New newsle, who's this?
One of my favorite things about March is the better-than-basketball MarchXness, an annual tournament of themed songs/essays about themed songs. This year's theme is covers ("March Faxness"), last year's was punk ("plaidness"), other notable favorites include sad songs ("sadness") and goth music ("vladness").
I like to say that I don't like covers, but the truth of it is that I don't like change. On this year's list are plenty of songs I adore . . . I just listened to them before I'd heard the originals. Though I am the kind of person who has enjoyed surprising people with the fact that Natalie Imbruglia's "Torn" is a cover, I was still surprised by some of the songs in the tournament.
Anyway, the essays are fun, and I suggest you check them out, even if you don't go all-in with the brackets. Chelsea Biondolillo's piece on Bettye Lavette's "Joy" includes a quiz of photographs in which the reader must correctly identify whether the author is stoned or actually happy. I scored a 12/16!
Wishing you joy,
alysia |
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| We will only be bringing very limited (like, 5) quantities to AWP (say hello at booth #555 & at our Thursday night offsite event), so order your goodies here. If you come to our table and are able to name (the full names!) of both the cats immortalized on the shirt, you will get a prize. |
Submissions for our themed month remain open through the end of March. We're interested in essays about the things that keep us afloat when we're not sure we can, or want to, keep going on our own.
We'll also be opening next week for submissions for our We Are More column. We Are More is curated by editor Michelle Zamanian and is a space for fiction, nonfiction, and poetry by Southwest Asian and North African (SWANA) and SWANA diaspora writers.
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Sign up by March 15 to receive next month's book club picks:
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PROSE: Linea Nigra by Jazmina Barrera
translated by Christina MacSweeney
An intimate exploration of motherhood, Linea Nigra approaches the worries and joys of childbearing from a diverse range of inspirations and traditions.
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| POETRY: Fixed Stars by Marisa Siegel
from Burrow Press
An investigation of the in-between: windows, porches, drawers, bedrooms, and basements are portals to examine how language shapes and is shaped, and to what ends. With original artwork by Trisha Previte
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Thursday, 3/10
@ 6pm PST: Allegra Hyde, author of ELEUTHERIA, in conversation with Vanessa Hua at Green Apple Bookstore via Zoom. (HAPPY PUB DAY, ALLEGRA!)@ 7pm EST: Azar Nafisi, author of READING LOLITA IN TEHRAN, and Joanne Leedom-Ackerman are in conversation about their latest books at Solid State Books via Crowdcast.@ 7pm EST: A celebration of the short story at White Whale Books via Zoom ft. authors Christopher Gonzalez, Morgan Thomas, Leslie Pietrzyk, and Sara Lippmann.Saturday, 3/12@ 1pm EST: Nana Darkoa Sekyiamah and Lola Shoneyin are in conversation for THE SEX LIVES OF AFRICAN WOMEN at Loyalty Books via Crowdcast.@ 7pm EST: Elise Levine launches SAY THIS at The Ivy Bookstore via Facebook Live/YouTube.Monday, 3/14 (to get you through to next week's newsletter):
@ 5pm PST: Sasha LaPointe, author of RED PAINT, in conversation with Elissa Washuta at Powell's Bookstore via Zoom. |
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257 Haywood Rd Unit 201
Asheville
28806
United States of America |
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