettewinterson.com/index.asp">Jeanette Winterson</a> is one of those prolific authors, like <a href="http://www.margaretatwood.ca/">Margaret Atwood</a> and <a href="http://www.usfca.edu/jco/">Joyce Carol Oates</a>, who I can always rely on when walking into a used bookstore. Often I will just buy a different edition of one of their books that I already love, but if I want something new to read but am not in the mood for taking a risk there is a long list of titles I can choose from those old faithfuls. Jeanette Winterson is probably the most quotable author I have ever read, especially for those of us who live passionately, love obsessively, and believe that art can (and will) change the world. If you ever want <a href="http://www.contrariwise.org/tag/jeanette-winterson/" target="_blank">a cool literary tattoo</a> just read one of her books—you are sure to find some kind of quote that resonates.<br />
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<img alt="Cover of Jeanette Winterson memoir, author as a young girls standing on an English beach holding a beachball" height="392" src="http://farm7.staticflickr.com/6214/6385735231_58b67c2859.jpg" width="414" /><br />
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Winterson, who was born in Manchester, England has written 10 novels, a comic book, a book of short stories, a collection of essays, children’s books, her fiction and poetry is featured in many journals and anthologies, and she has worked as a journalist; her writing is, thankfully, everywhere. Her first novel, <a href="http://www.jeanettewinterson.com/pages/content/index.asp?PageID=50"><em>Oranges Are Not the Only Fruit</em></a> (1985) written when she was only twenty-three, is perhaps her most well-known, winning the Whitbread Award for first novel and having been adapted into an award-winning BBC drama. Semi-autobiographical, <em>Oranges</em> is the story of a young woman, named Jeanette, who was adopted by a fanatically evangelical couple, and leaves home at 16 to be with another woman after her parents' church failed to exorcize the gay demon inside her. Fairy tales are inserted throughout the narrative; Winterson’s works as a whole have a fragmented, magical realist quality to them. The fact the main plot points overlap with Winterson’s own life experience has always been well-known, but with the release of Winterson’s memoir <a href="http://www.jeanettewinterson.com/pages/content/index.asp?PageID=611" target="_blank"><em>Why Be Happy When You Could Be Normal?</em></a> in October (in the U.K—official U.S release date is March 2012), the harsh reality of Winterson’s upbringing stand out even more starkly against the layers of her non-linear, heavily metaphorical, fictional work.<br />
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The image portrayed of Winterson’s adoptive mother, whom she calls Mrs. Winterson throughout <em>Why Be Happy When You Could Be Normal? </em>is as looming and terrifying as the "fictional" Testifying Elsie from <em>Oranges</em>: “Mrs. Winterson was not a welcoming woman. If anyone knocked at the door she ran down the lobby and shoved the poker through the letterbox.”<em> </em>Jeanette was often locked outside, left on the doorstep for hours as a very young child. Apocalyptic Bible quotes were pasted around the house. Books were banned (except for the Bible) and Mrs. Winterson burned Jeanette’s secret stash of paperbacks (“it is probably why I write as I do,” Winterson writes when she picked up the leftover fragments of burnt pages the morning after her books were burned, “collecting the scraps, uncertain of continuous narrative.”) Mrs. Winterson was physically as well as emotionally abusive, and yes, subjected her fifteen-year-old daughter to an "exorcism" because Jeanette was in love with another woman. The title of the memoir <em>Why Be Happy When You Could Be Normal?</em> is a direct quote from Mrs. Winterson, hurled at Jeanette when she decided to leave home at 16 to be with the woman she loved.<br />
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While leaning heavily on her childhood experience split between an abusive home in a tiny, northern working-class English town, and the escape into books through her public library, <em>Why Be Happy When You Could be Normal?</em> moves in a steady linear fashion up until Winterson’s time at Oxford (and how she had to fight to get in). It then very consciously skips twenty-five years between Winterson being in college, writing her first novel, and becoming a famous author, into her present experience of seeking out her birth mother. This is done in a very Winterson-like way, with a small chapter titled "Intermission" in which she states “I measure time as we all do, and partly by the fading body, but in order to challenge linear time, I try and live in total time. I recognize that life has an inside as well as an outside and that events separated by years lie side by side imaginatively and emotionally.”<br />
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Although Winterson chooses to skip her twenty-five years as a professional writer her landing in the present in the last third of the book is not layered by fiction or a magic-realist narrative, it is a very stark and real account of a long-term relationship break up, Winterson’s subsequent mental-health breakdown and suicide attempt, and the painful process of finding her birth mother.<br />
