Marissa Bell Toffoli

Archive for the ‘editors’ Category

Interview With Writer Veronica Rossi

In art, author interview, books, editors, fiction, writing, young adult (YA) on June 14, 2014 at 11:17 am
Veronica Rossi. Photo by Marissa Bell Toffoli (2014).

Veronica Rossi. Photo by Marissa Bell Toffoli (2014).

An introduction to Veronica Rossi, author of the YA trilogy Under the Never Sky, Through the Ever Night, and Into the Still Blue (HarperCollins, 2014). This interview was done with the Rakestraw Books PG-14 Teen Advisory Board, whose thoughtful and fun questions spoke to the heart of Rossi’s work and delved into what life is like for a writer.

When asked about drawing from mythology or other stories and sources, Rossi made a great point about how things can be connected but still unique: “If you’re really writing something that your heart is in, and you’re working hard to be honest in your writing and not copying other ideas, then no one else can write that. It’s okay to borrow ideas, but borrow them and make them your own.” Read the rest of this entry »

Interview With Writer Lucille Lang Day

In author interview, books, editors, fiction, memoir, poetry, writing on January 24, 2014 at 3:52 pm
Lucille Lang Day

Lucille Lang Day. Photo by Marissa Bell Toffoli (2013).

An introduction to writer and editor Lucille Lang Day. She is the author of eight poetry collections, a number of short stories and creative nonfiction pieces, and the children’s book, Chain Letter. Her latest book, Married at Fourteen, won the 2013 PEN Oakland Josephine Miles Literary Award in the category of memoir. Day holds an MA in English, an MFA in Creative Writing, an MA in Zoology, and a PhD in Science/Mathematics Education. She’s also the founder and director of a small press, Scarlet Tanager Books. Read the rest of this entry »

Interview With Writer J.L. Powers

In editors, fiction, nonfiction, writing, young adult (YA) on November 12, 2011 at 10:22 am
J L Powers

J L Powers. Photo by Marissa Bell Toffoli (2011).

An introduction to J L Powers, author of the new novel This Thing Called The Future (Cinco Puntos Press, 2011). The book is about 14-year-old Khosi, who lives in a shantytown on the outskirts of Pietermaritzburg, South Africa with her sister, grandmother, and mother. Khosi struggles to be a big sister, a good daughter and granddaughter, to get through school, and figure out what she wants for her own future. As Khosi navigates the turbulent world of being a teenager and having crushes on boys her own age, she is also confronted with the dangers of being noticed and pursued by older men, and with the epidemic of AIDS in her community. Powers is also the author of the novel The Confessional, and the editor of the forthcoming nonfiction collection That Mad Game: Growing Up in a Warzone. Currently she calls Northern California home, but Powers grew up in El Paso, Texas, and has also spent time living and traveling in South Africa. Read the rest of this entry »

Interview With Writer Sholeh Wolpé

In editors, poetry, translation, writing on October 31, 2011 at 11:34 am
Sholeh Wolpe

Sholeh Wolpé. Photo by Ken Pivak.

An introduction to Sholeh Wolpé, an award-winning poet, literary translator, and writer. Born in Iran, she has lived in England, Trinidad, and the United States. She is the author of Rooftops of Tehran, The Scar Saloon, and Sin: Selected Poems of Forugh Farrokhzad—for which she was awarded the Lois Roth Translation Prize in 2010. Wolpé is a regional editor of Tablet & Pen: Literary Landscapes from the Modern Middle East edited by Reza Aslan (WW Norton, 2010), and the editor of an upcoming anthology of poems from Iran, The Forbidden: Poems From Iran and Its Exiles (Michigan State University Press, 2012). Wolpé is also the contributing editor of the Los Angeles Review of Books, and poetry editor of the Levantine Review. Read the rest of this entry »

Interview With Writer Matthew Zapruder

In books, editors, poetry, writing on September 25, 2011 at 9:49 pm
Matthew Zaprduer

Matthew Zapruder. Photo by Marissa Bell Toffoli (2011).

An introduction to the author of the poetry books Come On All You Ghosts, The Pajamaist, and American Linden. Poet, editor, and teacher, Zapruder does it all. When asked about why he writes, he concluded: “I think that people are most happy when they do things that are deeply connected and integrated with who they are, and that fulfill that need in themselves to feel connected to others and productive.” Zapruder is interested in communicating by harnessing the power of language to share thoughts and moments in beautiful ways, in talking to people about poetry and what poetry can do in the world. Read the rest of this entry »

Interview With Monday Night Editors

In art, books, editors, fiction, literary journals, nonfiction, poetry, writing on May 23, 2011 at 11:32 pm
Monday Night 9 cover

Monday Night Issue 9. Cover design by Sharon McGill (2010).

An introduction to Sharon McGill, Heather Miller, Nana K Twumasi, and Jessica Wickens, the editorial team that publishes the literary journal Monday Night. Open submissions are held from September to December. The idea to start Monday Night came out of a writing group where Jessica Wickens and Sharon McGill first met. The debut issue of the journal published in 2001. Read the rest of this entry »

Interview With Writer & Editor Tod Davies

In books, editors, fairy tales, fiction, writing, young adult (YA) on May 10, 2011 at 1:31 pm
Tod Davies

Tod Davies. Photo by Marissa Bell Toffoli (2011).

