R.B. Lemberg's Blog, page 34
May 1, 2012
“Seven Losses of Na Re” + a poetry review
“Seven Losses of Na Re,” my magic realist short story about Soviet Jews, was sent to subscribers of Daily Science Fiction today. It will appear on the website a week later.
And… Mythic Delirium 26 has been reviewed at Tor.com; my poem “The Journeymaker in Kestai” was among ones highlighted:
Rose Lemberg’s “The Journeymaker in Kestai” is a short but powerful piece with echoes of Orpheus — being unable to look back to see if the “he” of the poem is following, the narrator must continue their journey, knowing only that they have asked him to follow. Lemberg’s gift for poetic language is on display in lines like “I am walking, / my steps forgetting my feet […],” where words shift slightly to illuminate a sideways sort of meaning.
Originally published at RoseLemberg.net. You can comment here or there.
April 30, 2012
Im nin'alu
It is often sung at weddings, and there is a famous version of it by Ofra Haza:
The original poem has stanzas in Hebrew and Arabic (Yemenite dialects of both), but the performances I am finding only have the Hebrew. Here's the text for those interested (Jewish Arabic is written in Hebrew letters). If this is of interest, I can try to translate the Hebrew parts later today, though I cannot do the Arabic, alas.
There are additional mp3 recordings of this song on the Piyut website, but I do not see a way to link to individual songs.
April 27, 2012
Livejournal is being finicky
Rhonda Chestnutt, who works for a leadership program at the University of Colorado, was pumping coins into a parking meter shortly before 8 a.m. Thursday when she felt shaggy fur brush up against her legs. (etc., etc.)
No bears have been spotted on my campus. Yet.
April 19, 2012
My Wiscon schedule
Moderator: Rose Lemberg.
Come join the authors of the "The Moment of Change" for an open mic evening in celebration of the first-ever anthology of feminist speculative poetry! "The Moment of Change" is edited by Rose Lemberg and forthcoming from Aqueduct press, and includes poems by Ursula K. Le Guin, Nisi Shawl, Amal El-Mohtar, Delia Sherman, Vandana Singh. Bring your own feminist speculative poems to read, and join Rose Lemberg, Shira Lipkin, Sofia Samatar, and Alex Dally MacFarlene for an open mic extravaganza to celebrate the release of the anthology and feminist speculative poetry in general.
Note: THERE WILL BE COOKIES AND SUCH FOR the MoC READING ATTENDEES. PLEASE BRING YOUR FRIENDS!
Crossing boundaries and bending genres: Meet the Interstitial Arts Foundation Sat, 2:30–3:45 pm Caucus
Moderator: Larissa N. Niec. with Ellen Kushner, Rose Lemberg, Shira Lipkin, JoSelle Vanderhooft.
The Interstitial Arts Foundation (IAF) is a non-profit organization dedicated to the study, support, and promotion of interstitial art: literature, music, visual and performance art found in-between categories and genres--art that crosses borders. One of the specific goals of the IAF is to foster conversations among artists, academics, critics, and enthusiasts--conversations in which art of all types can be spoken of as a continuum, rather than as a series of hermetically sealed genres. Currently, the IAF is seeking to grow and develop new projects. In this town meeting-style session, we seek input from (1) artists and writers about ways in which the IAF might be of value to them as they seek to promote their boundary-crossing work, and (2) readers and enthusiasts about needs they perceive for the support of literature and other art forms that expand the conventional boundaries of gender and other restricting borders.
The Wild Ones reading Sat, 4:00–5:15 pm Conference 2
Rose Lemberg, Shira Lipkin, Alex Dally MacFarlane, Patty Templeton.
Q: "Hey Jane, what are you rebelling against?" A: "Whadda you got?" Rose Lemberg writes about liminal identities, naming magic, languages, and birds. Shira Lipkin will bring you to the home you never knew you'd lost. Alex Dally MacFarlane lives and works in London, where the foxes cross paths with her at night. Patty Templeton writes hellpunk in a hand-basket, full of ghosts, freaks, and fools. Join four women of varied writing styles for a ruckus of a reading.
Class Culture and Values in SF&F Sun, 1:00–2:15 pm Conference 5
Moderator: Debbie Notkin. With Debbie Notkin, Eleanor A. Arnason, Alyc Helms, ANONYMOUS, Rose Lemberg.