Whether or not one is familiar with Winterson’s fictional work, this memoir stands alone. Despite tough subjects it is warm, often funny, and like any great memoir, redemptive. While offering tremendous insight into the experiences that shaped this writer’s unique voice, this memoir is not about how to become a famous writer, or even really about Jeanette Winterson—it is a memoir about seeking identity, seeking love, seeking a mother, and the power of sharing words and stories. The life-saving quality of books is celebrated: “This is what literature offers—a language powerful enough to say how it is. It isn’t a hiding place, it’s a finding place.”<br />
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It’s all I can do to not quote all my favorite passages from <em>Why Be Happy When You Can Be Normal?</em> until I've quoted the whole thing. Here is another one: “Fiction and poetry are doses, medicines. What they heal is the rupture reality makes on the imagination.” Yet <em>Why be Happy When You Could Be Normal?</em> is nonfiction narrative that is medicinal as well, and here, quoting Winterson again, is why this fiction writer’s memoir is so effective: “Personal stories work for other people when those stories become both paradigms and parables. The intensity of a story releases into a bigger space than the one it occupied in time and place. The story crosses the threshold from my world into yours. We meet each other on the steps of the story.” I think those last two lines will be my next tattoo.<br />
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Published on the 'Bibliobitch' Blog:<br />
<br /><a href="http://bitchmagazine.org/post/bibliobitch-jeanette-winterson-was-never-normal">http://bitchmagazine.org/post/bibliobitch-jeanette-winterson-was-never-normal</a><br />
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</div>Jyoti Royhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00364172068900575657noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3639283348220214659.post-18174308411494858032011-10-17T14:15:00.000-07:002011-10-21T19:50:42.020-07:00Shine On!<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEitJHnXFeOeagcNqjm267L4njCCvOpCXZXjCr30mg_Z5DLZ33oYTeLngnEG7FkQwlXir75OJ8K75ESvysSabj7ndPcyc15hdt7pc9EEkAi7hgKYTYw9wD3HL18pFXhQcXrz0sac13_IcCc/s1600/shine+cover.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEitJHnXFeOeagcNqjm267L4njCCvOpCXZXjCr30mg_Z5DLZ33oYTeLngnEG7FkQwlXir75OJ8K75ESvysSabj7ndPcyc15hdt7pc9EEkAi7hgKYTYw9wD3HL18pFXhQcXrz0sac13_IcCc/s320/shine+cover.jpg" width="208" /></a>There is an explosion of support for <a href="http://www.laurenmyracle.com/">Lauren Myracle</a>, and her YA novel <em><a href="http://www.indiebound.org/book/9780810984172/lauren-myracle/shine">Shine</a></em> after the <a href="http://www.nationalbook.org/">National Book Foundation</a> blundered its announcement that the book was a nominee in the Young People's Literature category. Having to <a href="http://www.publishersweekly.com/pw/by-topic/childrens/childrens-industry-news/article/49143-shine-withdrawn-as-nba-young-people--s-literature-nominee.html">renounce the recognition</a> that being nominated for a National Book Award brings, Myracle seems to be garnering more attention from <a href="http://www.npr.org/blogs/monkeysee/2011/10/17/141420533/a-disappointed-author-a-misheard-word-and-a-mess-at-the-national-book-awards?ft=1&f=1032&sc=tw&utm_source=twitterfeed&utm_medium=twitter">the press</a>, and <a href="http://twitter.com/#!/search/%23isupportshine">social media</a>, than any books that still remain on the finalist list.<br />
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It will be interesting to see how many copies of <em>Shine </em>sell in this momentous surge in support of her novel, which deals with underrepresented themes in award-winning YA literature: gay hate crimes.<br />
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It brings to mind something the poet <a href="http://crystalannwilliams.com/">Crystal Williams</a> said at a reading I attended last year, about how National Book Award winners tended to be overrepresented in the category of straight, white, male. <br />
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Perhaps they really are a little out of touch? This cannot be helping the general assumption that the NBF is part of the 'old' book publishing industry. Although the 'new' is still being defined (which is why I love being a book publishing student!), it seems the power of the people may outweigh a logo on the book (although the money that comes with the award is pretty sweet...)<br />
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I admit, as someone who does not read a lot of YA literature, I have been hearing a lot about the book and am tempted to go and buy a copy. <a href="http://twitter.com/#!/search?q=%23BuyShine">From an independent bookstore of course</a>! ;)<br />
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What I think is awesome is that due to this error, the NBF is donating $5000 to the <a href="http://www.matthewshepard.org/">Matthew Shepard Foundation</a>, named in honor of a young boy murdered because he was gay. Raising the awareness of this issue seems to be the legacy of <em>Shine, </em>National Book Award or not.<br />
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Right on Lauren Myracle!<br />
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</script>Jyoti Royhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00364172068900575657noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3639283348220214659.post-75844009596088511642011-10-12T10:44:00.000-07:002011-10-21T20:02:26.821-07:00National Book Award finalists 2011<a href="http://www.opb.org/thinkoutloud/">Think Out Loud</a>, a program on my <a href="http://www.opb.org/">local public radio station OPB</a> just <a href="http://www.opb.org/artsandlife/books/national-book-awards/">announced, live</a>, the 2011 <a href="http://www.nationalbook.org/">National Book Award</a> finalists. <br />
