Tao Lin Interviews Ben Lerner for The Believer August 23, 2011: Tao Lin, who just sold his next novel to Vintage for five figures, has interviewed Ben Lerner for The Believer. Lerner has, himself, just published a novel as well. It's called Leaving the Atocha Station (an excerpt can be downloaded as a PDF from The Physiocrats, an amazing small press which published selections from the novel in a pamphlet [...] by Harriet Staff

Let’s Take Mysticism Seriously: An Interview with Daniel Kane August 22, 2011: In a very dark room called The Argotist, critic, professor and New York School scholar Daniel Kane has been interviewed by Jeffrey Side, who asks Kane about many of his recent publications, which include We Saw the Light: Conversations Between The New American Cinema and Poetry (The University of Iowa Press, 2009); Don’t Ever Get Famous: [...] by Harriet Staff

Scott Wannberg, Fixture of Los Angeles Poetry Scene, Passes Away August 22, 2011: Jacket Copy reports that Los Angeles poet Scott Wannberg, called by a friend the "the John Lennon of small press poetry," has passed away at the age of 58 at his home in Oregon. An anchor of the poetry scene in Los Angeles in the eighties and nineties, Wannberg endured health problems for some time; and moved to Oregon in 2008, unable to keep up [...] by Harriet Staff

Anne Boyer on Riots, Contestation August 22, 2011: Poet Anne Boyer, based in Kansas City, has posted some food for thought on the UK riots on her blog. "If only we had some riots, we say, not-quite-joking, sitting in a bar together or in the living room not rioting, or if only we had the capability of rioting, like the capability of belief in some necessary but impossible God," she writes. It's an [...] by Harriet Staff

Moments of Explosion: An Interview With Lily Brown August 22, 2011: Weston Cutter and Lily Brown engage in a conversation on poetics, rooted primarily in the work and ideas of Wallace Stevens, over at the Kenyon Review Blog. Here's a lead-off: WC: The biggest/easiest questions to start with are 1) how’d you first experience Stevens’ stuff (you mentioned a class: had you read him before? What poem was [...] by Harriet Staff

How to get punched at a poetry reading. August 22, 2011: Graywolf's Erin Kottke wants to punch you. And so do Coffee House Press, Milkweed Editions, Loft Literary Center, and Rain Taxi Review of Books. They'll be jazzing up Twin Cities readings this fall with an innovative loyalty program called "LitPunch." Sez the Pioneer Press: Here's how "Lit Punch" works. A cardholder gets a punch when [...] by Harriet Staff

Philip Larkin: The Novelist’s Poet August 22, 2011: Over at The Financial Times, Martin Amis wrote a lengthy feature on the "importance" of Philip Larkin. He begins with a light historical lens: How good/great/important/major is Philip Larkin? Instinctively and not illogically we do bow, in these matters, to the verdict of Judge Time. Larkin died 25 years ago, and his reputation (after [...] by Harriet Staff

The Week We Went For It August 19, 2011: In anticipation of Big Ten football season, we threw the fourth-down Hail Mary this week. Speaking of which: Go! Black and gold! And maize and blue! And cardinal and white! We did something unpredictable. Counterintuitive, even. You know how a lot of fundraising calendars showcase scantily clad women? We went with dudes. Top that, with your [...] by Harriet Staff

Philip Jenks’ Emily Dickinson Tattoo, For All To See! August 19, 2011: If you're fortunate enough to know Philip Jenks, chances are very good that you've seen the tattoo portrait of Emily Dickinson that covers the entirety of his back. And, if you've never seen it in person, you can now see it here, in a small feature from Time Out Chicago. From the write-up, in which Jenks defends Dickinson, or the perception of [...] by Harriet Staff

Poetry City: Jill Magi for InSite August 19, 2011: Writer, poet, and visual artist Jill Magi explores "body, meaning, memorialization and narrative" in a new piece entitled Nineteen Rooms for September 11 for Lower Manhattan Cultural Council's InSite, an initiative that invited artistic and community response to a decade of recovery and change in Lower Manhattan. InSite features exhibitions, [...] by Harriet Staff