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• WRITING WISDOM: How to Not Bomb at a Reading
• LEARN HOW TO SELL YOUR WRITING
• EVENTS CALENDAR
• PUBLISHING AND GOTHAM NEWS
• MEET THE FACULTY: JODY GRAY
• FACULTY FOCUS / STUDENT SPOTLIGHT
• DEAR GOTHAM
• ASK THE WRITER
• LEARN EXPERT STRATEGIES FOR SELF-PUBLISHING
• ONE-DAY INTENSIVES - SATURDAY - MAY 19
• PEN WORLD VOICES FESTIVAL
• WRITERS' WEEKEND IN NYC
• NEW BOOKS FOR WRITERS
• WIN TICKETS TO THE LYONS
• WRITING CONTEST ROUNDUP
• WIN TICKETS TO TENNESSEE WILLIAMS'S FINAL PLAY
• READ ON... WHY BEER MATTERS
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The reading was at a Laundromat. It was myself and a twenty-five-year-old woman who felt she’d experienced enough life for five memoirs. The place was packed, 60 or so people. Unfortunately, most of the crowd was there to do their laundry, and not for the reading.
My first novel East Fifth Bliss had just come out--or rather, it hadn’t come out. You see, two week prior to its scheduled launch, the publisher informed me that the release was pushed back six months. So I had no book to promote at the reading. What I did have was a bunch of whirling washers and clattering driers to compete with, and a crackly microphone that kept cutting out.
But I soldiered on, reading a lyrical, sweet passage from my novel that no one could buy yet.
(Continue reading here.)
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You spend countless hours creating your work. Don't you owe it to yourself to spend some time learning how to sell it? Now we invite you to join an industry expert in a comprehensive seminar—in NYC or Online: UPDATE
How To Get Published - Online May 9 / NYC June 18
Nonfiction Book Proposal - Online May 9 / NYC June 19
How to Blog - Online May 9 - NYC June 4
How To Freelance - Online May 9
Class size is limited. Register today!
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| Date |
Location |
Event Topic |
Sunday, May 6
6:00PM to
7:00PM
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McNally Jackson Books
52 Prince Street
NY, NY
Directions
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Free Fiction Writing class with Catherine Chung
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Sunday, May 13
11:00AM to
12:00PM
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Housing Works Bookstore
126 Crosby Street
New York, NY
Directions
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Free Memoir Writing class with Marie Carter
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PUBLISHING NEWS
> An E-Book That Glows in the Dark -- The New York Times
> The Return of the Novella, the Original #Longread -- The Atlantic
> The Real Bad Guy in the Ebook Price Fixing Case -- Slate
> E-book Overkill -- Los Angeles Times
> 10 of the Most Hilarious Memoirs You’ll Ever Read -- Flavorwire
> 2012: The Year With No Pulitzer Prize for Fiction -- The Millions
> The Artistry Of 'Children's Picturebooks' Revealed -- NPR
> Orange Prize for Fiction 2012: shortlist announced -- The Telegraph
> Characters: Show what you've got -- The Writer
> A Million Shades of Slut -- New York Magazine
> 10 Most Challenged Books of 2011: The Hunger Games, Gossip Girl, and More -- The Atlantic
GOTHAM NEWS
> Spring Writing Classes -- Enroll in an online workshop that begins in May.
> Summer Teen Classes -- Offered in NYC and online in Nonfiction and Creative Writing
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 by Britt Gambino
Gotham Songwriting teacher Jody Gray’s father worked on steamship lines, designing cruises and tours, which came with several fringe benefits—one of which was exposure to world music. His father brought records back from Sweden and the Caribbean and everywhere in between. Later the family moved to Ireland where as a teenager Jody frequented pubs near Dublin, experiencing a wide variety of live music.
Jody then spent almost a decade experiencing European music in and around the UK, Ireland, Germany, and Holland. The more he traveled, the more musical influences Jody found. He was interested in literary and poetic traditions as well. “When I was a kid I got sidetracked into writing,” Jody says. “Then I realized girls wanted musicians, not dark poets sitting in the corner.”
Read More >>
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| • Nowhere Magazine published Porter Fox's article 'Lost.' Read it at nowheremag.com. |
| • The Rumpus published Alison Espach's essay "Things I Wanted To Write Off As A Business Expense But Didn't." Read the essay at therumpus.net. |
| • Grand Central Publishing will release David Yoo's humorous essay collection The Choke Artist: Confessions of a Chronic Underachiever on June 19. Learn more at daveyoo.com. |
| • Salon.com published Melissa Febos' article "Rebel Girls." Read it salon.com. |
| • The Provincetown Playhouse on the Wharf will feature James Mendrinos' play In Her Wake at the Los Kabayitos Theater from May 9 - May 13. Buy tickets and get more information at brownpapertickets.com. |
| • Michael Montlack will be reading from his book, Divining Divas, on May 7 from 7 to 8pm at the 82nd Street Barnes & Noble. |
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| • Schroeder Publications published Enrica D'Alessandro's book My Country Needs Me - The Story of Johnston Hastings Skelly, Jr., 87th Pennsylvania Infantry. Learn more at civilwar-books.com. |
SHARE THE NEWS!