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This was exciting for me, as a publishing student, to see Portland chosen as the site for this, considering the NBA is very much steeped in that tradition of New York City publishing. <br />
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After attending <a href="http://www.wordstockfestival.com/">Wordstock</a> this past weekend, a <a href="http://www.multcolib.org/events/zinesters.html">zine reading</a> at a local library last night, and looking at our Mayor's <a href="http://static.ow.ly/docs/National-Book-Awards-Day-10-12-11_mpO.pdf">declaration that October 12th is National Books Awards Day</a>, I am just overwhelmed at the book-lovingness of this city. It's like I am living in a perfect alternate reality! ;)<br />
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What is so great, to me, about Portland writing and publishing is that we really, really, emphasize the importance of independent presses and publishing. We poked some fun of the New York publishing scene (Think Out Loud host David Miller laughing about expensive lunches to judge the NBA finalists, but with affectionate jest, and possible with a little envy!) and it's traditions. It's not like there is a need to obliterate, disrespect, or bring it down, I just feel that there is an acknowledgement that we need to return to the roots of writing and publishing, putting literary connection first, not corporate disconnection...<br />
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One of the judges noted how <em>who</em> published a book doesn't really enter into the equation anymore because independent presses have the access to make a book look as beautiful as one of the bigger houses'. <br />
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That being said, Right On to <a href="http://www.graywolfpress.org/">Graywolf Press</a> for their nonfiction nomination, and<a href="http://www.lookout.org/index.html"> Lookout Books</a> for their nomination in fiction. Their respective tweets were <a href="http://twitter.com/#!/GraywolfPress">'HOLY CRAP'</a> and <a href="http://twitter.com/#!/LookoutBooks">'OH DEAR GOD'</a>. <br />
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(Sorry if I missed any other independent presses who received nominations for books they published... I haven't even made it out of bed yet!)<br />
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UPDATE10/21: Thanks to those who pointed out <a href="http://www.blpbooks.org/index.html">Bellevue Literary Press</a> are another independent press with a book up for nomination: <a href="http://www.blpbooks.org/books/sojourn.html"><em>The Sojourn</em> by Andrew Krivak</a> in the fiction category. BLP are the publishers of <em><a href="http://www.blpbooks.org/books/tinkers.html">Tinkers</a></em> which had an initial print run of 2000 and won a Pulitzer Prize in 2010, much to the <a href="http://artsbeat.blogs.nytimes.com/2010/04/12/the-one-that-got-away/">shock of some</a>. :)<br />Jyoti Royhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00364172068900575657noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3639283348220214659.post-43776804492838553062011-10-09T22:08:00.000-07:002011-10-17T14:19:41.281-07:00Wordstock 2011<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
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Me and a huge stack of books are curled up at home after an exhausting but exhilarating weekend at <a href="http://www.wordstockfestival.com/">Wordstock</a>, the largest book festival in the Northwest. :)<br />
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Even though I have lived in Portland for three years this is the first time I have been able to attend the festival. I spent most of my time tabling for <a href="http://bitchmagazine.org/">Bitch</a>, but that was a great way to meet people (and seek refuge from the crowds - it is a privilege to live in such a book-loving city but I am still an anti-social, easily startled writer at heart...). <br />
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Anyway, I did manage to get to a few of the readings and panels, and do a quick tour of other booths. I was very excited to renew both my <a href="http://www.calyxpress.org/journal.html">Calyx</a> and <a href="http://www.tinhouse.com/blog/home-page">Tin House</a> subscriptions, as well as pick up a new one to <a href="http://www.gertrudepress.org/index.php?page=shop.browse&category_id=1&option=com_virtuemart&Itemid=41&vmcchk=1&Itemid=41">Gertrude</a>. I also picked up a copy of <a href="http://www.granta.com/">Granta</a>'s <a href="http://www.granta.com/Magazine/115">feminism issue</a> which I have been eager to read...<br />
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Authors I was able to see read were: Jennifer Egan, Barry Lopez (in conversation with John Freeman, editor of Granta), Vanessa Veselka, and Charles Yu. <br />
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I also attended the 'Mean Girls' panel consisting of Chelsea Cain, Moira Kelly, and Lisa Wells.<br />
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All in all a very inspiring couple of days that reminded why I love living in Portland so much, and how vibrant the writing and publishing community is. <br />
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*Right on!*<br />
