Category: personal
The spring quarter at UC Riverside won’t start for another seven weeks, and yet I am already having anxiety dreams. Last night, I dreamed that I showed up to teach my Introduction to Creative Writing course and none of my lecture notes were in my bag. I ran back to the office to print one of the assigned stories from the online file-management system, but my laptop was missing. So I went to the assistant’s office, but neither of her computers seemed to be working, etc. You get the idea.
I suppose this early bout of anxiety is because of the course itself. Intro to Creative Writing is a general education course, open to all freshmen, with an enrollment of 180 students every quarter. In their infinite wisdom, the scheduling gods have me teaching this course while I’m also supposed to be on book tour for my new novel, Secret Son.
In April, Penguin will be releasing Gods and Soldiers, an anthology of contemporary African writing edited by Rob Spillman. It includes fiction and non-fiction by writers from all over the continent, including Chris Abani, Chinua Achebe, J.M. Coetzee, Nawal al-Saadawi, Alain Mabanckou, Binyavanga Wainaina, Doreen Baingana, Leila Aboulela, Ngugi wa Thiong’o.
Gods and Soldiers also includes an essay I wrote (titled ‘The Politics of Reading’), which I hope you will enjoy reading. The book comes out April 28.
A bad case of sciatica has been keeping me from this blog. For the last couple of weeks, I’ve basically been migrating from my bed to my desk, getting work done or sleeping. I’m sorry things have been so quiet here. More soon.
As I mentioned a few weeks ago, my first novel, Secret Son, will be coming out with Algonquin this spring. I will be reading from the book and discussing it at various venues in California, Oregon, Washington, Minnesota, Indiana, Florida, DC, Massachusetts and New York. You can find all the tour details on the events page. Please come and say hello!
There are some other events in the works, and as soon as I have those confirmed I will post them.
The National Book Critics’ Circle has announced the finalists for its annual book awards. I was thrilled and surprised to find out that I had made the list for the Nona Balakian, which is the award given for excellence in reviewing. The other finalists are Michael Antman, Kathryn Harrison, and Todd Shy; the winner is Ron Charles of the Washington Post. I am absolutely delighted for him; this is a richly deserved honor for a wonderful book critic.
The finalists in the fiction category are:
Roberto Bolaño, 2666. Farrar, Straus
Marilynne Robinson, Home, Farrar, Straus
Aleksandar Hemon, The Lazarus Project, Riverhead
M. Glenn Taylor, The Ballad of Trenchmouth Taggart, West Virginia University Press
Elizabeth Strout, Olive Kittredge, Random House
You can find list of all finalists in all categories on the NBCC page.
Between my teaching at UCR, my semester commitment at Warren Wilson, my new novel, and two essays that were due this past month, I simply haven’t had a moment to update my blog. And now that I do have time, I’m actually in Portland, Oregon. I’m visiting my sister, watching the blizzard of ’08, and looking forward to being unplugged for a few days. But I’ll be back here on Monday, January 5th. See you then.
Photo credit: The Oregonian via Flickr.