Class isn't just how much money you have or what work you do; it also involves cultural beliefs, values, and attitudes that are expressed in how you talk, what you do in your free time, and all sorts of less tangible elements. (See Barbara Jensen's book Reading Classes: On Culture and Classism in America, due out in mid-May.) The SF&F writing and fannish communities are mainly middle class folks, which makes the class values of SF&F works mostly middle class, too. What works and creators explore classes outside the mainstream, white, European, middle-class value systems? What class markers tend to show up most, or least, often? Do these works show the non-middle classes positively? negatively? realistically?
People, please recommend SFF books for me to read that would be great to discuss during the class culture panel. :-)
April 16, 2012
Honorable Mentions
Ellen Datlow posted a full list of honorable mentions for The Best Horror of the Year, volume 4. I am listed for two things:
Lemberg, Rose. “A Mother Goes Between,” Jabberwocky, July.
Lemberg, Rose. “If I had Reb Yoel’s Violin,” (poem) Inkscrawl #1.
The following Stone Telling poems were honorably mentioned:
Austin, Alec. “The Vigil,” (poem) Stone Telling #4.
Coffin, Lyn. “Chute,” (poem) Stone Telling #6.
El-Mohtar, Amal. “Pieces,” (poem) Stone Telling #4.
Taaffe, Sonya. “Persephone in Hel,” (poem) Stone Telling #3.
Congratulations to these wonderful poets!
In addition, Bogi Takács included my BCS novelette “Held Close in Syllables of Light” in her “Virtual Anthology – Best of Online SF 2011“:
“A beautifully crafted fantasy novelette with an interesting take on magic. Probably my worldbuilding favorite of the year.”
Thank you, Bogi. The rest of her list is delicious; I would buy this.
Originally published at RoseLemberg.net. You can comment here or there.
April 9, 2012
Best Fan Writer Hugos - and women writers
In Cat's previously linked powerful entry on how blog writers' gender affects people's reactions to blog posts, a male reader said that "Scalzi elevated [Valente's] post to the level of social commentary when he linked to it." (the guy has since apologized, but what's relevant is the sentiment here: Scalzi, a man, has the magical powurrs to elevate a post by Valente, a woman, to the level of social commentary. Because without that male validation - you get it.
Let's do an exercise, shall we? Hugo Awards Ballot for Best Fan Writer, 2012:
James BaconClaire BrialeyChristopher J. GarciaJim C. HinesSteven H SilverYay, there is a woman on that list! But wait,
Hugo Awards Ballot for Best Fan Writer, 2011:Claire BrialeyChristopher J GarciaSteven H SilverJames BaconJames NicollNotice what happened here? The same woman was the only woman on the 2011 ballot (and won).
But wait, that's not all!
Hugo Awards Ballot for Best Fan Writer, 2010:
Frederik PohlClaire BrialeyChristopher J GarciaJames NicollLloyd PenneyMy people, I am not making this up.
Hugo Awards Ballot for Best Fan Writer, 2009:
Cheryl MorganDave LangfordChris GarciaSteven H SilverJohn HertzBehold the pattern. Behold it.
Hugo Awards Ballot for Best Fan Writer, 2008:John ScalziDavid LangfordCheryl MorganSteven H SilverChris GarciaAnd then we arrive at:
Hugo Awards Ballot for Best Fan Writer, 2007:Dave LangfordJohn ScalziJohn HertzSteven H SilverChris GarciaI think five years is enough, no? So here's a thought. If you are voting for the Hugo, please consider other names as well. For example, please consider voting for Cat Valente for Best Fan Writer, because she wrote enough powerful and important posts by now to qualify, don't you think? And there are other women who do wonderful work as fan writers in genre.
So. If you are a male writer/blogger and have some clout, please consider promoting Valente and other women bloggers for the next year's Hugo's. The last time there were two women in this category was in 2006 (not surprisingly, Cheryl Morgan and Claire Brialey). Can we perhaps have more than one in 2013, please?
Tor.com review of Stone Telling 7
Brit Mandelo reviewed the Queer Issue of Stone Telling on Tor.com.
Yes. Tor.com. (Taking yet another moment to recover…)
The variety of speakers and tales-told in these poems is fabulous, inspiring, and evocative. In the closing roundtable discussion, Julia Rios interviews the contributors on their work, their identities, and why they've contributed to this issue of Stone Telling; the answers are as varied as their poems, and contribute a deeper layer of interpretation for me as a reader. The inclusion of several genderqueer poems alongside poems about such things as a woman astronaut's wife embroidering her spacesuit before her mission, a trans man negotiating the gendered symbolism of moons and reproductive organs, and the performance of gender with regards to appearance — among other things — is particularly pleasing. Lemberg and Narayan's editorial choices illustrate a wide range of bridges and acts of bridging between silence and speech — the secondary theme of this collection of queer speculative poetry.