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<br />Jyoti Royhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00364172068900575657noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3639283348220214659.post-23763881775647617782011-09-16T20:19:00.000-07:002011-10-09T21:20:42.920-07:00Bitch’s Bedside Table<div>(From September <a href="https://app.e2ma.net/app/view:CampaignPublic/id:9129.10734759907/rid:684ec0ea6246e86637baaa553e2d4165">B-Mail</a>)<br /><div><em>Our publishing intern Jyoti Roy geeks out about good publishers as much as great writing. These are her most favorite recent reads that also showcase independent/ small press publishing.<br /></em><div><div><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjDj7E_h06vGNyUbSR6qmOh6l9CVJ1F704pC5h4BFiXdbZk33shH0iA3ekUcbTnLvAb6GF7QsCiQK6HOP1iCUn4rhsjNSuYy7lYw5cwA-_qAufp4IpJWbJNF7mKZE9K4CivA3PpY3ofL4w/s1600/yeah+no+totally+cover.jpg"><img style="width: 132px; height: 200px; cursor: pointer;" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5661707772839991314" border="0" alt="" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjDj7E_h06vGNyUbSR6qmOh6l9CVJ1F704pC5h4BFiXdbZk33shH0iA3ekUcbTnLvAb6GF7QsCiQK6HOP1iCUn4rhsjNSuYy7lYw5cwA-_qAufp4IpJWbJNF7mKZE9K4CivA3PpY3ofL4w/s200/yeah+no+totally+cover.jpg" /></a></div><div><strong><em>yeah. no. totally.</em> by Lisa Wells (2011) {Perfect Day Publishing}</strong><br />At first glance this title seems to be aimed solely at the short-attention span generation. This slim volume of short non-fiction pieces does offer a quick read, yet the writing is dense and poetic and packs meaning into every sentence. Born out of this generation, yeah. no. totally offers a critical lens in which to view the experiences of our times, framing it in a way that is personal yet far reaching and universal.</div><div> </div><div><br /><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjCaobezuaIHuVFhXGTkXDFFpc-WA14ACdwPLggfwe-cf627f89vy7AmoRmCAsVBdrPrVp1UWsWSSXHoqirfyqvRRLMkSNLqtP_PESPcRDB1a-46jBUB-_3rOCa8KmCvZXLkwpujtuMD-g/s1600/little+green+cover.jpg"><img style="width: 122px; height: 200px; cursor: pointer;" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5661709010792204738" border="0" alt="" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjCaobezuaIHuVFhXGTkXDFFpc-WA14ACdwPLggfwe-cf627f89vy7AmoRmCAsVBdrPrVp1UWsWSSXHoqirfyqvRRLMkSNLqtP_PESPcRDB1a-46jBUB-_3rOCa8KmCvZXLkwpujtuMD-g/s200/little+green+cover.jpg" /></a><br /><strong><em>Little Green</em> by Loretta Stinson (2009) {Hawthorne Books}</strong></div><div>The backdrop to this story is 1970's Pacific Northwest drug culture. The protagonist, Janie, is a young runaway who is in a relationship with someone who is abusive and an addict. It handles dark situations with glimmers of light, strength, and hope. With an introduction by Robin Givens, a spokeswoman for the National Domestic Violence Hotline, Little Green makes no judgements, and offers us a realistic view of the complexities of love, abuse, addiction, and redemption.<br /></div><div><br /><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhLFqt3Qy3wi8r4UzWjdui7dL7kyVfksRHadi12yOUwe8u-4l3Qf-l-Y6-iHv-ZZfxoXrw9TEUoTl-JID08IWE9BXFtuDxr7zxLVigYIM_0YuQKSgG79TR3W81o8SbGdKiDqDJpYZbnKEI/s1600/zazen.jpg"><img style="width: 133px; height: 200px; cursor: pointer;" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5661709883405995202" border="0" alt="" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhLFqt3Qy3wi8r4UzWjdui7dL7kyVfksRHadi12yOUwe8u-4l3Qf-l-Y6-iHv-ZZfxoXrw9TEUoTl-JID08IWE9BXFtuDxr7zxLVigYIM_0YuQKSgG79TR3W81o8SbGdKiDqDJpYZbnKEI/s200/zazen.jpg" /></a><br /><strong><em>Zazen</em> by Vanessa Veselka (2011) {Red Lemonade}</strong><br />Imagine the poetic parts of your life happening against the backdrop of war. Or how random explosions and global acts of self- immolation can make the mundane parts of your life become infused with meaning that is slightly out of your level of understanding. This novel is mysterious and unsettling, and eerily familiar. Veselka's dystopic first novel has gained wide recognition (read our review here) and follows one woman's search for connection in a completely disconnected society. </div></div></div></div>Jyoti Royhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00364172068900575657noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3639283348220214659.post-28012553133272595262010-06-16T14:34:00.000-07:002011-10-09T21:19:38.170-07:00Reviews...Here is an <a href="http://elevatedifference.com/reviewer/jyoti-roy">archive of reviews</a> I wrote for <a href="http://elevatedifference.com/">Elevate Difference</a>.Jyoti Royhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00364172068900575657noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3639283348220214659.post-52831440274467552152010-02-05T22:08:00.000-08:002010-02-05T22:10:58.987-08:00further clarification on lines of flight“Lines of flight are creative and liberatory escapes from the standardization, oppression, and stratification of society. Lines of flight, big or small, are available to us at any time and can lead in any direction. They are instances of thinking and acting ‘outside of the box’, with a greater understanding of what the box is, how it works, and how we can break it open and perhaps transform it for the better.” – Josh Lerner<br /><br />“Withdraw allegiance from the old categories of the Negative (law, limit, castration, lack, lacuna), which the Western thought has so long held sacred as a form of power and an access to reality. Prefer what is positive and multiple, difference over uniformity, flows over unities, mobile arrangements over systems. Believe that what is productive is not sedentary but nomadic.” – Michel Foucault<br /><br />“Find your black holes and white walls, know them, know your faces; it is the only way you will be able to dismantle them and draw your lines of flight.” – Deleuze and Guattari<br /><br /><span style="font-weight: bold;">What does this have to do with loss/ grief/ disaster/ the lowest point? These are instances that rip apart our idea of normalcy and present us with an opportunity for insight and action that we cannot ignore.