Not quite yet

In high school I listened to The Doors and their song, "The End," keeps playing in my head as I walk around Bloomington, as I sit at my desk at IR.

The last two posts have noted that poetry and fiction will close for the summer as Indiana Review slows down with only two editors holding down the fort. Not only are submissions closing, but my time as editor is coming to a close as well...but not quite the end yet! We still have 3 weeks before the official changing of the guard and 2 weeks until those submissions are closed (so get on it, and send us your work!). Still, less then a month left to wrap things up is making me me nostalgic.

So what does one do when they are feeling nostalgic and looking forward to the activities of the next three weeks. Why read poetry of course! Here's a poem for the occasion:

Be Drunk
by Charles Baudelaire
translated by Louis Simpson

You have to be always drunk. That's all there is to it—it's the only way. So as not to feel the horrible burden of time that breaks your back and bends you to the earth, you have to be continually drunk.

But on what? Wine, poetry or virtue, as you wish. But be drunk.

And if sometimes, on the steps of a palace or the green grass of a ditch, in the mournful solitude of your room, you wake again, drunkenness already diminishing or gone, ask the wind, the wave, the star, the bird, the clock, everything that is flying, everything that is groaning, everything that is rolling, everything that is singing, everything that is speaking. . .ask what time it is and wind, wave, star, bird, clock will answer you: "It is time to be drunk! So as not to be the martyred slaves of time, be drunk, be continually drunk! On wine, on poetry or on virtue as you wish."

All my IR love,

Alessandra

Poetry Submissions Closing: April 30th

Poetry peoples,

We will be closing our poetry submissions for the summer. Please submit by April 30th.

Submissions will reopen September 1st.

Best,

Keith

Fiction Submissions Closing 4/30

Hey All,
 
The current reading period for fiction at Indiana Review will come to an end on April 30th. Please submit before the deadline.



-Kurian

Blue Light Reading Series 2011!

We had a spectacular turnout for the first Blue Light Reading Series on March 25! (More photos can be viewed on our Facebook page.)

We were honored to have poets Curtis Bauer, Steve Scafidi, and Erika Meitner read their illuminating work. The event also featured three splendid broadsides crafted by IU students. Our sincerest thanks to everyone -- attendees, sponsors, and of course, our gracious guests! We hope to continue the series and the celebration.

dk

Congratulations are in order

On this rainy and thundery day Indiana is soaked and looking a little ominous.  But we have something to celebrate! Jessica Westhead, contributor for issue 32.1 with the story "We Are All About Wendy Now" just came out with a new short story collection, called And Also Sharks.  I can't wait to read it. And such a cool cover! Here is the synopsis.

The forlornly funny stories in And Also Sharks celebrate the socially awkward, the insecure, the unfulfilled, and the obsessed.

A disgruntled follower of a self-esteem blog posts a rambling critical comment. On the hunt for the perfect coffee table, a pregnant woman and her husband stop to visit his terminally ill ex-wife. The office cat lady reluctantly joins her fellow employees’ crusade to cheer up their dying co-worker. A man grieving his wife’s miscarriages follows his deluded friend on a stealth photo-taking mission at the Auto Show. A shoplifter creates her own narrative with stolen anecdotes and a kidnapped baby.

In this collection, society’s misfits and losers are portrayed sympathetically, and sometimes even heroically. As desperately as these characters long to fit in, they also take pride in what sets them apart.

And Also Sharks, my new short story collection, ended up being scheduled for a spring publication instead of fall, and it's out now!

http://www.cormorantbooks.com/titles/andalsosharks.shtml

 

(It's not currently being sold in the States, but it is available outside of Canada, through Amazon.)

Great Expectations

On Expectations (And A Writer's Lack Of Same)

I want to recommend S.J. Culver's post on getting rejected from a journal he submitted to 838 days prior and how it caused him to rethink his feelings about the disappointment that seems to come inherently in the submission process. My times as fiction editor at the Indiana Review is almost up, and I've gotten the chance to read some enjoyable stories that have not made it into the journal. I've been thinking lately about how the process of submitting and being rejected takes a toll on a writer's mind. Even though we shouldn't, we feel disappointed, angry, even confused, and Culver's post helped to put it into perspective.

-Kurian

Poetry on the Interwebs: How a Poem Happens Blog

Poetry Peoples,

In this week's installment of our sometimes series on websites featuring poetry, we bring you Brian Brodeur's "How a Poem Happens."

The blog follows a pretty standard, but largely effective, structure. Each week, Mr. Brodeur interviews a new poet about one of his or her poems asking the same fifteen questions about the piece's generation, its editing process, whether the poet considers it "narrative" or "lyric," and whether or not the poet feels the piece was "finished" or "abandoned." This uniform formatting of the interview actually helps make each interview distinct, as it points to the unique lens each poet brings to their thinking of poetry. Moreover, Mr. Brodeur seems tapped into a vein of exciting new poets such as Nicky Beer, Adrian Blevins, Todd Boss, Traci Brimhall, Matthew Dickman... (and that's just up to the D's).

This week's interview coincidently features Ross Gay, an instructor here at IU and damn good poet. Well worth checking out. Click on the picture to do so.

Be well,

Keith