Pooja Makhijani sends up a link to her annotated bibliography of South Asia and South Asian diaspora in children’s literature. It’s got everything from Rudyard Kipling’s The Jungle Book to Chitra Divakaruni’s The Conch Bearer. Definitely worth a look.
Portland-based literary magazine 2 Gyrlz Quarterly is launching its third print issue with a reading at Powell’s.
2GQ Launch Reading
Monday, June 6th
Powell’s Downtown
7:30 pm
NW 10th and Burnside
I won’t be able to attend, but if you do, send me your thoughts.
Today I’ll be moderating a panel on literary blogs at the first Arab-American writers’ conference, whose theme is “Kallimuna–Speak To Us.” Fellow bloggers Randa Jarrar and Leila Abu-Saba McLeod will participate, so I’m sure the discussion will be very lively. You have to register for the conference to be able to attend, but it should be fun. And there are lots of other panels going on as well. Details:
Saturday, June 4th at 11:15 am
Literary Blogs Panel
RAWI Conference
Hunter College
I’ve been invited to participate in the Emerging Voices Panel at this year’s BEA. So today I’ll be reading an excerpt from my debut book of fiction, Hope and Other Dangerous Pursuits, forthcoming from Algonquin Books in October 2005. The event is intended mostly for booksellers, but if you’re interested, they may have tickets for the event on the BEA site. Details:
Friday, June 3rd at 1-2 pm
Emerging Voices Panel
Book Expo America
Jacob Javits Convention Center
Thursday is supposed to be a ‘light’ day, as BEA doesn’t officially start until tomorrow. Still, there were plenty of panels to check out and people to meet. I arrived a bit late to the the book bloggers panel, but still enjoyed the second half of it. I was surprised at some of the more novice questions, showing that in fact many people still aren’t familiar with what book blogs are and are a bit mystified as to how to use them.
I did enjoy meeting the panelists in person–the very sharp Michael Cader of Publishers’ Lunch, bookseller-cum-blogger Robert Gray, and the very active M.J. Rose. Mad Max Perkins, who showed up incognito, ran off right after the panel–presumably to take off his sorcerer costume and vanish into nature.
I tried getting into the panel on the “elusive 18-34 year old reader,” which was moderated by Jessa Crispin, but couldn’t at all because it was held in a smallish room and there were no seats left by the time I got there.
Afterwards, I got to meet fellow bloggers Bud Parr (of Chekhov’s Mistress) Ed Champion (of Return of the Reluctant), and Sarah Weinman (of Confessions), and of course Mark. I did spot a few other people, but couldn’t work up the nerve to go up and say hi. (Despite all evidence to the contrary, I can be quite reserved.)