</span><br /><br /><span style="font-weight: bold;">When something is lost, it means something can be found.</span>Jyoti Royhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00364172068900575657noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3639283348220214659.post-13250273285667319522010-02-03T21:26:00.000-08:002010-02-03T22:28:29.664-08:00LINES OF FLIGHTA journal of transgression.<br /><br /><br />Issue #1 – Nadir[The lowest point]<br /><br />(call for submissions)<br /><br />loss, transition, change,<br />cataclysm, collapse,<br />grief, death,<br /><br /><br /><br />metamorphosis.<br /><br /><br /><br />If you have reached the lowest point where do you go from there?<br /><br /><br /><span style="font-weight: bold;">flight.zine@gmail.com</span><br /><br />(deadline March 1st 2010)<br /><br />will consider fiction, non-fiction, art & photography (b+w), diagrams, essays, poetry, lyrics. From one word to 2-3 pages. Thanks!<br /><br /><a href="http://jdr-writeon.blogspot.com/2010/01/lines-of-flight.html">Read more about the concept behind 'Lines of Flight'</a><br /><br /><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgWwn3Qj0Puu1Lnhfe2eiFKqOzFRXZFEvcKxdE6zDtcaCHeNx2qGDhPSpfej6iDCG41HYQcOESak0LO8iWyPWd6uit6mnPJmAvYe6d5FroAGwuS3ROJ5xjU5ltvrT0CEZhugy81KRNU1ic/s1600-h/300px-Zenith-Nadir-Horizon.svg.png"><img style="cursor: pointer; width: 300px; height: 197px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgWwn3Qj0Puu1Lnhfe2eiFKqOzFRXZFEvcKxdE6zDtcaCHeNx2qGDhPSpfej6iDCG41HYQcOESak0LO8iWyPWd6uit6mnPJmAvYe6d5FroAGwuS3ROJ5xjU5ltvrT0CEZhugy81KRNU1ic/s320/300px-Zenith-Nadir-Horizon.svg.png" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5434271196650472898" border="0" /></a>Jyoti Royhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00364172068900575657noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3639283348220214659.post-92061910564311994572010-01-19T18:48:00.000-08:002010-02-03T21:42:50.858-08:00Lines of Flight<span style="font-weight: bold;">CALL FOR SUBMISSIONS - NEW ZINE!</span><br /><p></p> <p class="MsoNormal"><o:p> </o:p></p> <p style="color: rgb(0, 0, 0);" class="MsoNormal"><br /></p><p style="color: rgb(0, 0, 0);" class="MsoNormal">“Find your black holes and white walls, know them, know your faces; it is the only way you will be able to dismantle them and draw your lines of flight.” – Deleuze and Guattari</p> <p class="MsoNormal"><o:p> </o:p></p> <p style="font-weight: bold;" class="MsoNormal"><br /></p><p style="font-weight: bold;" class="MsoNormal">Lines of Flight</p> <p class="MsoNormal"><o:p> </o:p></p> <p class="MsoNormal">This is my favorite philosophical concept of transgression, developed by Frenchie Gilles Deleuze. It is explored in his work with Felix Guattari, <i style="">A Thousand Plateaus</i> the second volume of the heady <i style="">Capitalism and Schizophrenia </i>(the first being Anti-Oedipus, which I think is one of the greatest books of all time). Please do not read these books unless you are a totally masochistic philosophy nerd otherwise you may never look at me the same again. </p> <p class="MsoNormal"><o:p> </o:p></p> <p class="MsoNormal">ANYWAY… long story short, I am putting together a zine, called ‘Lines of Flight’ and I am looking for submissions.<br /></p> <p class="MsoNormal"><o:p> </o:p></p> <p class="MsoNormal">I am looking for fiction, non-fiction, poetry, rants, essays, visual art, <i style="">loosely</i> based on the concept ‘Lines of Flight’… this is the title after all.<br /></p><p class="MsoNormal">It's a transgressive concept, so it follows that I favor transgressive writing. But even if you write dry and analytically, if your concept is transgressive then I will probably love it too.<br /></p><p class="MsoNormal"></p><p class="MsoNormal"><o:p> </o:p></p> <p class="MsoNormal"> Each issue will have its own theme.... Big-ass themes like: LOVE, DEATH, ADDICTION, ANARCHY, GOD, HOME… you get the idea.</p><p class="MsoNormal"><br /></p>Issue #1 is 'Nadir' - submission deadline: March 1st 2010 <p class="MsoNormal"><o:p> </o:p></p> <p class="MsoNormal"><br /></p><p class="MsoNormal"><br /></p><p class="MsoNormal"><span style=""></span><span style="font-weight: bold;">flight.zine@gmail.com</span><o:p></o:p></p> <p class="MsoNormal"><o:p> </o:p></p> <p class="MsoNormal"><o:p> </o:p></p> <p class="MsoNormal"><o:p></o:p><br /></p><p class="MsoNormal">In a nutshell, a ‘line of flight’ is an action of living/thinking/theorizing/being outside of the norm, with the intent to show that there is multiplicity to existence, not just either/or. <span style=""> </span></p> <p class="MsoNormal"><o:p> </o:p></p> <p class="MsoNormal">It’s open-mindedness at a political level…. and saying fuck you to the repression of who we could be, not who we are told to be. Taking a line of flight you are escaping boundaries put in place by those who wish to dominate us, control us, pacify us and oppress us.They often don't last very long... they are acts of transformation and escape... but we still have to live in the real world right? But the longer we make them, the more our world can be transformed.