Litographs: Classic Books as Typographic Prints

Literature and art converge to combat book famine and bibliowaste, another delight from Maria Popova's Brain Pickings (also on Facebook), curating, as ever, eclectic interestingness... and rescuing me when I am behind on posts. PS good writing resources too...


A modern paradox: While the developing world is experiencing the worst “book famine” in decades, yet an estimated 40% of books printed in the “developed world” go to waste, eventually destroyed by the publishers themselves. I have a tremendous soft spot for art and design projects inspired by literary classics, so I love everything about Danny Fein’s Litographs project, which addresses this paradox through beautiful prints by a team of artists, made of upcycled classic texts, many in the public domain, which remain fully legible in the final print. Thanks to a partnership with the International Book Bank, every print sold sends one book to a community in need.

The Moby-Dick litograph is the loveliest take on the Melville classic since Matt Kish’s page-by-page illustrations.

Remembering Fuentes, Simic on Writing Poetry & More

Evan Smith Rakoff rounds up news from our homeland, the republic of letters for Poets & Writers:

Famed novelist Carlos Fuentes passed away Tuesday in Mexico City. He was eighty-three; the Guardian looks at the legacy of the great John Updike; a former pharmaceutical executive, Andrew G. Bodnar, convicted of a white-collar crime, was sentenced to write a book; and other news. 

"I deeply lament the death of our beloved and admired Carlos Fuentes, a universal Mexican writer," wrote President Felipe Calderon via Twitter. The famed novelist, who built the foundation for a resurgence of Spanish literature in the 1960s, died Tuesday in Mexico City. He was eighty-three. (New York Times).

Food for Thought: ideas for readings, poetry events

The following is drawn from / inspired by the PEN newsletter description of World Voices Festival schedule: A Citywide Reading: Food for Thought, Food for the Palate. 


Events we miss but read about are also fodder for future events as we read about them and ask ourselves, "How would that play here?" and "How would we adapt (or scale) it?" Here's one about remembering the past, dealing with change in the present, waiting for the future, but not on empty stomachs. Indeed universal and flexible. Who could not imagine a similar event in Albuquerque where poetry already mixes with music, other performance arts, visual and plastic arts, food, social justice, activism, etc? 

At these site-specific readings (Saturday May 5), curated by PEN in partnership with A Public Space, three complex, rather poetic themes were examined and explored. Each was paired reading with a gastronomic experience. Festival followers were invited to select the event that best suit their mood and interests while sampling dishes designed to evoke the mood of each ~ enlightening and delicious.

Thinking of Mountainair, I say to myself "think about the challenge and even possible advantages of scaling to a smaller canvas," but cannot fool even myself. Read the description, though: surely Albuquerque or Santa Fe could do this just as well.

Mother's Day Reading, Lorca's Mysterious Lover & More

Stories about poets & writers around the world, curated by Evan Smith Rakoff for P&W, late for Mother's Day to be sure. Waste not, want not. I'm going through drafts, this one for Mother's Day but not used (I went with the story about dictators with mommy issues because that's the kind of mood I was in.)

Radio Free Europe explains how an obscure nineteenth-century Kazakh poet, Abai, has become an unlikely symbol of the protests opposing Putin's return to power in Russia; Forbes features Jeff Mayersohn, the person who saved Harvard Bookstore from oblivion; the Guardian reports that the mysterious lover Federico García Lorca directed his sonnets has been revealed; and other news.

Every day Poets & Writers Magazine scans the headlines—from publishing reports to academic announcements to literary dispatches—for all the news that creative writers need to know.

Here are the day's stories. Enjoy: no telling when I'll get around to more:

A special weekend from LPG: OUTspoken + (L)INK

This is long but worth reposting with all the weekend (L)INK-formation. Be patient, read your way through it, save to refer to for the weekend. Our settings are also optimized for displaying on mobile devices. The rest of the post about when regular programming resumes will be in a separate post. And now here's Lisa, who writes  

Hello everyone,

Last year Local Poets Guild programmed 110 events with more than 70 different poets and posted over 150 blog entries which had 30,000 hits. This year, again, already, is looking stellar. 

This week in particular we offer a line of projects very close to my heart: a special edition of OUTspoken May 10th as well as (L)INK: The Write Disability May 11th and 12th. Writers are coming in from Toronto, San Francisco, Washington DC, as well as Santa Fe to help explore issues related to disability culture and experience. From visible disabilities like Cerebral Palsy, amputation, congenital birth defects, to invisible disabilities like MS (which I have), PTSD, dystonia and environmental sensitivities, as well as sight and hearing impairment, we're going to celebrate the way writing can build connections between people and how language is a great tool for developing a greater awareness and understanding of diversity of experiences. 

PLEASE JOIN US FOR ANY OR ALL OF THESE SPECIAL EVENTS... (and come read Saturday afternoon!)

P&W: remembering David Bowman, John Giorno's Dial-a-Poem & More

OK. I admit it. Links are a lazy post, and it's not as though there are no unused National Poetry Month posts sitting in drafts waiting for final touches and a click. Not to mention local poetry news and announcements in my inbox, waiting too.

In my defense, my eyeballs tripped over Dante and Dial-a-Poem ( 347-763-8001) yoked in the person of translator poet John Giorno. Oxymoron class zeugma. Evan Smith Rakoff  collates and annotates news and links for Poets & Writers Magazine. Hopefully I add some value with brief commentary, more links and images

In the ongoing court battle over book scans, Google seeks to dismiss the Authors Guild class-action suit; Time magazine visits author John Irving at his New Hampshire home;  the professional life of Jane Austen; and other news.

Every day Poets & Writers Magazine scans the headlines—from publishing reports to academic announcements to literary dispatches—for all the news that creative writers need to know. Here are today's stories:

May Broadsided Collaboration for Your Vectorizing

Picnic is a "virtual vector" although we often broadside on other blogs and Facebook pages ~ not to carry coals to Newcastle and all that. Read more about poetry broadsiding, Broadsided Press and the history of broadsiding. Think of poetry Broadsiding as combining  public art and publishing (the way it used to be done). Simply put, Broadsided wants to put poetry and art out on the streets... and Picnic wants its readers to become vectors and do the same. Vector on!

Dear Vectors  and Friends of Broadsided, Hope you had a Happy May Day. Whether or not marching or dancing around a pole with ribbons, we hope you have been using vertical surfaces to hang Broadsided. Our new favorite Vectorizing location, thanks to our Post-A-Thon winner Catherine Swanson, is the grocery store cart.  Those poor wire cages in the parking lot, those lost hours wandering the aisles or standing in line at checkout, where, of course they can be brightened by Broadsided.

PEN World Voices Days

Appropriate for May 1, don't you think? PEN World Voices Festival is in NYC, but you can follow online. I've been doing that for academic conferences, cheap and green even if not the same as being there. Check the schedule and sample the writing of festival participants from around the world

The PEN World Voices Festival is here! From April 30 to May 6, 100 writers from around the globe come to New York City to celebrate the power of the word in action. Join the celebration online. Follow us on Facebook, Twitter, and Tumblr. Share your favorite events with friends. PEN American Center | 588 Broadway, Suite 303 | NY, NY 10012 | (212) 334-1660