The Arkansas Programs in Creative Writing & Translation: Weblog

Steve Elliott is a pretty famous guy. Most know him as the best man at Geoff and Padma's wedding. Others know him as a hard-luck poker player. And a few know him as the author of terrific books like Happy Baby, A Life Without Consequences, and My Girlfriend Comes to the City and Beats Me Up. However you know him, you should know that he has a new book coming out in the fall, called The Adderall Diaries: A Memoir of Moods, Masochism, and Murder, written almost entirely under the influence. And he's willing to mail YOU an advance copy.

Third-year student Johnathon Williams's poem "Sapphics for a Dead Porn Star" has been accepted for a future issue of Unsplendid.

Second-year student Ashley McHugh's poem "From Tuliptrees" has been accepted for a forthcoming issue of Able Muse.

Second-year student Ashley McHugh's poem "Deer Hunting" has been accepted by Memorious.

Ashley has also just received a full scholarship to attend the West Chester University Poetry Conference this summer, where she's enrolled in Dana Gioia's Master Class.

Third-year poet Chloë Honum has won a full tuition scholarship to attend the New York State Summer Writer's Institute.

The current issue of The New York Review of Books contains a nice review, by Tim Parks, of Geoff Brock's recent translation of Carlo Collodi's Pinocchio:

[Collodi's] achievement here was to tap into the zany spirit of Tuscan humor to deliver a Pinocchio who swings alarmingly between lies and candor, generous sentiment and cruel mockery, good intentions and zero staying power. Geoffrey Brock's accomplishment in his excellent new translation is to get that spirit across in English.

The Rumpus.net is having a book review competition open to all undergraduate and graduate students.

First prize: $200 and publication in The Rumpus.
Second prize: $100 and publication in The Rumpus.
Third prize: Publication in The Rumpus.

There is no fee to enter. Book reviews must be at least 600 words (no longer than 1,500 words) and concern literary fiction, creative non-fiction, or memoir. The publication date of the book is irrelevant.

The deadline to submit your review is June 1, 2009. Please email book reviews to: bookreview@therumpus.net.

The Rumpus is a new online literary magazine focusing on culture rather than "pop culture."