Gatherings | Issue 28

Below is a list of what I’m reading, watching, listening to.

Enjoy!

Recommended Books

I’m currently reading Flowers of Mold by Ha Seong-nan (translated by Janet Hong). It is a book of literary horror stories which is just about my favourite genre. These stories are strange and funny and beautifully written.

The Yale Review published “The Woman Next Door” from this collection.

From Open Letter Press

About the Author:

Ha Seong-nan is the author of five short story collections—including Bluebeard's First Wife and Flowers of Mold—and three novels. Over her career, she's received a number of prestigious awards, such as the Dong-in Literary Award in 1999, Hankook Ilbo Literary Prize in 2000, the Isu Literature Prize in 2004, the Oh Yeong-su Literary Award in 2008, and the Contemporary Literature (Hyundae Munhak) Award in 2009.

About the Translator:

Janet Hong is a writer and translator based in Vancouver, Canada. Her work has appeared in Brick: A Literary Journal, Literary Hub, Asia Literary Review, Words Without Borders, and the Korea Times. Her other translations include Han Yujoo's The Impossible Fairy Tale and Ancco's Bad Friends.

Recommended Music

My husband, David Poolman, and his collaborators just released their album Any-Angled Light, which is available for pre-order and which you can preview on iTunes.

PRE-ORDER ANY-ANGLED LIGHT

FOR CANADIAN PRE-ORDERS, PLEASE CONTACT US.

NMAS 014: Any-Angled Light (12" 180-gram vinyl LP and Digital Download)
Any-Angled Light 
US $20.98 / $8.99 (download)
​
Any-Angled Light is a suite of instrumental music featuring bass, guitar, piano, tenor saxophone, electronic synthesis, and field recordings. Mixing song-structures with open-ended ambient compositions, melodies with sound-collage, the seven individual tracks invoke a range of genres and influences while a breadcrumb trail of sounds and motifs scattered throughout the album builds a sense of continuity, reflecting the unifying theme of a sonic reckoning with the natural world.

Recorded by visual artists and musicians in Montreal, Toronto, and rural Ontario, these songs were constructed in a call-and-response fashion with audio sketches, drawings, photographs, text, and video sent back and forth between the players - a conversational process that began during the winter of 2020 and continued off and on over the next 2 years.
 
Any-Angled Light is Jen Dorner (piano), Alex Geddie (electronic synthesis), Mike Glendon (tenor saxophone), Kamryn McFarlane (electronic synthesis), David Poolman (bass, MIDI instruments, field recordings), Mike Vass (guitar).

I’ve been listening to Emahoy Tsege Mariam Gebru.

Recommended Poems

For a good time join the Malahat Review list serve. I’m not on the list, but I have been enjoying the fall out on social media. Here’s a found poem by Rhonda Ganz that Rob Taylor published on his blog.

“Enchantment” by Elsa von Freytag-Loringhoven, Poem-a-Day from Poets.org

Recommended Writing Contests

Room Magazine Non Fiction Contest with Judge Tajja Isen, Deadline July 15, 2023

Alicia Elliott to judge the The Ampersand Review Essay Contest - Deadline August 31, 2023

Recommended Reading

Brown & Dickson Bookstore has a bookmobile!

Big news in independent publishing in Canada! So thrilled to see a new independent press! Leigh Nash, Andrew Faulkner, and Debby de Groot starting new press! New publisher Assembly Press signals belief in books industry: ‘People still want books. I think the demand is still there’, Toronto Star

“The Needle” by Aimee Bender, Orion

“Squid Game” increased the value of Netflix by an estimated $900 million. It also made South Korean writer and director Hwang Dong-hyuk famous — but not rich. In his contract, he had forfeited all intellectual property rights and received no residuals, LA Times

AI and the threat of "human extinction": What are the tech-bros worried about? It's not you and me by Émile P. Torres, Slate

Have You Been to the Library Lately? by Nicholas Hune Brown, The Walrus

Good book news for once: Rise of the Indies: As big bookstores like Indigo struggle, independents are flourishing. Here’s why by Ghada Alsharif, Toronto Star

This is a hilarious look into essays and book publicity: I Really Didn’t Want to Write This Promotional Essay Tied to My Book Release, Lauren Acampora, Lit Hub

How Review-Bombing Can Tank a Book Before It’s Published by By Alexandra Alter and Elizabeth A. Harris, New York Times

I’ve been obsessed with my bullet journal since I started it in January. Love all the different ways that you can use them. Here’s one on creating a writer’s bullet journal.

Recommended Viewing

Whenever I’m feeling a little dead inside, I watch Umberto D. I’m not really a crier, but nothing makes me feel and cry like this film. I’ve probably watched this film more than any other.

You Hurt My Feelings was a fun watch despite a wonky third act and a story that diminished in tension as the film went on. But the premise of a writer finding out her husband hates her work is pretty spot on and hilarious. Wish the whole film lived up to the premise. But worth watching nonetheless especially if you are a writer or live with one.

Recommended Reads from SubstackCounter CraftGoodreads Has No Incentive to be GoodWhen I was getting my start as a writer, there was a mildly infamous Amazon troll who left one-star reviews on every book in the indie lit scene. (“Indie” then meant published on small literary presses not self-published on Amazon.) Seemingly a failed writer, he took his frustrations out on authors he’d never met o…Read more3 days ago · 119 likes · 49 comments · Lincoln MichelAgents and BooksHOW TO READ A LITERARY AGENCY AGREEMENTHey Friends! I’m happy to post my article from Poets & Writers on how to read a literary agency agreement. You should absolutely subscribe to the this magazine as I’ll be writing more there in the coming months! It’s a wealth of knowledge, even outside of my humble contributions…Read more2 days ago · 48 likes · 14 comments · Kate McKeanThe Audacity.Xúc độngEvery two weeks or so I am publishing an essay from an emerging writer. This week, we are publishing “Xúc động” by Gabrielle Behar Trinh. Gabrielle (she/her) is a Vietnamese and Sephardic Jewish writer (with roots in Egypt, Turkey, and Syria) who lives in California. Her writing has received support from the Hedgebrook Writer-in-Residence program and th…Read more16 hours ago · 94 likes · 16 comments · Gabrielle Behar TrinhGeorge TolesStatus Update: June 24, 2023Herman did not believe in an afterlife, but he could find countless metaphoric heaven and hell analogies within life on earth. There were, for example, so many forms of beauty lying around, waiting to be noticed, savoured, venerated, and they all qualified for Herman as pieces of Heaven in the here and now. He considered whether he should try to fit the…Read more4 days ago · 3 likes · George Toles

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