paperhaus September 28th, 2007
Mark Z. Danielewski read from both House of Leaves and his latest, Only Revolutions, at Joseph-Beth Booksellers last night in Pittsburgh. I’d put the crowd at 100+, and every single person stood in line to get books signed. Which was worth it, because Danielewski used brightly colored pens and personalized each autograph. Cool.
The Q&A session had a few clunkers, including a question about how to get famous authors to blurb your publish-on-demand book (huh?). But a few weren’t so bad.
Q: How do you describe House of Leaves to people?
MZD: It’s a story about a family that moves into a house that’s bigger on the inside than on the outside.
on the genesis of House of Leaves -
MZD: It’s how I see the world. I see stories as a compilation of narratives and viewpoints.
on what publishers want -
MZD: All they want is something that’s done, that they can put a piece of cardboard on, and a barcode.
on literary criticism about his work (like Writing Machines) -
MZD: The reality is, most of it’s right, in my experience. Very smart people are spending a lot of time digesting, analyzing these texts. It’s interesting how much of it is spot-on.
on writing -
MZD: I like to write. I like to sit down and talk to my gorillas.
paperhaus March 12th, 2007
On Friday night I went to the Gist Street reading series to hear poet Terrance Hayes and short fictioneer Charles D-Ambrosio read. And, like every other time I’ve gone to Gist Street, they’ve turned people away. I’m sure this makes the organizers feel all nice and fuzzy and popular, but it makes me wonder why they don’t look for a bigger room.
Currently the Gist Street reading series is held on the third floor of a marvelously old school artist’s loft (sculptor James Simon’s, specifically) in a rundown part of Pittsburgh. There’s a handbuilt sleeping loft, raw floors, uneven doors; a working bathtub sits in the middle of the reading/living space (filled, during readings, with ice and beer). When the weather gets warm, the readings are held in the yard, where chickens wander between the folding chairs. So OK, it is a fantastic space. It’s just a space that’s gotten too small.
Or maybe there’s just too much pressure on Gist Street. As far as I know, it’s the only regular literary reading series in Pittsburgh. Maybe if people could get to more cool readings, Gist Street wouldn’t be so damned crowded.
paperhaus February 16th, 2007
paperhaus February 5th, 2007
The very cool Metroblogs network has added a new city to its international roster. Hello, Pittsburgh! I’ll be blogging about city stuff over there. As a matter of fact, I might already have begun.
paperhaus January 18th, 2007
Consider this a quiet announcement of Hot Metal Bridge, the new literary magazine from the University of Pittsburgh MFA students in creative writing. Uh, yeah, that would include me. You can find me on the masthead if you squint.
But don’t go bothering with the masthead. Please check out our freshly-minted call for entries. We’re looking for new fiction and creative nonfiction and poetry. We’re not stuffy. But we are really excited to read your stuff.
Curious? Hot Metal Bridge is an actual bridge here in Pittsburgh that used to carry molten steel across the Monongahela River (that may be the coolest combination of words of I’ve typed — I would have called it “molten steel monongahela” if I could).
Check out the call for entries at Hot Metal Bridge.
paperhaus November 22nd, 2006
That’s Pittsburgh’s Carnegie Music Hall and Jhumpa Lahiri doing a Q&A for the Dru Heinz Lecture Series Monday night.
paperhaus November 9th, 2006
If you like creative nonfiction, Pittsburgh is the place to be this weekend with the 412 Festival. The capper will be Saturday’s interview of Buzz (Friday Night Lights) Bissinger and Kathryn (The Kiss) Harrison by Lee Gutkind.
Another weekend highlight: it’s time for Pittsburgh’s Handmade Arcade! The alternative craft fair is on Saturday only, from 11am - 7pm at Construction Junction.
Podcast much? Maybe you’ll be at Podcamp Pittsburgh, two full days of discussions of the how and what of podcasting, vidcasting and smell-o-casting (ok, made that up). Plus parties at night. I’ll be on a panel Sunday at 11:30am: The medium is the message. I also wanna see how to shoot greenscreen (sounds cool).
Plus I keep forgetting: the Three Rivers Film Festival is on. This is the last weekend, and the schedule is jam-packed.
And of course things are getting started tonight. It’s Pittsburgh Blogfest #8 at Finnegan’s Wake from 5:30pm-9:30pm.
paperhaus November 7th, 2006
10:00pm concession speech. Rick Santorum: “Karen and I and the kids just want to thank God.”
As do those of us who voted against you, Rick. We also thank the voters of Pennsylvania. And Darwin, too.
paperhaus October 23rd, 2006
It is October 23rd and S N O W I N G in Pittsburgh. On October 6, the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette reported:
By the end of the century, the length of the winter snow season could be cut in half and the character of the seasons will change significantly if emissions are not reduced.
Eh, this is not the case for 2006.
We’re on track to repeat the October 23rd .4″ record for from 1969, I think. Oh, maybe I exaggerate. The snow isn’t really sticking; it’s just steadily falling. I’d like to say it’s a fluke, but there’s a frozen smell in the air that I’d forgotten. I fear winter is here. That damn ozone hole isn’t doing me any good at all.