Common Boundary: Stories of Immigration

We are finished proofreading and copy editing Common Boundary: Stories of Immigration (but for some technical details we want to double-check). The next step is finalizing the cover and getting everything to the printer (perhaps in the next few weeks).

We are excited about this book, for many reasons: the rich and enduring theme (how it touches virtually everyone); the extraordinary beauty of the writing – much of it is quite moving; the humor, candor, and insight. The truth of the book is vibrating with color. As you might imagine, language comes up quite often, as does food. These are essential, fundamental stories that really hit home, that really get to some basic, core issues about all of us.

We could go on, but let’s all just wait a little longer until the book is out. One of our readers said that he was “impressed with the quality and variety of the writing.” That is true, but when you read the book through (as we have done many times over the course of the past weeks), the coherence of the sequence is such that we all have made more than an anthology – this is a real, solid book that has shape, that moves and builds to a conclusion.

We love our writers, and all of them should take pride in their work and their accomplishments. Just to give you a peek, here is the sequence of contributors/contents:

- Fredericka A. Jacks, Preface; - Jason Dubow, Foreword; - Patty Somlo, “How He Made It Across”; - Cassandra Lewis, “Pedro’s Monologue from Migrations”; - George Rabasa, “The Unmasking of El Santo” and “La Santa Papa”; - Rivka Keren, “Islamorada”; - Janice Eidus, “The Color of Cinnamon”; - Mitch Levenberg, “The Plain Brown Envelopes”; - Ruth Sabath Rosenthal, “Into the Light: Safe Haven 1944”; - Rivka Keren, “They Set Sail in Springtime”; - John Guzlowski, “Wooden Trunk from Buchenwald”; - Dagmara J. Kurcz, “Cheekago”; - Rewa Zeinati, “Beginning in the Midwest”; - Roy Jacobstein, “Emigrées,” “Ceremony,” “Passover,” and “Beyond the Gauze Curtain”; - Ruth Knafo Setton, “Living Between Question Marks” and “My Father Eats Figs”; - Eva Konstantopoulos, “Fig”; - Nahid Rachlin, “What We Call Home”; - M. Neelika Jayawardane, “Pass”; - Omer Hadžiselimović, “An Immigrant’s Deal: Two Lives for the Price of One”; - Muriel Nelson, “Exodus,” “The Widow Kramer,” “Emotional,” “Uneasy Space,” and from Pieces; - Azarin A. Sadegh, “Being a Foreigner”; - Tim Nees, “Blue Painted Field.”

Back to work . . . and nearing completion . . .

Report on First Bibliotekos Reading - With Photos

The first Bibliotekos Reading (22 April 2010 at St. Francis College, Brooklyn) was a smashing success! Some of the contributors to the anthology Pain and Memory gathered to read their selections and talk about the process of writing – whether one writes longhand or on computer, the necessity of having a notebook at hand, the demands on one's time and yet the call to write. The open panel session after the reading was quite stimulating. The audience was alive with comments and queries. There were questions about influences and favorite authors (many cited W.B. Yeats); a discussion about the idea of truth – the importance of truth – in remembering and writing accurately; the concern about engaging readers in otherwise morbid subjects; the difficulty of reaching an interested audience who might, simply, not realize their own desire and need to read literary writing. There was ample opportunity to meet with the writers in the theater lobby, both before and after the reading; books were signed and sold; lots of connections and new literary friends were made. We hope to have a similar reading, next year, for Common Boundary: Stories of Immigration (expected June 2010).

The Program ran as follows (not counting some preliminaries by Brother Edward Wesley, Ph.D., chair of the English Department at St. Francis College, Fredericka A. Jacks, publisher, and Gregory F. Tague, Ph.D., general editor):

MITCH LEVENBERG, “Butterflies and Lepers.”

RUTH SABATH ROSENTHAL, “A Good Stiff Breeze,” “I Ate My Mother’s Hair,” “Logan Square East.”

ANNE WHITEHOUSE, “Rose’s Dream,” “After the Accident.”

LYNNE SHAPIRO, “Souvenir,” “Your Dead Mother.”

ANIQUE TAYLOR, “The Strangeness of April 1969.”

~ Here are some photographs (taken during the Q&A session):

~ Mitch Levenberg and Anne Whitehouse

~ Lynne Shapiro

~ Anique Taylor
(and her poodle, Nesha, if you look closely)

~ Ruth Sabath Rosenthal

Meet Mitch Levenberg

On 22 April 2010 St. Francis College, Brooklyn Heights (NY - 4pm to 6pm), will host in its Maroney Theater (7th floor) readings by some of the contributors to the book Pain and Memory (currently discounted on Amazon). Mitch Levenberg, a writer of existentially absurd stories with a voice that is ironically humorous, is one of those readers. Come to the reading and meet Mitch – start by reading about him here. Scroll down for blog/bios. on the other readers (Lynne Shapiro, Ruth Sabath Rosenthal, Anique Taylor, and Anne Whitehouse).

