Black Clock

when -May 29 – October 3, 2010
where Center Lawn, Union Square Park, New York City

Originally created for the 53rd International Art Exhibition at the Venice Biennale, this summer lucky New Yorkers get to experience Eleven Heavy Things as the final public project in the legendary Deitch Projects series. Artist/filmmaker/writer/Black Clock 2 contributor Miranda July invites visitors to climb, play, and take photos with her, …

In “Zizou Président,” author Anne-Marie Kinney flexes literary skills as deft as Zizou’s footwork to capture the palpable energy of the World Cup without the maddening buzz of the vuvuzela.  Kinney’s story, published in Black Clock 12 and free to read online, brings us back to the summer of 1998 when Zinedine Zidane led France to its ultimate World Cup victory and became a soccer legend.  Though set in a specific moment and place in time, Kinney’s depiction of the raw frenzy of collective emotion that hinges on the superhuman achievements of select individuals is universal; marked by a kind …

when -June 1 – July 13, 2010
where CA, NY, MA, MS, NC, IA, WA, OR, the Moon*

Aimee Bender’s national book tour, which coincides with the release of her new novel, The Particular Sadness of Lemon Cake, is already under way.  Bender, who contributed to Black Clock 1 and Black Clock 7, is of that rare breed of human who reads as well as she writes.  If you missed her earlier this month in SoCal, fear not; …

www.harpers.org/subjects/Sentences#complete-archive

This is the archive of a now-defunct Harper’s blog once maintained by Wyatt Mason, who is most famous as the authoritative translator of Rimbaud’s complete works.  Mason used The Sentence as the starting point to ruminate on everything from the evil thoughts of man and the power of empathy, to disastrous fictions.  Though no longer updated, as with all things quality, Mason’s fascinating swarm of literary-related writing is …

when _ June 17 – 20, 2010
where _Association of American University Presses
______ Salt Lake City Marriott Downtown
______ 75 South West Temple, Salt Lake City, UT 84101
______ tel (801) 531 0800

Reflecting on, responding to, and grappling with publishing’s existential identity …

Black Clock 12 takes you out to the ball game, where obsessions abound inside and outside the white lines. In these stories, essays and poems, the demarcation between winning and losing, humor and sadness is blurred; coaches may claim, “There is no ‘I’ in team,” but when you look closely enough there is always a “me,” and in sports, whether participating, watching or rejecting, you discover who you are and who you’re not. As the writers in Black Clock know, the game may be played under bright lights but it’s in the crevices of darkness where the true game is found, because sports lie beyond the …

A PUBLIC SERVICE?

Perhaps all literary controversies are minor controversies, but, even on the Lilliputian isle of letters, there are scales and differences in degree to consider.  An excellent case in point: the recent back-and-forth that erupted around author and Gigantic editor Lincoln Michel’s “A New Literary Magazine Ranking” (headline since revised to “A Guide To Literary Magazines”), published at The Faster Times. …

This is the second in the column series, “The Real Economics of the Purely Imaginary” that circles some very large, very unwieldy, and–for precisely these reasons–very tantalizing questions about knowledge, creativity, teaching, writing, and the university.

In my last post, I laid out a number of questions surrounding creative writing, the university English department, literary criticism and theory, economics, and …

when _ June 9, 2010 @ 7:00pm
where _Skirball Cultural Center
______ 2701 North Sepulveda Blvd
______ Los Angeles, CA 90049
______ tel (310) 440 4500

Admission is free. …

Christian Svanes Kolding’s film, The Things We Keep is only one-minute fifty-seven seconds long.  It lacks a plot and characters.  It’s essentially a pan of a lot of stuff.  And yet you end up watching it over and over again until what was supposed to be a short YouTube break has turned into an hour.  This is in part because the film, made entirely of still images that Kolding’s digitally animated together and set to the tune of Broadcast’s “Corporeal,” is visually and sonically cool.  But more than that, what makes The Things We Keep so compelling and addictive, is that it explodes with stories. …

indie100mfitten.wordpress.com

Marc Fitten is on a quest. He’s taking a cross-country road trip, visiting one-hundred independent bookstores, and documenting the process on a blog. As of this posting, he’s over halfway there, having most recently visited bookstore number sixty-five, Kramerbooks & Afterwords Cafe in Washington, D.C.. Fitten’s already made his sweep through Los Angeles, and it’s interesting to read his final impressions in light of an …

pippoetry.blogspot.com

This blog is maintained by Douglas Messerli, publisher of Green Integer Books. Green Integer is an independent and innovative press based in Los Angeles that has an enormous catalogue and excellent design aesthetic. The blog focuses on twentieth century poets, established but for the most part obscure, whose innovative work Messerli feels deserves a wider readership. Many of them have not been translated into …

‘Literary’ might not be the first adjective that comes to mind when describing the city of Los Angeles. But it should be. Sure, there’s Hollywood, the ‘industry’ (both film and porn), the celebrities, the hopeful Midwestern waiters and waitresses working various restaurants throughout the city. You know the L.A. Myth: Being discovered at LAX or the Chevron on Melrose. Becoming an overnight success. From all over the world, people flock to Los Angeles, hoping to benefit from its limitless possibilities. They cash their savings, stuff it into a white legal envelope and head to L.A. Five days later and a …