<br /></p> <p class="MsoNormal"><o:p> </o:p></p> <p class="MsoNormal"><a href="http://www.linesofflight.net/linesofflight.htm">Here is a link</a> to a site that explains better than I can the concept of ‘Lines of Flight’. The author, Josh Lerner, gives an example through the act of skateboarding….<br /></p><p class="MsoNormal"><br /></p><p class="MsoNormal">I myself am interested in how it is actualized through dismantling systems of semantics: the way we communicate to each other, the way we talk as well as think about ourselves and others, especially in regards to gender and sexuality. The post-punk author Kathy Acker is my hero..<br /></p><p class="MsoNormal"><br /></p><p class="MsoNormal">You could also look at historical events, dreamed events, drug-induced events, or even mini self-realizations...</p><p class="MsoNormal"><br /></p><p class="MsoNormal"><br /></p><p class="MsoNormal"><br /></p>Jyoti Royhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00364172068900575657noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3639283348220214659.post-44864846454411800102009-10-08T15:25:00.000-07:002010-01-19T18:03:02.373-08:00The Global Citizen: Addressing history and racism in a globalized worldAs a non-white Australian living in the <st1:country-region><st1:place>United States</st1:place></st1:country-region> the term ‘global citizen’ is something I think about often. But what does it actually mean? We have access to information moving faster than our lived experience of it, putting identity in flux. Context and history are important to community and identity, so how as global citizens do we agree on an international standard in judging, say, what is racist and what is not?</p> <p class="MsoNormal"><o:p> </o:p></p> <p class="MsoNormal">This question is reflected in the current international discussion about a skit broadcast on an Australian variety show depicting five men in blackface calling themselves <a href="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FTOndJ9byL8">The Jackson Jive</a>. The typical Australian response has been ‘what’s all the fuss about?’ and ‘it was not meant to offend’ and even ‘this is not <st1:country-region><st1:place>America</st1:place></st1:country-region>’. <a href="http://www.news.com.au/entertainment/story/0,28383,26182943-10229,00.html">An Australian news site</a> claims through their online polling that 69% percent of Australians think the skit “was not racist”.</p> <p class="MsoNormal"><o:p> </o:p></p> <p class="MsoNormal">This was the subject of discussion on today’s BBC’s international radio talk show ‘<a href="http://worldhaveyoursay.wordpress.com/2009/10/08/jackson-jive-offensive-or-funny/">World Have Your Say</a>’, the overarching question in relation to the skit being “should we have more of a sense of humour about race?” What is interesting to me in this sentence is the “we”. Who are “we” and how do “we” begin to address issues like racism and humour in a global context? </p> <p class="MsoNormal"><o:p> </o:p></p> <p class="MsoNormal">It was well understood on the radio program that this skit would not have aired in the United States or Britain in 2009, and the Australian guests constantly reminded listeners that it was “just a joke”, “not meant to offend”, and happening in a country that did not have the same history, and that “context is important”.<span style=""> </span></p> <p class="MsoNormal"><o:p> </o:p></p> <p class="MsoNormal">So, “we” do not share the same history, but “we” certainly know of the history. One of the Australian guests accused an American caller of “living in a bubble” like other Americans when it comes to Australian history and that Australians are very aware of the history of black people in the <st1:country-region><st1:place>United States</st1:place></st1:country-region>. So that begs the questions to me that with this awareness shouldn’t we then maintain compassion and thoughtfulness when we are broadcasting in a global world? </p> <p class="MsoNormal"><o:p> </o:p></p> <p class="MsoNormal">And here is some important Australian history. We did not have a federal government until 1901 (quite a few years after the end of the American Civil War), with one of the policies of the time being a ‘White Australia Policy’, that intentionally restricted non-white immigration into the country. This policy was not completely dismantled until the mid-1970’s, and it was only in the 1960’s that the indigenous Australian Aborigines were giving the right to vote.</p> <p class="MsoNormal"><o:p> </o:p></p> <p class="MsoNormal">This too has its context (yes I am conveniently overlooking the slaughter of the indigenous population by the way). The oppressed underclass in Australian history was white. The slaves were at one time white. <st1:country-region><st1:place>Australia</st1:place></st1:country-region> was a penal colony with the majority of its first (white) people brought over as prisoners. I think this is an important context in which to view Australian culture, and the ‘white-pride’ that has sometimes been depicted in snippets of news from down under (such as the 2006 ‘race riots’). </p> <p class="MsoNormal"><o:p> </o:p></p> <p class="MsoNormal">This by no means is to excuse a blackface skit, or the terrible race based riots, it is merely a lens to view another’s experience of oppression. Class was a big factor in the segregation of Australian society in which race played a role but not necessarily the most prominent.