Writer, essayist, and teacher Mitch Levenberg has published essays and short fiction in such journals as The Common Review, Fiction, The New Delta Review, Fine Madness, The Saint Ann’s Review, Confluence, The Assisi Journal, and others. His collection of stories, Principles of Uncertainty and Other Constants was published in March 2006. He has won two Honorable Mention Awards (2004, 2009) for his essays on his father’s experiences in the Philippines during the Second World War. One of these essays, “Butterflies and Lepers,” was published in the anthology Pain and Memory (2009). He is currently working on a book of poetry entitled, Transformational Love.

Mitch Levenberg has read many of his stories on WNYE-91.5 in New York City and has performed readings at many venues around New York City including the 63rd Street Y, KGB, Hudson View Gardens, Jimmy’s 43, The Brooklyn Heights Public Library, the N.Y.U. Torch Club and others.

The critic Alfred Kazin has said of Mitch Levenberg that he “has the sharp, merciless eye for the hazards that can intervene in the seemingly most innocuous situation. He is utterly fearless in describing the human situation as it is.”

Mitch teaches creative writing and literature at St. Francis College and New York University and lives in Brooklyn with his wife, daughter, and four dogs.

Meet Lynne Shapiro

On 22 April 2010 St. Francis College, Brooklyn Heights (NY - 4pm to 6pm), will host in its Maroney Theater (7th floor) readings by some of the contributors to the book Pain and Memory (currently discounted on Amazon). Lynne Shapiro has but one poem, “Souvenir,” in the anthology, but this tiny gem of a story epitomizes best what the book seeks to explore – the complex nexus between momentary, physical experience and the long stretch of human recall. Come to the reading and meet Lynne – start by reading the history of her writing life here, in her own words. Scroll down for blog/bios. on some other readers (Anique Taylor, Anne Whitehouse, and Ruth Sabath Rosenthal); there is one more blog/bio. yet to come in the next few days.

Poet and essayist Lynne Shapiro has had work published in Apparatus Magazine, BluePrintReview, Centrifugal Eye, FragLit: An Online Magazine of Fragmentary Writing, Hiss Quarterly, The Mom Egg, Mslexia, Ozone Park, Qarrtsiluni, Quay, Soundzine, Switchback, Terrain.org, Trespass, Umbrella, and included in the following anthologies: Decomposition: Fungi-inspired Poems (Lost Horse Press), Eating Her Wedding Dress, A Collection of Clothing Poems, (Ragged Sky Press), and Mourning Sickness – Stories and Poems About Miscarriage, Stillbirth and Infant Loss, (Omni Arts Press). This year Lynne was a featured poet in East-West Magazine of Bicoastal Verse and was nominated for a Pushcart Prize.

If I didn’t have my family, I don’t think I would write. They give me love and security, keep me from other pre-occupations. Not so long ago, I was driven to the brink of madness by the handsome, smiling men you see in the photo. At the same time, I felt my world and my position in it had shriveled. I told myself to “get a life,” walked down to a local writing group and, after decades of promising myself I would one day write, I did just that. I started with children’s books. Ever practical, I wanted my writing to be useful - but then the poetry began to flow. After years of teaching and talking about poetry and art, I finally allowed myself to become an artist.

Poetry has enabled me to connect and collect all of myself in one place, I’ve written poems about where I’ve lived (Ozone Park, Queens; Culver City, California; Waltham, Massachusetts; Santa Fe, New Mexico; Hoboken, New Jersey), where I’ve worked (as a teacher, museum educator, editor) and about what I’ve studied (passiflora, shade gardening, ornithology, 20th Century art, Dada and Surrealist literature, cinema, photography).

In a way, when I write, I curate. For me, each poem is a tiny exhibition.

Meet Ruth Sabath Rosenthal

On 22 April 2010 St. Francis College, Brooklyn Heights (NY - 4pm to 6pm), will host in its Maroney Theater (7th floor) readings by some of the contributors to the book Pain and Memory (currently discounted 28% on Amazon). Ruth Sabath Rosenthal, a poet of astonishing breadth and depth who writes on many subjects (and at times, not without humor), is one of those contributors. Come to the reading and meet Ruth – start by reading about her here. Scroll down for blog/bios. on some other readers (Anique Taylor and Anne Whitehouse), and there are a few more blog/bios. coming in the next week or so.

