interview

Four Poems and an Interview

Interview, Poetry

OCTOBER, which ends with Halloween, is a crazy month– and we’re going crazy about poetry. Toward that end, we feature Four Poems from intellectual poet Bruce Dale Wise. As you’ll see, he’s known for his topicality.

Are his poems traditional? Postmodern? Both? Neither? Read them and judge for yourself.

The coup in Turkey has been stopped; the purges now begin.
It’s time to cleanse state institutions shouts out Erdoĝan.

So who is being targeted in this his counter-coup?
All those who do not totally support his point of view:

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We also have a dynamite interview with Bruce up at our New Pop Lit News blog. Check it out!

I lean to our time, the New Millennial period; the Internet has opened up the possibilities of American poetry, and I think it is exciting to be writing right now.

 

 

Interview with Anne Leigh Parrish

Interview

Literary change is coming!

New genres, new styles, and most important, a wave of newly-prominent writers pumping talent, energy, and emotion into a previously moribund art form.

Among the best of them is Anne Leigh Parrish, who’s published terrific work with us  and with other upstart literary outfits. As well as penned one novel and two short story collections. Read our Interview with her, also linked at our “Hype” page. (Anne also participated in our recent can’t miss Hemingway discussion.)

Motivation is something I’m very curious about. I’m also fascinated with the stories people tell themselves to get themselves off the hook, or to process a traumatic event.

 

EXCLUSIVE JOHN COLAPINTO INTERVIEW

Controversy

John Colapinto has written a novel he’d like to have published in the United States. Undone is its title. Despite being an excellent writer and on the staff of the esteemed The New Yorker magazine; despite having an impressive resume; despite having been published by book giant Harper-Collins previously– forty U.S. publishers have declined to publish Undone because of its potentially offensive plotline. Even though the novel is well written and entertaining.

What’s happening? Have we entered a new Victorian Age?

Is John Colapinto a latter-day D.H. Lawrence, Allen Ginsberg, or James Joyce?

NEW POP LIT’s Karl Wenclas interviews Mr. Colapinto in an attempt to understand the controversy. Read the interview here.

THIS IS A MUST READ FOR ANYONE INTERESTED IN TODAY’S PUBLISHING SCENE.

Interview with Jana DeLeon

Announcement

We continue our series of interviews with master storytellers this week with New York Times and USA Today bestselling author Jana DeLeon. Her Miss Fortune Mysteries series features Fortune Redding, a CIA vixen hitwoman working the unpredictable Bayou backwoods… and looking for love!

Jana gives us the skinny on both traditional and self-publishing; her writing process; and engaging readers. Enjoy the interview here!

 

The best thing about indie publishing is it pays the lion’s share of profit to the artist, and that’s the way it should be. Non-compete clauses would have to be eliminated. I believe they are restraint of trade. No publisher should be able to limit an author’s ability to make a living, and the vast majority of traditionally published authors are not making enough money to support a family.

Interview with John A. A. Logan

Announcement

Karl and I caught up with Scottish thriller author John A. A. Logan, who offers up some thought-provoking insights to the recent skirmish between Amazon and Hachette in this week’s interview. John shares his publishing experiences, current projects,  as well as reflections on what it means to be “literary” and “popular”. Enjoy!

 

I find authors who might be described as “literary-by-stealth” quite interesting – authors who seem to write popular genre titles, but whose style is so well-written, with a “voice” that might be called literary. Peter Straub’s Ghost Story seems to fall into this category. Or Harvest Home, by Thomas Tryon. Or Jim Thompson, known as the “dime-store Dostoyevsky”. Or James M. Cain, author of The Postman Always Rings Twice, Double Indemnity etc.

With these authors the style and theme are popular and accessible, but there is a depth there that gathers in upon the reader, as the story continues.

Interview with Delphine Pontvieux

Announcement

Something extra special today! Author Delphine Pontvieux shares her experiences with writing and running her own publishing company: Miss Nyet Publishing.

Delphine’s first novel, ETA Estimated Time of Arrest, looks at Basque history and politics through an artistic lens with the help of critically acclaimed Basque musician Fermin Muguruza.  Her upcoming work MIA Missing in Actun will fuse socioeconomic concerns with reader-centered writing. Learn more from Delphine’s delightfully candid answers to our questions… Interview with Delphine Pontvieux.

 

Your first novel, ETA- Estimated Time of Arrest is a political thriller inspired by Basque history. What was it about Basque culture that drew you to this topic?

It is an interesting chain of events, for I have no roots or family originating from the Basque country at all, other than the fact that my mother lived in the French side of Pays Basque for a couple of years, when she was a child. (And I remember her telling us how she had to recite her prayers in Basque language every morning at school.)

I think that my fascination for the language, the culture and the social and political history of the Basque people stems back from my first trip to Spain, when I was 11 or 12 years old. I was at a summer camp near Barcelona. One night, as we were all sitting around the fire after dinner, a friend gave me a cassette tape. On one side, there was this band called La Polla Records.

NPL Interview with Chris Cander

Announcement

Saturday has come again and today we’re treating you to an interview from IPPY Award winner Chris Cander!

Chris shares about her book 11 Stories, her publishing experience, writing style and inspirations… enjoy!

Congrats on your IPPY award! What inspired you to write 11 Stories?

I was in between drafts of my forthcoming novel Whisper Hollow, and I decided to write something with some serious constraints just to see what would happen. One of my dear friends (who’s also my screenwriting partner) is a neuroscientist who’s studied—among a billion other things—the effect of a fall on time perception.

An Interview with Andrea Gregovich

Announcement

This Saturday’s treat is an interview with the author of The Unshakable Kayfabe of Tommy Rage, Andrea Gregovich!

Andrea gives the inside scoop on what inspired Tommy Rage; her latest translation projects; and where to find out what’s happening with Russian Literature.

An unmissable interview from our Pop Lit wrestling maven!