Laila Lalami

This week, I’d like to give away a copy of Mary Anne Mohanraj’s collection of short stories Bodies in Motion. The book tracks the lives of two generations of families in Sri Lanka and in America, and has received very favorable reviews in the San Francisco Chronicle and the Boston Globe.

This is how it works: The first person to send me an email at llalami at yahoo dot com with the subject line “Bodies in Motion” gets the book.

Update: The winner is Aziza K. of Chicago, Illinois. Congratulations!

I received a copy of Start Making Sense a couple of weeks ago in the mail, and figured it would make for a nice giveaway. It’s an anthology of essays about how liberals can “turn the lessons of election 2004 into winning progressive politics.” Contributors include Howard Dean, Arianna Huffington, George Lakoff, Amy Goodman, Barbara Ehrenreich, Barack Obama, and Markos Moulitsakis Zuniga (a.k.a. Daily Kos).

You know the rules. First person to email me at llalami at yahoo dot com with the subject line “start making sense” will get a copy in the mail.

Update: The winner is Stephen S. from Los Angeles.

This week I’m giving away an autographed copy of More Than They Could Chew (bought with my hard-earned cash, you lucky bastards.) The novel is set in Long Beach, California, where Nick Ray, an alcoholic night clerk, stumbles on a stash of computers with prized Witness Protection Program info on them. He decides to make a fortune off them. And it works, until he gets greedy. Anyway, you know the rules: First reader to email me with the subject line “More Than They Could Chew” gets the book.

Update: The winner is John Taylor.

I don’t get to read as much non-fiction as I used to, but Pooja Makhijani’s anthology of essays Under Her Skin: How Girls Experience Race in America definitely caught my eye. The essays are all by women looking back on how they experienced race as children, both in terms of exclusion and inclusion. I was happy to see another copy of the book turn up in the mail, courtesy of Avalon Publishing, and I’d like to give that one away. If you’re interested, send me email at llalami AT yahoo DOT com with the subject line Under Her Skin.

Update: The winner was Monica Jackson.

Rejection is part of the writer’s life and so Catherine Wald’s book, The Resilient Writer: Tales of Rejection and Triumph by Twenty Top Authors is of particular interest to those who’ve experienced the sting of the unsigned rejection (or, worse, an empty SASE.) My personal favorite remains one by C. Michael Curtis of The Atlantic, which managed to be both flattering and insulting in just two lines. This week’s giveaway is for you writers. The first person to email me a request at llalami AT yahoo DOT com will receive the book. Good luck.

Update: The winner is L. Alves from Brazil.

Here’s a special treat for you while I’m away. I have an extra copy of one of my favorite books: Mohammed Choukri’s Le Pain Nu. This is a classic of Moroccan literature with a lot of history–the banning, the translation by Paul Bowles, the alleged fight between the author and the translator over the copyright, etc. But really it comes down to an amazingly honest story, one that will grab you and not let go. This is a French translation, so you’ll actually need to speak Moliere’s language to get it. I’ll give it to the first person who emails me with his/her address.

Update: The winner is Natasha T. Congrats!

This week, I’m giving away the latest issue of The Baltimore Review, where my story “Better Luck Tomorrow” appears. If you’re curious about my forthcoming collection, this story is a good place to start. The magazine features the work of Dave Schuman, Terri Scullen, Anh Chi Pham, Nathan Leslie, Toby Tucker Hecht, and many others. I’ll send a copy to the first reader who writes in with his/her mailing address.

Update: The winner is R.G. from Lincoln, Nebraska. Congrats!

This week, I’d like to give out a copy of Best American Erotica 2005, edited by Susie Bright. One of the reasons I picked up this book is because it contains “Surviving Darwin,” a poignant and funny story by Alicia Gifford, who is, in my opinion, the best writer you don’t know about.

I’ll send a copy of the book to the first person who emails me at llalami AT yahoo DOT com. Please provide your mailing address.

Update: The winner is Roneesh V. from Sydney, Ohio. Congratulations!

I’m starting a new feature this week, to run on Thursdays, in which I give out some free goodies to the first person who emails and provides a mailing address. I thought I would start with Calamity and Other Stories, a lovely new collection of short stories by Daphne Kalotay.

Update: The winner is David from Washington, DC. Congrats!