If you have had a recent success with your writing, let us know so that we can inspire others to read your work and write more of their own. Please email details to office@write.org.
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Dear Gotham,
It’s been two years, ten days, seventeen hours and thirty minutes since that day. The day when I finally sat down and decided: “Ok, so I’m writing a book.”
During four days I hardly ate nor slept, and then 80 pages were done. And then, I did nothing. Until two months later, when my boyfriend and me took six weeks off work, flew to New York, and took a Creative Writing 101 class at Gotham Writers’ Workshop.
My wonderful teacher Stacy Parker Le Melle, my boyfriend, the classmates, the time off work and New York City proved to be exactly what I needed. While struggling with writing in English for class, I literally felt how all the creativity was just dying to ”get out” in Swedish. So I wrote. And wrote.
Two months later it was time to pack our bags and go back to Stockholm. Thanks to New York, I did it with some excess baggage. Thanks to Gotham Writers’ Workshop, I did it with a 240-page book.
I spent the summer rewriting, finishing, polishing, editing. And then it was 430 pages long and I sent it out. A publisher liked it, wanted it, handed me a contract, and soon after, a deliveryman rang my doorbell and handed me the very first book from the very first edition of Fadersmord (in English, Patricide).
So Gotham…
From the bottom of my heart:
Thank you for being such a big part in making this happen.
All the best,
Carina Bergfeldt
Stockholm, Sweden
www.fadersmord.se
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Every two weeks Gotham's Brandi Reissenweber answers questions submitted by readers of The Writer magazine. Here are some of the questions that she's recently answered:
Q: What are common mistakes you see in the plots of writers who are new to writing? The answer
Q: In his ten rules for writers, Elmore Leonard advises that writers “avoid detailed descriptions of characters.” Do you know why? Isn’t this one way to characterize? The answer
Q: I can't find the rules for the correct spelling of "e-mail." Some do "e-mail," others do simply "email." Which is right? The answer
Q: I’m writing a story set at the New York World’s Fair in 1939. It seems like a lot to write out each time it comes up in the story. Can I simply call it "the fair"? The answer
> Find more Ask The Writer Q&A here.
> Submit your questions to writingquestions@writermag.com.
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Are you ready to take the leap and transform your manuscript to a published book and/or ebook? At the all-new uPublishU at BEA, aspiring writers and authors will learn from industry experts tips and tactics and all about the tools and technology to help them self-publish a print book or an ebook.
You will also have the opportunity to meet with a selection of the industry's most respected self-publishing service providers who offer services to aspiring authors or those looking to package their content in book form. This is the conference to attend for anyone interested in self-publishing.
Plan now to participate in uPublishU at BEA on Sunday, June 3 in NYC. Registration includes a boxed lunch during the conference and a one-day pass to BEA on Thursday, June 7. Conference price is $199 before May 17 and $249 after May 17.
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Nurture your creativity this spring when you participate in a One-Day Intensive on Saturday, May 19. Select from One-Day Intensives in:
On Saturday, May 12, we offer Business Writing and Article Writing.
We also offer one-day intensives on Fridays. For the grammatically challenged, we offer Write it Right! on April 27. On May 4 we offer Memoir Writing. On May 11 we offer Business Writing and Fiction Writing. For details, and to register, visit: One-Day Workshops.
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The Eighth Annual PEN World Voices Festival will take place in NYC starting Monday, April 30 and run through Sunday, May 6. Presented by PEN, the world’s oldest international literary and human rights organization, the festival brings together more than 100 writers from 25 countries to celebrate the power of the written word in action. Engage with literature in bold and unexpected ways and discover how words can be amplified through music, theater, puppetry, film, and much more. Program highlights include:
Tribute to Christopher Hitchens
Monday, April 30, 6:30-8:00PM
Margaret Atwood on the Writer's Mind and the Digital Otherworld
Thursday, May 3, 2012, 6:00-7:30PM
Jennifer Egan on How to Create Your Own Rules
Friday, May 4, 6:00-7:30PM
Arthur Miller Freedom to Write Lecture: Salman Rushdie
Sunday, May 6, 5:00-6:00PM
SAVE 25% ON TICKETS
PEN is offering a special 25% discount to Gotham students. This offer is good for all ticketed events. (Not valid for the TimesTalk event.) To deem, simply enter the code "Literature" when purchasing tickets online at Pen.org
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If your summer schedule is too busy for a 10-week workshop, consider Gotham's two-day Writers' Weekend on Saturday and Sunday, June 23 and 24, in NYC. This is your chance to participate in two different one-day intensives during a single weekend.
