the 50 books 'challenge'

adriana, an old school friend of mine, challenged me to read 50 books in 2010 and share my thoughts on them with her on facebook. i figured this might be of interest to you guys, too.

50 sounded a lot to me at first, but i guess this is just because my own reading has become very uncoordinated, reading bits and pieces here and there, and because i have long lost my habit of focusing on just one book at a time. nowadays, i am usually reading three simultaneously: one for pleasure, one for study, and a light one of either kind to bring on the train.

currently, these are:
susan sontag's early diaries,
sol stein's stein on writing,
and i just finished stefan zweig's fear.

here are my thoughts on fear (i won't give you a summary of the book, though, cause i think blurbs make books boring and create a fake experience of literature - no one should be knowing what's about to happen in advance!):

stefan zweig wrote fear in vienna in 1910, but only published the novella in 1925 after thoroughly revising it. i quite liked it, although it didn't take me all too long to figure out its plot. however, fear was still written interestingly enough to finish reading it. i find that zweig was very good at describing his characters and their emotions; in my humble opinion, he sometimes overdid that a little in fear, yet he managed to cut long descriptions just when they started to get annoying. all in all, fear is a recommendable read if you're looking for something brief and entertaining.

the literary 2009...

summed up by DIE ZEIT. a nice and long (german) article, with plenty of links, just how i like it... DIE WELT also has one, sorted by months - skip the little top summary, though, as it just seems to be a fucked up version of the first paragraph.

new link

i only came across Lyrikzeitung & Poetry News today... interesting!

verkippung

ich als: eine brechende feder
am elbbaum der steht und
die tanne am haus gegenüber
verwünscht die im garten die
jahre hochzählt ich: als teil eines
kuckucks bin all seine kopflose
qual in den stählernern tälern
am hang steil die rinde der nacht
hat die dunen aus denen ich wuchs
hart und hölzern gemacht ich:
wehe als: das gegenteil der kralle
von der nennen wir sie haltestelle ab
und luft ist nur um meinen sternruf
vor dem schnabel aufzufangen
ich: die neige und ich: falle als kontur.

if you happen to live in toronto, this might be of interest to you:

"Just across the hall from Descant Magazine is the office of NOW HEAR THIS!, Descant's literary outreach arm which is beginning to buzz with plans and preparations for the fourth year of our hugely successful Students, Writers and Teachers Program. In anticipation of the 2010 S.W.A.T. season, we are on the look-out for more writers to help make a difference in the lives and in the writing of Toronto high school students.

Applications to be a S.W.A.T. writer have just been released and if you are a professional writer and would like to be considered for the position, read the following job description, fill it out an application and mail it to the NHT! office with your C.V., cover letter and references!

Job Description:
In late-2005, the Descant Arts & Letters Foundation began its NOW HEAR THIS! outreach program, which runs writing workshops with community organizations, literacy groups and at-risk-youth around Toronto.

NOW HEAR THIS! and the Toronto Catholic District School Board partnered to create S.W.A.T. (Students, Writers and Teachers), a program that places professional authors in high school classrooms to run workshops with students, now in its fourth year. NOW HEAR THIS!S.W.A.T. for the 2010 winter semester. and the TCDSB are now looking for five more writers to join

S.W.A.T. writers in residence are placed in TCDSB secondary schools and together with teachers develop and facilitate writing workshops based on course curricula. For ten weeks, writers plan exercises with students to help work on basic sentence structure, grammar, developing persuasive arguments, creative expression and critical thinking.

Responsibilities:
- Planning workshops and scheduling classroom visits with teachers
- Submitting workshop outlines to NHT! and the TCDSB
- Weekly visits to classrooms, facilitating workshops, reading and editing student work
- Bi-weekly journals submitted to NHT! and the TCDSB
- Helping to compile class-specific component of print anthology of student work
- Final program evaluation

Requirements:
- professional author as per the Canada Council definition
- Have at least one (1) published work
- ability to work with others and independently
- experience teaching and/or working with youth
- familiarity with Microsoft Word and Excel; regular email and internet access
- commitment to goals of Now Hear This! program

Additional Information:
Please download and fill out the Application Form here and submit with a cover letter, résumé and references. Email and fax applications will not be considered.

Send Submissions by January 4, 2010 to:

SWAT 2010 - Residency Application
Mark Laliberte, NHT Program Manager
c/o Descant/NHT!
50 Baldwin St.
Toronto, ON
M5T 1L4

If you have any questions or require more information, please contact Rachel Hopwood, S.W.A.T. Residency Program Coordinator at rachel (at) nowhearthis.ca

was hat jemand an sich genommen
das zweifeln das andenken an sich
genommen. das andenken nur
nicht das fertig- .

den zweifel genommen und
in das vergessen ge- (legt?)
also gegen das denken
entschieden. und be- .

jemand hat sich verzweifelt
benommen. im innern verdacht.
hat die enden ans -schlechtliche
ende gemacht (siehe: ein / eine
es wächst) und ent- .

call for submissions

the Literaturautomat is calling for submissions for next year's shafts. you should apply, this is a cool project - and i'm not just saying that because i was featured last year. there are five topics to chose from and deadline is 15 december 2009.