Ruth Sabath Rosenthal is a New York poet, residing in Manhattan and Long Beach, Long Island with her husband Alfred and their dog Sweetie-Pie. Ruth began writing poetry in her golden years, in 2000, after becoming disinterested in occasional painting. It’s then she got her first computer and signed up for her very first poetry class. She quickly became hooked on poetry, and continued taking classes and workshops in New York City, mostly at the 92nd Street Y, famous for their fine courses and roster of renowned instructors. Ruth also studied privately with some of her teachers, including Rahel Wetzsteon and Sarah Hannah, both of whom have since passed; their poetry, though, lives on, inspiring Ruth’s work.

That body of work includes dozens and dozens of poems published in numerous poetry journals and anthologies throughout the U.S., and internationally, including the U.K., India, Israel and Canada. Ruth gives readings locally and her first Chapbook, titled Facing Home, published by Finishing Line Press is due this summer; her first full-length book is in the works. Attesting to her talent and very wide appeal, here are poetry journals and anthologies in which Ruth’s poems have appeared:

Journals: Adagio; Aurorean; Birmingham Review; Breadcrumb Scabs; California; Quarterly’s Poetry Letter & Literary Review; Canopic Jar; Chronogram Magazine; Connecticut Review; Creations Magazine; Cyclamens & Swords (Israel); Ibbetson Street; Jabberwock; Juke Jar; Lilith; Magnapoets; Message in a Bottle (U.K.); MungBeing; Mobius-The Poetry Magazine; The Long Island Quarterly-Poetry Bay; Pacific Review; Poetica; Poetry Depth Quarterly; Quill & Parchment; Sarasvati (U.K.); Taj Mahal Review (India); Vallum (Canada).

Anthologies: Empty Shoes (Popcorn Press); Harvest of the New Millennium (Cyberwit.net); Home (Eden Waters Press); The Long Island Sound: 2008, 2009 (North Sea Poetry Scene Press); Mizmor L'David Anthology: Volume I - Holocaust (Poetica Press); Pain and Memory (Editions Bibliotekos); primal sanities! -- a Tribute to Walt Whitman (Allbooks Books); Songs of Seasoned Women (Quadrasoul, Inc.); The Book of Ten (Zebra Publishing) (U.K.); Voices Israel: 2007, 2008, 2009.

Ruth’s poem “on yet another birthday,” was nominated for a Pushcart prize in October 2006.

For more on Ruth, visit websites: Here, Here, or Here (last includes video).

Meet Anique Taylor

On 22 April 2010 St. Francis College, Brooklyn Heights (NY - 4pm to 6pm), will host in its Maroney Theater (7th floor) readings by some of the contributors to Pain and Memory (currently discounted 28% on Amazon). Anique Taylor, a gifted visual artist and multi-faceted writer, is one of those contributors. Come to the reading and meet Anique – read about her here, in her own words.

Artist, poet, clown, life coach, Anique Taylor lives in her sweet mountain hamlet (with her 5lb black rescue poodle) where she works full time making art and writing poetry, creative memoir, and personal essays.

Anique Taylor ran away to Paris where she studied literature (Sorbonne, Diplome); afterward she graduated high school (Greenwich), studied literature (Antioch College), and then taught creative writing to Jr. High Students on a co-op job, Angeles Crest Mountains.

Anique studied art – Silvermine College (AFA) Cooper Union, Pratt Institute, (BFA Highest Honors), and Pratt Graduate School (MFA ). Anique also studied at St. Mark’s Poetry Project with Alice Notely, Bernadette Mayer, and Susie Timmons; subsequently she gave featured readings at St. Mark’s Poetry Project, Dixon Place, Speakeasy, ABC No Rio, Cedar Tavern, and performed regularly with Eve Packer’s What Happens Next, in group readings at St. Mark’s Poetry Project, Tompkin’s Square Arts Festival, New Romantics, Charas, Knitting Factory, Bergen County Literary Salon, Ridgewood Library, and Phoenicia Phirst Phriday.

With Etan Ben-Ami Anique edited the much acclaimed (& short lived) poetry magazine, The Cheap Review of Poetry, publishing several wonderful poets, such as Alice Notley, Bill Kushner, Elinor Nauen, Sheila Alson, Norman MacAfee, Peter Bushyeager, Tom Savage, and Bernadette Mayer.