We'll be offering more than a dozen different one-day intensives including:
Dialogue Writing - Food Writing - Screenwriting
Creative Writing - Fiction Writing - Memoir Writing
Children's Book Writing - Character Development - TV Writing
Humor Writing - Travel Writing - Poetry Writing
Write it Right! - Personal Essay Writing - Article Writing
WEEKEND PASS PROMOTION - SAVE $50
Register for two one-day intensives -- one on Saturday and one on Sunday -- for only $200 (plus $25 registration), a savings of $50 off of the regular combined tuition. Mix and match to get the most out of your weekend.
See complete details at Writers' Weekend.
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Check out the recent Writer's Bookshelf newsletter for a excerpts from -- and a chance to win -- great books for writers, including:
Publish Your Book: Proven Strategies and Resources for the Enterprising Author by Patricia Fry
Spark: How Creativity Works by Julie Burstein
The Poetry Toolkit: For Readers and Writers by William Harmon
Beautiful and Pointless: A Guide to Modern Poetry by David Orr
Essayists on the Essay: Montaigne to Our Time edited by Carl H. Klaus and Ned Stuckey-French
For contest details, read the Writer's Bookshelf.
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Nicky Silver’s (Pterodactyls, Raised in Captivity) delicious new Manhattan comedy THE LYONS has arrived on Broadway, after inducing riotous laughter during its sold-out run at the renowned Vineyard Theatre.
Tony Award®-winning Linda Lavin, beloved as Alice Hyatt on TV’s Alice, stars as Rita Lyons, the indomitable matriarch of a dysfunctional family at a major crossroads. Her husband is dying, her son is in a dubious relationship, her daughter is barely holding it together. And worst of all, Rita can’t figure out how to redesign her living room!
Mark Brokaw (This is Our Youth) directs a pitch-perfect cast that also includes Michael Esper (American Idiot), Kate Jennings Grant (Guys and Dolls), Dick Latessa (a Tony® winner for Hairspray), Brenda Pressley (The American Plan) and Gregory Wooddell (Cymbeline).
“The Lyons is a terrific gem. You can’t stop laughing.” – Mark Kennedy, AP
“The fabulous Linda Lavin reigns supreme.” – Ben Brantley, The New York Times
“Linda Lavin is to die for. Miss her and weep.” – Joe Dziemianowicz, The Daily News
SPECIAL OFFER*: SAVE UP TO 40% - TICKETS AS LOW AS $26.50!
> $76.25-$82.75 Orchestra & Front Mezzanine (reg. $116.50-$126.50)
> $60.00 Rear Mezzanine (reg. $86.50-96.50)
> $26.50-40.50 Balcony (reg/ $26.50-$66/50)
THREE EASY WAYS TO SAVE:
1. CALL 1-877-974-8844 and use code LYWBC327
2. VISIT BroadwayOffers.com and use code LYWBC327
3. BRING a copy of this offer to The Lyons Cort Theatre (138 W 48th St.)
> ENTER TO WIN a pair of tickets to see The Lyons on Broadway
*This offer is valid for all performances from now through 6/24/12. Blackout dates may apply. All sales final – no refunds or exchanges. Offer subject to availability and prior sale. Not valid in combination with any other offers. Offer may be revoked or modified at any time without notice. Normal service charges apply to phone and internet orders. All Prices include a $1.50 facility fee. Not applicable to previously purchased tickets.
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THE WRITER 2012 SHORT-STORY CONTEST - FINAL CALL!
Time is running out to enter The Writer 2012 Short-Story Contest. First prize is $1000 and publication in The Writer. Deadline is Monday, April 30.
MORE CONTEST NEWS
> The Writer 2012 Travel Essay Contest -- Now accepting entries.
> Six Words for the Planet -- Now accepting submissions.
> Fantasy Fiction Writing Contest -- Entry is free. Deadline is June 30.
> 2012 Family Circle Fiction Contest -- Entry is free. Deadline is September 30.
> Flannery O’Connor Award for Short Fiction Collection -- Call for entries.
> Amazon Breakthrough Novel Award -- 100 Semifinalists announced.
FOR TV AND SCREENWRITERS
> Warner Brothers Writers' Workshop -- Accepting submissions May 1 - June 1.
> 2012 Nicholl Fellowships in Screenwriting -- Now accepting submissions. Deadline is May 1.
> Final Draft Big Break Screenplay Competition -- Open for entries. Deadline is June 1.
FOR YOUNG WRITERS
> The Nation 2012 Student Writing Contest -- Call for entries. Deadline is June 30.
> Nicholas Kristof's Contest on Bullying -- Call for essays. Deadline is April 30.
