Michael Martone—author of twelve books of fiction and nonfiction and contributor to Harper’s, Esquire, The Best American Essays and The Best American Short Stories—will celebrate the release of a new book of short stories along with two of his former students, Michael J. Lee and Christopher Hellwig on Thursday, Sept. 29, at 7 p.m. at the Antenna Gallery.
Michael J. Lee lives above a barber shop on St. Claude Avenue. Before that, he studied in Tuscaloosa at the University of Alabama under Michael Martone. On Thursday, Sept. 29, at 7 p.m., Lee and his former classmate Christopher Hellwig will read with Martone as part of the Live Prose at the Antenna Gallery reading … Michael J. Lee on Michael Martone
The current issue of The New Orleans Review includes, among much else, poetry from Joshua Edwards and Srikanth Reddy, essays by Samantha Cohen and Mike Miley, fiction by Jacob Appel (selected by Nancy Lemann as the inaugural winner of the Walker Percy Fiction Contest) and an excerpt from Christopher Hellwig’s forthcoming collection of fictional gunslinger … From The New Orleans Review: “Gerner’s Retired Lives of Gunslingers” by Christopher Hellwig (excerpt)
From The Huffington Post: Ludacris has helped collect more than 250,000 books for school libraries to serve over 30,000 New Orleans students affected by Hurricane Katrina in 2005, HipHopDX reports. The music artist announced in April his partnership with Better World Books and DoSomething.org to launch the Epic Book Drive — an effort that … Ludacris helped collect 250,000 books in Epic Book Drive for New Orleans
By Nathan C. Martin A few weeks ago I posted a flippant comment on Room 220 about how the narrative in Robert Olen Butler’s new novel, A Small Hotel, might in some ways resemble a real-life divorce he had gone through not long ago. Butler called me out on my erroneous post, saying I should … To Learn the Language of Feeling: An Interview with Robert Olen Butler
Tulane University will host a conversation about the creative process of making photography books with photographer Thomas Roma, curator Susan Kismaric, and author Phillip Lopate, all of who were involved in creating books currently on display at Tulane’s Newcomb Art Gallery as part of the exhibition “Pictures for Books.” Pelican Bomb will record the conversation … Making Books: Symposium at Tulane, Sept. 14
Room 220 is pleased to announce three stellar bouts of live prose soon to transpire at the Antenna Gallery, 3161 Burgundy St. in the Bywater. The Rm220 monthly reading series features local and visiting prose practitioners sharing their work and provides an opportunity for the downtown readerly and writerly communities to gather, converse, and gesticulate. … Room 220 Fall Reading Series Lineup Announced!!!
By Susan Clements So, I moved here in July—I’m happy to be living in the amazing “New Freret” neighborhood—and almost immediately upon arrival I wanted to buy some magazines. Wait, let me try that again: I needed to buy some magazines. You see, I am a committed magazine junkie. No favorite flavors—I enjoy them all, … The best little magazine shop in … Metairie?
Today, The Paris Review Daily features a brief interview with Mississippi native Jesmyn Ward about her second novel, Salvage the Bones, set in a fictional Mississippi town in the days leading up to Hurricane Katrina. The novel centers on Esch—fourteen years old and pregnant—and Esch’s family in the aftermath of her mother’s death in childbirth. … You preface both your novels with epigraphs from Southern rappers and the Bible: Jesmyn Ward interview at The Paris Review Daily
Zachary Lazar, author of the critically acclaimed novel Sway and the nonfiction book Evening’s Empire: The Story of My Father’s Murder, is a new member of Tulane University’s English faculty and resident of New Orleans. Sway is an imagined account of the Rolling Stones, Kenneth Anger, and the Manson Family, which the New York Times … Zachary Lazar reads for the 1718 Reading Series