Anique created a children’s show, performing as Pirouette-the-Clown in & around NYC, Bergen County. Her chapbook Poems is published by Unimproved Editions Press. Additionally, her poems have been published in The World, Sing O Heavenly Muse, Cheap Review, Big Fish, Southern Review, Cover Magazine, Pome, What Happens Next, and The National Poetry Magazine of the Lower East Side.

As well as literary writing, Anqiue has many co-authored books such as the Computer Joke Book, (Hayden), What to Do When You’re Bored, (Simon & Schuster), Snakes!, Bears! (EMC), How Many Nerds Does It Take to Screw in a Light Bulb?, Book of Silly Quizzes, (Scholastic), Nightmare Nina (Bowmar/Noble), and the filmstrips, Arachne & Athena, Atalanta, Prometheus & Pandora, (January Productions).

Anique also co-authored ABZ’s of Sex & Love (HBO), Bless Me Father for I Have Sinned, produced by Playwright’s Horizons, Phoenix Theatre, Williamstown Playhouse. She has also performed with the comedy group Raw Guts & American Know How.

In her sweet mountain hamlet, Anique continues to write & make art.

Meet Anne Whitehouse

On 22 April 2010 St. Francis College, Brooklyn Heights (NY - 4pm to 6pm), will host in its Maroney Theater (7th floor) readings by some of the contributors to Pain and Memory (currently discounted on Amazon). Anne Whitehouse, a gifted poet and novelist, is one of those contributors. Come to the reading and meet Anne - read about her here, in her own words. Over the course of approximately the next two weeks, we will roll out short blog-bios. of our other four remarkable writers who will be reading at St. Francis College.

Poet, fiction writer, journalist, and critic Anne Whitehouse’s books include poetry collections The Surveyor’s Hand, Blessings and Curses, Bear in Mind (forthcoming) and Fall Love (novel). Her second novel, Rosalind’s Ring, is set in her native Birmingham. Visit Anne's homepage: http://www.annewhitehouse.com/

EARLY LITERARY INFLUENCES
My grandmothers were early literary influences. My mother’s mother Dora Landau Roth was a strong personality and natural storyteller who mesmerized my sisters and me with her tales about her cat and dog when she was growing up. Princie and L.C. (for Landau’s cat) were delightfully mischievous creatures invariably up to no good, who cleverly outsmarted their owners to achieve their ends. How we loved Grandma’s stories! She was a dramatic, thrilling narrator; while I have forgotten many of the details, I vividly remember the effective use of repetition and skillful pacing that combined expectation and surprise.

My father’s mother Rachel Spivak Cherner was the opposite—a shy immigrant who never learned how to speak English without an accent. Yet, when I was not more than three years old, she and I would escape the rest of the family, and she would read aloud the fairy tales I selected for her. As soon as I could read, she encouraged my desire to learn with weekly gifts of The Books of Knowledge, a series for children that I adored, which she bought at the grocery store.

My father’s mother died when I was only nine, leaving the memory of her love as a comfort. As my interest in writing developed, my other grandmother put herself at my service. An expert typist, she typed my class play in the sixth grade. When I began to compose poetry, she was my first family reader. That she accepted this role so willingly boosted my confidence and helped to inspire me. She died when I was 25 years old and engaged to be married. Folded in her wallet was a copy of the poem I had written about her brother, Reply to My Uncle Joseph, that she carried with her everywhere.

Meet the Authors

Get together with us to meet some of the authors who have had their work published in Pain and Memory: Reflections on the Strength of the Human Spirit in Suffering. The reading will take place at St. Francis College, 180 Remsen Street, Brooklyn Heights, N.Y., on 22 April 2010, from approximately 4:00pm - 6:00pm. The college is located in downtown Brooklyn, easily accessible by public transportation (e.g., the Court St./Borough Hall train stations). The reading itself is in the Maroney Theater (7th Floor, Room 7402). The event is free and open to the public. Refreshments will be served. Books will be available for signings. Come to meet and hear: Mitch Levenberg; Ruth Sabath Rosenthal; Lynne Shapiro; Anique Taylor; Anne Whitehouse. More information about each of these authors will be forthcoming over the course of the next few weeks on this blog.

Stories of Immigration

WE ARE pleased to announce the contributors to Common Boundary: Stories of Immigration. In alphabetical order (not the eventual sequence of the book) they are: Janice Eidus; John Guzlowski; Omer Hadžiselimović; M. Neelika Jayawardane; Roy Jacobstein; Rivka Keren; Eva Konstantopoulos; Dagmara J. Kurcz; Mitch Levenberg; Cassandra Lewis; Tim Nees; Muriel Nelson; George Rabasa; Nahid Rachlin; Ruth Sabath Rosenthal; Azarin Sadegh; Ruth Knafo Setton; Patty Somlo; Rewa Zeinati. In all, there are twenty-nine different pieces of creative work on the theme of immigration by nineteen authors.

