Blog Posts for Thaisa Frank

Three Lives Bookstore---An Entrance into the Reason for Books and Reading

Thaisa Frank — Sun, 22 Nov 2009 13:19:48 -0800

To my great relief, it was still here. Nestled among trees, on the corner of 10th Street in Greenwich Village. Still filled with burnished lamps, and a panoply of books that chattered to themselves. I'd been here many times, but this time it was in the middle of an exhausting tour, where it's easy to forget that most books involve an invisible meeting between a writer and a reader. Three Lives is ...

Many Ways to Live to be 100 and Write

Thaisa Frank — Sat, 07 Nov 2009 11:14:47 -0800

here's a refreshing article about the work habits of published writers--all different(these are novelists, so a lot of them do research; but the various work styles apply to poets and writers of shorter fiction) http://online.wsj.com/article/SB10001424052748703740004574513463106012106.html

More Surrealism--Times Review of Memories of the Future by the Russian writer Sigizmund Krzhizhanovsky

Thaisa Frank — Sat, 24 Oct 2009 09:39:41 -0700

In relation to the blog below, see the review of MEMORIES OF THE FUTURE in the NYTimes this Sunday. http://www.nytimes.com/2009/10/25/books/review/Schillinger-t.html?_r=1&ref=review Another writer who blurred the lines between sleeping and waking, nightmare and reality.Deep down, this kind of writing, raises a profound human question: What is it to be fully awake? and What is it to dream? ...

The Short Short Story Revived

Thaisa Frank — Sat, 24 Oct 2009 08:50:59 -0700

Flash fiction, or the short short story, has always had an intimate relationship with surrealism, and literature of the absurd. It is a short, urgent letter that can convey urgent messages, partly through omission. That these slightly tilted, less conventional forms of fiction are returning is evidenced by James Wood's article in The New Yorker about short-short story writer and prose poet, ...

My Book Deal--Heidegger's Glasses--is Real!

Thaisa Frank — Tue, 20 Oct 2009 11:41:50 -0700

HEIDEGGER'S GLASSES, the first book to be published by Phoenix, in it's new direction as a serious literary press, is coming out this May. The Editor-in-Chief has been consulting me about the cover, and I just got this write-up for an advance promotion on Amazon. (There's one there now for the Audio, but the Editor-in-Chief thought it was too purple.) Heidegger’s Glasses opens during the end ...

More on the New and Recently-Dusted Off Event Honoring Danhil Kharms

Thaisa Frank — Mon, 19 Oct 2009 13:08:59 -0700

Daniil Kharms was an absurdist writer whose prose poems and longer pieces were criticisms of the Stalinist regime. He died in a mental hospital. Most recently, there has been a revival of an interest in Kharms. And he's been translated again--brilliantly--by Malvei Yankelevich. I'll be appearing with Malvei Ynkelevich this Thursday. Yankelevich will be reading from his translations. ...

"Journaling" vs. The Writer's Log or on Making the Journal Dangerous

Thaisa Frank — Sat, 17 Oct 2009 08:39:42 -0700

Diary Cows by Ronald Koertge Got up early, waited for the farmer He hooked us all to the machines as usual. Typical trip to the pasture, typical day grazing and ruminating. About 5:00 back to the machines. What relief! Listened to the radio during dinner. Lights out at 7:00. More tomorrow. (many many thanks and deep bows to Ron Koertge for letting me use this.) ...

Promotion!

Thaisa Frank — Mon, 12 Oct 2009 16:36:02 -0700

To web-presence. Or not. To read in bookstores. Or not. To contact every one you know. Or not.If you haven't seen this spoof on book promotion, read it! http://www.newyorker.com/humor/2009/10/19/091019sh_shouts_weiner

How Did You Live to be 100? And What Advice Do You Have for Aspiring Writers?

Thaisa Frank — Sat, 10 Oct 2009 17:23:43 -0700

It’s a fact universally accepted among men and women, that whoever lives to be at least a hundred years old has a formula for longevity. It’s also a fact, universally accepted among men, women, and even children, that whoever migrates from being a mere writer to being published becomes an author and has a formula for success. If you look at some of the formulas for ...

Old Forms of Fiction-Dusted off--Surrealism, Magic Realism, vs. Speculative Fiction--How the Prose Poem fits in

Thaisa Frank — Sun, 04 Oct 2009 11:08:47 -0700

How is surrealism different from magic realism? Fantasy? Speculative Fiction? How does the prose poem fit in? Except for prose poems, all other fiction, from romance novels and science fiction to highly literary fiction, must audition and cast characters from the land in which they live. Reluctantly--or perhaps eagerly--they always show up. And often they do very good ...