More Videos! August 24, 2011: Go and watch these two videos over at HTMLGIANT! The first video, courtesy of No Perch, features Amelia Gray reading from her book Threats on the back of a moped. The second is a book trailer for Rachel Eliza Griffiths' new book Mule & Pear. Go on. Take your mind off earthquakes and hurricanes and sovereign debt for a few minutes. by Harriet Staff

Happy Birthday Borges! We Got You A Google Doodle! August 24, 2011: Today's Google Doodle was designed to celebrate Jorge Luis Borges' 112th birthday, according to this article from IBN Live. From the article: A doodle inspired by the writings of Jorge Luis Borges honours the Argentine author on his 112th birthday. Born on August 24, 1899 in Buenos Aires the poet, essayist and short-story writer had [...] by Harriet Staff

Poetic Labor Project: August Edition August 24, 2011: We've heralded the Poetic Labor Project before! Now for the August edition, which features responses around poetics and labor from Scott Inguito, Erica Lewis, Stefani Barber, and Robert Mittenthal. You can also download a PDF, if you're into that kind of thing. The folks at PLP are also collecting projects and resources that you think they [...] by Harriet Staff

Andrei Codrescu To Celebrate Gloucester Writers Center, Charles Olson August 24, 2011: According to this article in the Gloucester Times, Andrei Codrescu will deliver a talk on Charles Olson titled "Teaching Olson in Baton Rouge" at the Gloucester Writers Center, where he is an advisory board member and current writer-in-residence. From the article: When asked how he came to learn about Olson — a name not always known [...] by Harriet Staff

‘Disaster Was My God’, The Novelization of Arthur Rimbaud’s Life August 24, 2011: Carlin Romano, over at The New York Times wrote a review of Bruce Duffy's novel Disaster Was My God, based on the life of Arthur Rimbaud. A bit on how Duffy handles Rimbaud's renouncing of poetry: Mr. Duffy’s strategy is to flesh out the intense relationship biographers have established between Rimbaud and his rigid Roman Catholic [...] by Harriet Staff

Osip Mandelstam was a Pistol-Twirling Silk-Popper Buck Nun! August 24, 2011: At least, in the newest collection by Cathy Park Hong. If you’ve been waiting to see the desperado side of Russia’s favorite Acmeist, Hong is your ace in the hole. Her forthcoming “Engine Empire” promises more gunslingin’ fun than a stagecoach stick-up. Here’s a sample from her interview with the Paris Review’s Robyn Creswell: [...] by Harriet Staff

The Anti-Soviet Soviet Poet: Joseph Brodsky August 23, 2011: The New Yorker has been writing about Joseph Brodsky for some time now, as we've mentioned. Keith Gessen's original essay, which was partly a review of a new biography of Brodsky by his great friend and fellow émigré Lev Loseff, also shed some light on an unpublished poem Brodsky had written in the 1990s, "lamenting the splitting-off of [...] by Harriet Staff

The Poem As Other: Amy De’Ath on Lisa Robertson, Hélène Cixous & Jacques Rivette’s Frédérique August 23, 2011: For her blog syndicat d'initiative, UK poet Amy De'Ath has penned a stellar short essay on Lisa Robertson, Hélène Cixous, and Frédérique, a character in Jacques Rivette’s 1971 film OUT1, played by Juliet Berto and described here by De'Ath as Kathy Acker's "girl-pirate." De'Ath's first consideration is Cixous's altering encountering with [...] by Harriet Staff

Samuel Menashe, 1925-2011. August 23, 2011: We are sad to learn that Poetry contributor and recipient of the Poetry Foundation's Neglected Masters Award, Samuel Menashe, died peacefully in his sleep on the night of August 22, 2011.  Sam was a longtime friend to so many of us, who will miss the phone calls, faxes, and handwritten letters though which he liked to share his latest [...] by Don Share

From San Francisco to Your Living Rooms: The Nothing Is Hidden Reading Series August 23, 2011: Genine Lentine runs the Nothing Is Hidden reading series in San Francisco. Of the series, she writes: Nothing Is Hidden is a monthly series of readings, screenings, and artist talks that celebrates the 40th anniversary of Shunryu Suzuki’s classic book Zen Mind, Beginner’s Mind and features writers and artists whose work embodies the [...] by Harriet Staff