So… I know it's not going to come out particularly dignified…. but …SQUEEE!!!!
Thank you so much, Brit.
Originally published at RoseLemberg.net. You can comment here or there.
The Moment of Change – First Review!
The first and very positive review of MoC just came out at Cascadia Subduction Zone. The reviewer is Rachel Swirsky, who writes:
As the first anthology of its kind, The Moment of Change takes on the project of defining its own genre. Lemberg aspires toward a feminist speculative poetry that is diverse and adaptable. [...] Before women can sing, they must first find their voices. In the poems of The Moment of Change, the right to speak is rarely taken for granted. It’s contested, anxious territory that women must fight to access. [...] [The anthology's] true heft is in how it contributes to the feminist conversation by putting these diverse poems in tension with each other, revealing how the feminist speculative poetry movement uses words to describe oppression and incite revolution.
Rachel highlights poems by Lisa Bradley, Amal El-Mohtar, Yoon Ha Lee, Emily Jiang, Sofia Rhei, JoSelle Vanderhooft, and JT Stewart, among others.
(I am glad reviewers are highlighting specific poems – I personally wouldn’t know what to highlight out of the sheer desire to highlight them all. )
This issue of CSZ is dedicated to poetry. So far I enjoyed poems by Emily Jiang and Michele Bannister; and I especially recommend Amal El-Mohtar’s review of Sonya Taaffe’s beautiful A Mayse-Bikhl, and Eileen Gunn’s review of JT Stewart’s Promised Lands: Poems From The Sovereign Of Dishpan Sonnets. JT Stewart is incredible, and her poetry is incredible, and I hope you will feel the same way when you read her work in MoC!
Originally published at RoseLemberg.net. You can comment here or there.
The Moment of Change – First Review!
The first and very positive review of MoC just came out at Cascadia Subduction Zone. The reviewer is Rachel Swirsky, who writes:
As the first anthology of its kind, The Moment of Change takes on the project of defining its own genre. Lemberg aspires toward a feminist speculative poetry that is diverse and adaptable. [...] Before women can sing, they must first find their voices. In the poems of The Moment of Change, the right to speak is rarely taken for granted. It's contested, anxious territory that women must fight to access. [...] [The anthology's] true heft is in how it contributes to the feminist conversation by putting these diverse poems in tension with each other, revealing how the feminist speculative poetry movement uses words to describe oppression and incite revolution.
Rachel highlights poems by Lisa Bradley, Amal El-Mohtar, Yoon Ha Lee, Emily Jiang, Sofia Rhei, JoSelle Vanderhooft, and JT Stewart, among others.
(I am glad reviewers are highlighting specific poems – I personally wouldn't know what to highlight out of the sheer desire to highlight them all. )
This issue of CSZ is dedicated to poetry. So far I enjoyed poems by Emily Jiang and Michele Bannister; and I especially recommend Amal El-Mohtar's review of Sonya Taaffe's beautiful A Mayse-Bikhl, and Eileen Gunn's review of JT Stewart's Promised Lands: Poems From The Sovereign Of Dishpan Sonnets. JT Stewart is incredible, and her poetry is incredible, and I hope you will feel the same way when you read her work in MoC!
Originally published at RoseLemberg.net. You can comment here or there.
The Moment of Change – Reading
So, the Moment of Change is almost here. It will be released at Wiscon, and I am organizing an open-mic reading to celebrate the anthology. You do not have to be a MoC contributor to participate in the open-mic reading! Everyone is welcome! Here is the description:
Come join the authors of the “The Moment of Change” for an open mic evening in celebration of the first-ever anthology of feminist speculative poetry! “The Moment of Change” is edited by Rose Lemberg and forthcoming from Aqueduct press, and includes poems by Ursula K. Le Guin, Nisi Shawl, Amal El-Mohtar, Delia Sherman, Vandana Singh. Bring your own feminist speculative poems to read, and join Rose Lemberg, Shira Lipkin, Sofia Samatar, and Alex Dally MacFarlene for an open mic extravaganza to celebrate the release of the anthology and feminist speculative poetry in general.
The reading will take place on Friday, May 25th, at 9:00–10:15 pm at Michelangelo’s near the Concourse Hotel in Madison, Wisconsin. For more information about Wiscon, visit their website.
If you are attending Wiscon and are a fan of speculative poetry, or are curious about it, please consider participating – and if you are so inclined, please spread the word!
Originally published at RoseLemberg.net. You can comment here or there.