In addition to some relatively new voices, the list includes more than a few award-winning and highly-accomplished authors. We have immigration stories from current and previous generations; there are escapes and doubtful migrations; we have a story that involves a potato, and two that involve figs; we have a dramatic monologue; we have a few adoption stories; and there is a trunk that traveled all the way from a concentration camp. Some contributors you might recognize from Pain and Memory. We thank everyone who submitted – these were not easy decisions (considering how much material we received and how much of it was quite good). We will now begin the process of assembling the book, working on format and layout, proofreading, and then the writing of the Preface (by the publisher) and Foreword (by Jason Dubow). Updates forthcoming in due course.

Vetting

Since we have received many more stories, memoirs, and poems than we anticipated, please note that we will most likely Close Submissions to the Common Boundary anthology very soon. If you have something to submit, please do so very soon. Many authors have already been notified, and we expect to make remaining, final decisions over the course of the next few weeks (at most).

Rivka Redux - in case you missed the story

Acclaimed author Rivka Keren contributed two stories to Pain and Memory, and if you missed the article about her and her beautiful and haunting story "Aisha" (the lead story in the book), here it is, from Ynet News (Israel - with link at end of this post):


Israeli author up for Pushcart Prize: Rivka Keren's short story nominated for prestigious US award for small presses. A short story by Israeli author Rivka Keren has been nominated for this year's Pushcart Prize in the United States. The prestigious prize has been awarded annually since 1976 and winning pieces are gathered into a yearly anthology. The nominated story, Aisha, has been published as part of Pain and Memory, a short story collection by Editions Bibliotekos."It feels great to be nominated, especially as it was translated by my daughter," Keren told Ynetnews Saturday. "I don't know what the odds of winning are, especially as the story is translated, but I have great faith in it." Keren, who writes in Hebrew, said she is saddened that "Aisha" was first published in English, after no Israeli publishers or journals were interested in running it." I have been trying unsuccessfully to publish the story in Hebrew for long months," she said. "It is strange for it to appear first in English." The Hungarian-born Keren immigrated to Israel in 1957 and has published 14 books so far. Her most acclaimed work, Taste of Honey, was a bestseller in Israel. Originally a children's book author, one of her earlier books became part of the local elementary school curriculum. Keren's work has been translated into several languages, including English, German, and Spanish. A second generation to Holocaust survivors, she has explored the Shoah in her writing, as well as themes such destiny and memory.

http://www.ynetnews.com/articles/0,7340,L-3818771,00.html

Made in Brooklyn

The Brooklyn Eagle has posted a story about Pain and Memory (apparently gleaned - in part - from an announcement on the St. Francis College homepage).

Pushcart Nominations

After very careful deliberation, much discussion, and some agonizing (with input from our four primary readers – publisher, general editor, advisory editor, and proofreader), we have decided to nominate each of the following selections from PAIN AND MEMORY for a Pushcart Prize:

1. “Aisha,” a short story by Rivka Keren, translated from the Hebrew by Maayan Keren (appears on page 1 of the book).
2. “Cartography,” a short story by Tim Nees (appears on page 95 of the book).
3. “Breakfast Mourning,” a poem by Jennifer Clark (appears on page 164 of the book).

Congratulations to the nominees – and many thanks to all of the contributors: we love our authors! Daniel Cartaina, Jennifer Clark, Kathie Giorgio, Howie Good, Jomar Daniel Isip, Rivka Keren, Mitch Levenberg, Robert P. McParland, Tim Nees, Ryan C. Neighbors, Rebecca Newth, Elizabeth Primamore, Ruth Sabath Rosenthal, Lynne Shapiro, Anique Taylor, Cynthia Trenshaw, Anne Whitehouse, Elizabeth Yokas. Amazon link.

PAIN AND MEMORY - Published

PAIN AND MEMORY is published. After tinkering (a bit too much) with the cover (although we had decided on another cover some weeks ago), we have agreed to use what you see here - this is the front. The back cover lists alphabetically all of the contributors who have made the book possible. If you scroll down this blog, you can see their names here. The volume is available on Amazon - get there by clicking in this post on the book cover or the title. Once we get our shipment of contributor copies from the printer, those will be mailed from our office. ~ Shortly we will begin collecting work for COMMON BOUNDARY, the immigration and international adoption volume - you can link to the guidelines from this blog. Consider submitting - spread the word - invite others to submit.