We were excited to learn that the venerable independent press 2 Dollar Radio—which has brought out deeply original contemporary classics such as Rudolph Wurlitzer’s Drop Edge of Yonder—has announced its latest acquisition: Baby Geisha, by the consistently fascinating author, journalist, and editor Trinie Dalton, whose books include the excellent collection of So-Cal fantasia and horror Wide-Eyed. The new story collection will come out in January 2012.
Magazine editor, radio host, and novelist Kurt Andersen might be able to add another skill to his resume: urban planning. He wants to turn part of his Brooklyn neighborhood’s Carroll Park into a piazza. We think it’s a good idea.
A few highlights from this year’s AWP: We saw the chaotic and charismatic Blake Butler thrown out of a bar on Thursday night (awesome!). We bought a coffee mug from the people who bring you the Rumpus, which bears the caption: “Write like a motherfucker!” We picked up a galley of Us by the underrated novelist Michael Kimball. And we got a sneak preview of “Save the World,” an mp3 of a poem by Ariana Reines (The Cow), read by actor Lili Taylor, which will soon be available at the Fence Books website.
Gordon Lish—the infamous former Knopf editor who made Raymond Carver Raymond Carver and taught writers including Amy Hempel, Gary Lutz, and Sam Lipsyte—pays homage to novelist Eugene Marten’s Firework on Youtube.
Elizabeth Spiers has taken over The New York Observer.