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Tennessee Williams goes for broke in his final full-length play, exploring the surreal, the nefarious, and the erotic in ways never before attempted by the great American master.
The richest woman in the world, her gay husband and his young lover are thrust into a mystery world, defined by disorientation and paranoia, where they are held captive by omnipotent corporate forces. A cast of bizarre characters enters an increasingly threatening environment, and tensions reach a fever pitch as trust among the three protagonists begins to disintegrate.
This stunning production, which includes 60 state-of-the-art LED panels and a set that surrounds the audience with 360 degrees of two-way mirrors, takes its characters-and its audience-to a wholly unique theatrical realm that's every bit as thrilling as it is dangerous.
"A KALEIDOSCOPIC vision heroically assembled by David Schweizer."
- Ben Brantley, The New York Times
"FASCINATING."
- Joe Dziemianowicz, The Daily News"A Williams play gone WILD….a theatrical UFO!"
- Elisabeth Vincentelli, The New York Post
"Tennessee Williams more OUT THERE and paranoid than "usual."
- Michael Musto, The Village Voice
SPECIAL OFFER: $35 TICKETS!
Tickets only $35* (regularly $75 for Tue-Fri performances, $85 for Sat & Sun performances) THREE EASY WAYS TO SAVE:
• Online - use code RedMasks35 at MasksOutrageous.com• Call 866-811-4111 and mention code RedMasks35 • Visit Culture Project's box office (45 Bleecker St. at Lafayette St.) with a print out of this offer (hours are Tue-Fri 12-9pm; Sat 11am-3pm, 5-9pm; Sun 1-4pm)
> ENTER TO WIN a pair of tickets to see In Masks Outrageous and Austere
* Restrictions: Offer valid on select seats for select performances. Reg price $75-$85 per ticket. All prices include a $1 facility fee. All sales are final - no refunds or exchanges. Not valid in conjunction with any other offer. Offer may be revoked or modified at any time without notice. Performance schedule subject to change. Standard service fees apply to all phone and internet orders. Expires May 25th.
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 Gotham teacher Evan Rail has just seen the release of his e-book Why Beer Matters. (It’s part of the Kindle Singles series. These are works that are longer than the typical article or short story but shorter than books. Usually 30-90 pages. The works in this series are chosen by Amazon.) Why Beer Matters covers all kinds of information about beer, a subject upon which the author has written extensively in such publications as Saveur and the New York Times.
Take a sip of the opening:
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When I first started writing about beer, I wasn’t expecting much of a response. At the time I was working for a small, English-language weekly very much on the sidelines of life in the Czech Republic, and contact from readers was a relative rarity for most of the staff, often creating the impression that we were printing newspapers which no one actually read. But once I began covering beer, things changed remarkably. More and more locals started contacting me, asking my opinion of one brewery or another, or if I’d ever heard of some rare lager from way out in the backwaters of Moravian Silesia. I began getting emails from around the world, including from beer writers whose work I knew and admired. Acquaintances would tell mutual friends that while they’d always “liked” my other writing, they greatly preferred the beer articles, and they’d love it if I’d give up everything else and just focus on the pivo, a backhanded compliment that caused simultaneous grins and the gritting of teeth more than once.
Things continued on the same path, though at a greater velocity, when I left the paper and began freelancing for publications back home. A cover story I wrote about the emerging Czech beer trail was the most emailed article in The New York Times for several days, beating out political columns by Maureen Dowd and Paul Krugman in the height of an election season. Another feature, on the nascent craft beer scene in Italy, did almost as well, as did one about regional brewing styles in Germany. Faced with an unexpected and still disconcertingly unfamiliar sense of appreciation, I started asking myself why people cared.
Why did beer strike such a musical note with readers? Why did beer suddenly matter?
As I continued filing beer-themed features from around the Old World, this question came up again and again. I asked Zoigl brewers no one has ever heard of in the Bavarian hinterlands and beer-making legends like Jean-Pierre Van Roy in Brussels, as well as the people closest to me--beer geeks, beer writers and regular old beer drinkers. And I posed the question to myself more than once, asking why beer suddenly really seemed to mean something, why we were seeing such a swift groundswell of interest in the drink.
I can’t explain what beer means for everyone: as a subject, beer is too broad and deep, too varied and multiform, just like the wide public for whom it has clearly come to mean so much. But I can tell you a few things about beer that I like most myself, why beer has come to matter to me, and what I tell people when they ask why I have chosen to write about it. Over and above what’s in the glass, beer offers several compelling facets beyond its principal role as a great drink.
Beyond its obvious charms--the sugary rush of malt, the fragrant flavors of hops, the elemental calm of ethyl alcohol--the first would have to be beer’s ambiguous relationship with the passing of time.
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Copyright © 2012 by Evan Rail
For more information on Evan and his book, go here: www.evanrail.com
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