<span style=""> </span>A lot Australian humour stems from a complete lack of understanding ‘the other’ because we view ourselves as ‘the other’ – the underclass of <st1:country-region><st1:place>England</st1:place></st1:country-region> and more recently different from the aggressive free-market capitalism of the <st1:country-region><st1:place>United States</st1:place></st1:country-region> which reinforces class separations. The main opponents of the White Australia policy were those who wanted to bring over slave labour from nearby Pacific Islands so the main proponents to the policy were to keep a fair (no pun intended) workplace for the people already working within it. </p> <p class="MsoNormal"><o:p> </o:p></p> <p class="MsoNormal">Because of this white working class identity, race issues unfortunately blur in <st1:country-region><st1:place>Australia</st1:place></st1:country-region>. This is important in addressing a global view of overcoming racism, as the response of bewildered Australians asking why are we being called racist is, admittedly, embarrassing to me. Come on Australia, we know we are being inappropriate, in fact I think our humour prides itself on it; a kind of middle finger salute to the niceties of British society. While I love Australian culture and humour, I shamefully admit it often degenerates into the completely offensive. And yes, <u>racist</u>, whether intentional or not. I think the first effort needed in being a global citizen is being globally aware and doing things with intention.</p> <p class="MsoNormal"><o:p> </o:p></p> <p class="MsoNormal">International finger-wagging at the stupid humour of Australians should not overshadow acts and beliefs still held in other countries that are not so blatantly racist. Perhaps a blackface skit could not be gotten away with in American society but that is a victory that had to be fought for and the <st1:country-region><st1:place>United States</st1:place></st1:country-region> is far from being a racism-free nation. <span style=""> </span>As the international conversation continues and we all understand each and every person’s history of oppression perhaps soon the global citizen will be one whose “jokes” do not reinforce painful parts of other people’s history. </p>Jyoti Royhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00364172068900575657noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3639283348220214659.post-59332442489696154362008-09-05T09:45:00.000-07:002010-01-19T18:10:29.065-08:00What five books changed your life?I got to thinking, after reading <a href="http://www.scoop.co.nz/stories/HL0809/S00086.htm">this article</a>, what five books really influenced me and changed the way I viewed the world.<br /><br />1. <a href="http://www.amazon.com/Blood-Guts-High-School-Novel/dp/080213193X/ref=sr_1_3?ie=UTF8&s=books&qid=1220634487&sr=1-3">Blood and Guts in High School, by Kathy Acker</a>.<br />It was cut up writing, it was non-linear, it was sexually gratuitous, yet it totally and completely made sense. It felt like my mind had been decoded -- all the insanity of living as a punk rock woman in a patriarchal society was mapped out on the page for me in all of its nonsensical jibberish. It was anger, baby talk, fuck you, fuck me, death, re-birth, horror and moments of beauty.<br /><br />2.<a href="http://www.amazon.com/Anti-Oedipus-Capitalism-Schizophrenia-Gilles-Deleuze/dp/0816612250/ref=pd_bbs_sr_1?ie=UTF8&s=books&qid=1220634417&sr=1-1">Anti-Oedipus Capitalism and Schizophrenia, by Gilles Deleuze and Felix Guattari</a><br />The theoretical side to Kathy Acker's art. Basically, mapped out for me how oppressive systems (Capitalism is the the title, but also refers to other modes, like patriarchy) make this totally insane experience of life - through linearity, conformity, control - and that those moments of revolution, clarity and creativity come from breaking out of those systems, finding 'lines of flight', through almost chaotic means.<br /><br />3. <a href="http://www.amazon.com/Written-Body-Jeanette-Winterson/dp/0679744479/ref=pd_bbs_sr_1?ie=UTF8&s=books&qid=1220634373&sr=1-1">Written on the Body, by Jeanette Winterson</a><br />Possibly the most intense descriptions of how love devours you. Jeanette Winterson is a more accessible fiction writer than Kathy Acker, devoted to beauty and love, yet is no less revolutionary.<br /><br />4. <a href="http://www.amazon.com/Perfume-Story-Murderer-Patrick-Suskind/dp/0375725849/ref=pd_bbs_sr_1?ie=UTF8&s=books&qid=1220634289&sr=1-1">Perfume, by Patrick Suskind</a><br />Written by a totally old-school canonised male patriarchal author (don't read his other stuff!) Perfume is the story of a man born without any body scent, which means he is perhaps not really human. Yet, his sense of smell is beyond anything we can imagine, meaning he can smell the scent of sweet young virgins and in order to capture it, murders them. A pretty gross concept, yet so beautifully told, and really captures the extremities of the human condition. It reminds me of the Terry Gilliam movie Tideland for some reason. The books is so amazingly written that the movie Perfume (avoid it if you can) was basically narrated start to finish, becaus ethere is no way you can only capture this book visually.<br /><br />5. So many books can fill this spot!!!!! I think though, I will go with <a href="http://www.amazon.com/Bone-Black-Memories-Girlhood/dp/0805055126">Bone Black by bell hooks</a>.