An introduction to Tod Davies, author of Snotty Saves the Day: The History of Arcadia (Exterminating Angel Press, 2011). Tod Davies is also the founder of Exterminating Angel Press (EAP), which she started “to find people who were really passionate about an alternative point of view.” What Davies looks for in an EAP writer is someone who has “a practical orientation to life, who says, wait a minute, it’s not working.” Davies will tell you that “stories are living things,” and her author bio in Snotty Saves the Day states that she “firmly believes in the truth of fairy tales, and that if you know who you are (and what made you that way), you can change your world.” Her artistic pursuits are rooted in the philosophy that people ought to think about the world and their place in it, and that everyone may be an advocate for truth and an agent of change. Read the rest of this entry »

Interview With Writer Jonathan Evison

In books, editors, fiction, literary journals, writing on March 5, 2011 at 2:44 pm
Jonathan Evison

Jonathan Evison. Photo by Marissa Bell Toffoli (2011).

An introduction to Jonathan Evison, author of West of Here (Algonquin, 2011). Writer, reader, editor, and blogger extraordinaire Jonathan Evison is a friendly, witty, encouraging, and thoughtful presence in the online literary world. In person, he is all that plus a whole lot of fun. If you attend an Evison book event, you will be rewarded by candid answers and personal anecdotes. He might even play a recording of a Sasquatch whoop howl from his mobile phone. Yes, he believes in Bigfoot. Of everything Evison said, I went to sleep the night after meeting him still thinking about this: “Bigfoot is one last wild possibility that may or may not be out there. I believe because I want to believe.” He is a man with heart, willing to believe in what others might consider the impossible.
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Interview With Writer & Editor Juliana Spahr

In editors, poetry, writing on November 22, 2010 at 6:11 pm

 

Juliana Spahr

Juliana Spahr. Photo by Marissa Bell Toffoli (2010).

An introduction to the author of several poetry books, including The Transformation (Atelos Press, 2007) and This Connection of Everyone With Lungs (University of California Press, 2005). Juliana Spahr co-edited the literary journal Chain, and has published and edited a variety of essay collections. Currently, she teaches at Mills College in California. Read the rest of this entry »

Interview With Food Writer & Editor Amanda Hesser

In books, cookbooks, cooking, editors, food, nonfiction, recipes, writing on November 15, 2010 at 10:12 pm

 

Amanda Hesser

Amanda Hesser. Photo by Marissa Bell Toffoli (2010).

An introduction to the editor of The Essential New York Times Cookbook: Classic Recipes for a New Century (WW Norton & Company, 2010), and author of the award-winning Cooking for Mr. Latte. Amanda Hesser is a food columnist and editor for the New York Times. She is also the co-founder of food52.com, an online community and recipe database for food lovers and cooks. Read the rest of this entry »

Interview With Cerise Press Editors

In editors, fiction, literary journals, poetry, translation, writing on August 23, 2010 at 9:28 pm

Cerise Press Summer 2010

Cerise Press Summer 2010 Issue. Cover Art by Mikhail Gubin.

An introduction to Cerise Press and the literary ladies who founded it: Sally Molini, Karen Rigby, and Fiona Sze-Lorrain. Cerise Press is an international online journal that publishes three issues annually. They accept submissions year round.

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Interview With Writer & Filmmaker Matthew Gustafson

In directors, editors, film, writing on July 30, 2010 at 12:27 pm

Matthew Gustafson self-portrait (2008)

An introduction to writer and filmmaker Matthew Gustafson, who recently wrote, directed, and edited the short film Pull. Read the rest of this entry »

Interview With Writer, Translator, & Editor Zack Rogow

In books, editors, poetry, translation on May 11, 2010 at 6:28 pm
Zack Rogow

Zack Rogow. Photo by Marissa Bell Toffoli (2010).

An introduction to the author of the poetry book The Number Before Infinity, translator of Colette and George Sand, and editor of The Face of Poetry anthology. Rogow is the author, editor, or translator of eighteen books and plays, including six collections of poetry, a novel, three anthologies, four volumes of translation, and a children’s book. The Number Before Infinity (Scarlet Tanager Books, 2008) is his most recent poetry book.
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Interview With Writers & Indie Filmmakers Logan & Noah Miller

In books, directors, editors, film, memoir, nonfiction, writing on April 14, 2010 at 6:15 pm
Logan & Noah Miller

Logan & Noah Miller. Photo by Marissa Bell Toffoli (2010).

An introduction to the brothers who wrote the book Either You’re In Or You’re In the Way about writing, directing, editing, and starring in the independent film Touching Home. Read the full interview with Logan & Noah Miller on Suite101.com. (First published on Suite101.com in April 2010.) Read the rest of this entry »

Interview With Writer Hugh Behm-Steinberg

In books, editors, literary journals, poetry, writing on April 4, 2010 at 12:53 pm
Hugh Behm-Steinberg

Hugh Behm-Steinberg. Photo by Marissa Bell Toffoli (2010).

An introduction to the author of the poetry book Shy Green Fields and faculty editor of the literary journal Eleven Eleven. Hugh Behm-Steinberg was a Wallace Stegner Fellow at Stanford University and recipient of an NEA Creative Writing Fellowship. He discusses writing, editing, and his current projects in this interview.  Read the rest of this entry »

Interview With Editors Laureen Mahler & John Peck

In comics, editors, fiction, literary journals, poetry, short stories, writing on March 27, 2010 at 12:53 pm
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Laureen Mahler & John Peck. Photo by John Peck (2009).

An introduction to literary magazine editors of Beeswax Magazine, Laureen Mahler and John Peck, who also run an independent letterpress and book arts studio. The dynamic married couple publishes Beeswax Magazine from their print studio, Volta Press. Mahler and Peck have backgrounds in writing and literature, which lends them unique perspective as editors and printmakers.

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