Erin McCarthy, Henny Penny and good news

May 8, 2009

I had the privilege to join Ohio writer Erin McCarthy at a juvenile correction facility today, where she spoke with approximately 10 incarcerated girls, their librarian and two instructors. (Erin writes under the name Erin Lynn for her young adult novels.)

After Erin introduced herself and talked a little about what it’s like to be a writer in her genre of romance and young adult novels, the girls asked a flurry of questions about the writing life and getting published. 

There wasn’t a moment’s pause in the 45 minutes Erin talked with them.

The girls also eagerly shared titles of books they’d read and favorite authors and lined up afterwards to have Erin sign their copies of her book, Demon Envy.

I sat on the sidelines with the librarian and felt like I was seeing something more real than the statistics we get about kids no longer being excited about books.  And it’s not the first time I’ve witnessed this kind of reaction by kids (or adults) to authors and books. 

Maybe it’s because I travel in book circles, but I wonder sometimes if – like a normal day in the news – we’re getting Henny Penny’s alarmist version of what’s happening in our reading world. 

The sky may be falling with kids being pulled more toward electronics than books, but it’s not an all-or-nothing kind of trend. 

Some, dare I say many, kids want books, and more books, paperbacks and hardbound books, and they get excited about them, too. Even teen-aged girls who live tough lives.

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One of the finest American short novels

May 5, 2009

The Pilgrim HawkGlenway Wescott’s The Pilgrim Hawk: A Love Story frequently, if not always, is described in the upper echelons of praise. If you haven’t read it, you’ve got a hole in your Life List of great books, and you’re not alone – Edmund White referred to The Pilgrim Hawk in the February 12, 2009 New York Review of Books as “one of the neglected masterpieces of twentieth-century American literature.” 

I read The Pilgrim Hawk several years ago. I’d come across one of those laudatory descriptions and, realizing I had not just neglected it but failed to even see it, swooped in for the accomplishment.  I may be able to say I’ve read it, but I’ve reached a point in my life where I realize some books need to be read a second time to fully appreciate them, let alone understand the depths of their meaning. The Pilgrim Hawk is one of them.

Michael Cunningham, author of The Hours, writes in an introduction to the book:

“We may consider Glenway Wescott’s The Pilgrim Hawk to be a short novel or a long novella, but whatever we choose to cSix Great Modern Short Novelsall it, it is exactly as long as it needs to be. It is murderously precise and succinct. It contains, in its 108 pages, more levels and layers of experience than many books five times its length.”

A 1954 vintage paperback found its way to me the other day with the title Six Great Modern Short Novels.  Not surprising, Wescott’s is one of the six that are gathered together because “all share that one element – the unmistakable ring of human truth – that marks each of them as a masterpiece…”

Here are the other five, to check against that Life List. Happy reading.

  • The Dead by James Joyce
  • Billy Budd, Foretopman by Herman Melville
  • Noon Wine by Katherine Anne Porter
  • The Overcoat by Nikolay Gogal
  • The Bear by William Faulkner
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A first: Britain’s new female Laureate

May 1, 2009

Carol Ann Duffy was named Poet Laureate of Britain today, according to the New York Times. She’s the first female Poet Laureate to be named to this esteemed U.K. position held for centuries by men.

The Independent reports Duffy was considered 10 years ago but passed over for concern that “Middle England” may not be ready for an openly gay Poet Laureate.

In the Independent’s article “The Big Question: What’s the history of Poet Laureates, and does the job still mean anything?”  Andy McSmith’s lite touch provides the first U.K. Poet Laureate (John Dryden appointed in 1668) and the worst (Alfred Austin appointed in 1896) and the best (Tennyson, who held the position for 42 years during Queen Victoria’s reign).

I checked the Library of Congress Laureate timeline to find out who was the first U.S. female Laureate – Louise Bogan. Our current Laureate is Kay Ryan. 

Of note: The first African American Poet Laureate of the United States and the youngest to be named to the post is our own Rita Dove, from Akron,Ohio. She held the position from 1993 to 1995.

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