<br />This is the first time I connected my struggles with being a writer and being non-white. bell hooks' memoir of growing up a black girl with a deep deep love of writing and poetry resonated very deep within me, to dark places I didn't even know I had. bell hooks is the ultimate feminist warrior writer woman and the big sister I never had!!Jyoti Royhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00364172068900575657noreply@blogger.com3tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3639283348220214659.post-39118285995192497742008-07-19T15:06:00.000-07:002010-03-06T16:36:45.949-08:00Ode to Kathy<a style="font-family: courier new; color: rgb(153, 102, 51);" onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgAKNuh3Jyl-g_wUx2H1cZS07VAQ3nnTNpZzhukNMbBGDi554f4pDVv854kz9EZIDHl0YLUzhW2InRH9mETwMa1Orz2zrdBhYpRVEeYn3otOz6C8foMZjzVNY_CyW5vCCBbAocDhB8kq6k/s1600-h/9469_who'safraidofKathy.jpg"><img style="margin: 0px auto 10px; display: block; text-align: center; cursor: pointer;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgAKNuh3Jyl-g_wUx2H1cZS07VAQ3nnTNpZzhukNMbBGDi554f4pDVv854kz9EZIDHl0YLUzhW2InRH9mETwMa1Orz2zrdBhYpRVEeYn3otOz6C8foMZjzVNY_CyW5vCCBbAocDhB8kq6k/s320/9469_who'safraidofKathy.jpg" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5224852402082403634" border="0" /></a><br /><span style="color: rgb(153, 102, 51);font-family:Verdana,Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;font-size:130%;" ><span style="font-weight: bold;">Women need to become literary “criminals”, break the literary laws and reinvent their own, because the established laws prevent women from presenting the reality of their lives.</span><br /> </span><span style="color: rgb(153, 102, 51);font-family:Verdana,Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;font-size:78%;" ><span style="font-size:130%;">(Kathy Acker, from <em>Bodies Of Work</em>)</span><br /><span style="font-size:100%;"><span style="font-size:130%;"><br /></span><span style="color: rgb(0, 0, 0);"><span style="font-weight: bold;"><span style="color: rgb(153, 102, 51);font-family:courier new;font-size:130%;" >Kathy Acker is my hero. She, in my opinion, is one of the greatest most revolutionary writers of the 20th century. Since discovering </span><span style="font-size:130%;"><a style="font-family: courier new; color: rgb(153, 102, 51);" href="http://books.google.com/books?id=oEorMCD4ZvgC&dq=blood+and+guts+in+high+school&pg=PP1&ots=VSodxSl0-S&sig=X5RpIngvkkxyonvJFvJJUnUnbOo&hl=en&sa=X&oi=book_result&resnum=1&ct=result">Blood and Guts in High School </a></span><span style="color: rgb(153, 102, 51);font-family:courier new;font-size:130%;" >I have devoured all of her work, wrote my thesis on her, and have basically based most of my feminist theories on literature on her ideas.</span><span style="font-size:130%;"><br /><br /></span><span style="color: rgb(153, 102, 51);font-family:courier new;font-size:130%;" >So when my friend back home told me she was going to see a Kathy Acker documentary at the </span><span style="font-size:130%;"><a style="font-family: courier new; color: rgb(153, 102, 51);" href="http://www.melbournefilmfestival.com.au/films?y=2008&category=Documentaries&film_id=9469&pg=44">Melbourne International Film Festival</a></span><span style="color: rgb(153, 102, 51);font-family:courier new;font-size:130%;" > I was dumbfounded. How had I not heard of this??? To make matters worse when I visited </span><span style="font-size:130%;"><a style="font-family: courier new; color: rgb(153, 102, 51);" href="http://www.ackerfilm.com/">the film's website</a></span><span style="color: rgb(153, 102, 51);font-family:courier new;font-size:130%;" > I saw that it had traveled through Seattle in May, while I was away.</span><span style="font-size:130%;"><br /><br /></span><span style="color: rgb(153, 102, 51);font-family:courier new;font-size:130%;" >Completely bummed.</span><span style="font-size:130%;"><br /><br /></span><span style="color: rgb(153, 102, 51);font-family:courier new;font-size:130%;" >Fingers crossed I can see it soon. She is god. Literally.</span><br /></span></span></span></span>Jyoti Royhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00364172068900575657noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3639283348220214659.post-8241349592903582472008-03-16T15:55:00.000-07:002010-03-06T16:31:53.125-08:00bitchin'Check out my review of Kathy Acker's <span style="font-style: italic;">Blood and Guts in High School</span> in <a href="http://bitchmagazine.org/">Bitch Magazine's</a> 'Shelf Lives' feature in the Winter 2008 issue, '<a href="http://bitchmagazine.org/issue/38">Lost and Found</a>'.<br /><br />Not only is it cool to be published in what I feel is the one of best magazines in print, I am honored to have written about one of the greatest writers of the 20th century, the late <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kathy_Acker">Kathy Acker</a>.<br /><br />I am working on self-publishing my thesis entitled 'Pussy Pirates Utopia: 21st Century Radical Literature: Lessons from Kathy Acker' in a zine format.<br /><br />In it, I link Kathy Acker's literature with the theories of French feminist <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Helene_Cixous">Helene Cixous</a>, and the anti-psychology writers <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Anti-Oedipus">Deleuze and Guattari</a>, to form what Pierre Joris calls: <a href="http://books.google.com/books?id=8p0106Rme60C&pg=PA25&lpg=PA25&dq=nomadic+poetics&source=web&ots=rPwkL8x7-j&sig=SDxtJVENoWi5rd3j0IYpTimn6NE&hl=en#PPP1,M1">A nomadic poetics</a>. I think these theories, as reflected in Kathy Acker's writing, show a way that literature in the 21st century can be a radical and anti-oppressive art form.<br /><br />Write on!Jyoti Royhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00364172068900575657noreply@blogger.com0