EDWARD GAUVIN

Well, World Fantasy Con 2009 is coming up, and the Clarion class of 2009 will make a showing in force. Before the event hits San Jose, I’d just like to give a heads-up that my Clarionmate Shauna Roberts will be on a Friday morning panel

10:00 AM Gold Room Writing Human Characters, Whether or Not They’re Human

Our panelists will discuss the challenges of writing relatable non-human characters in heroic and mythic fantasy that are both alien enough to be something more than funny-looking people but also human enough for readers to relate to.
David B Coe (moderator), Kate Elliott, Kay Kenyon, Shauna Roberts, Laurel Anne Hill

and, for her recent novel Like Mayflies in a Stream from Hadley Rille Books, be part of the

8:30 PM Regency Ballroom Group Autographing

Our traditional group signing is for all the authors and editors attending the convention. Everyone is welcome to participate, and there will be a no-host bar. If you’re planning on signing, it’s a very informal event. There will be tent-cards, alphabetical by last name, on a table at the door. Just grab your card, find a seat, and make yourself comfortable. » Read the rest of this entry «

The French Publishers’ Agency and La Maison Française of New York University cordially invite you to a roundtable discussion

“From Bande Dessinée to Graphic Novel: Drawing Two Traditions Together”

Tuesday, November 10, 2009, 12:30–2:30 pm

Lunch will be offered.

Panel participants will include

Sylvain Coissard, Copyright Consultant, Sylvain Coissard Agency

Dan Frank, Editorial Director, Pantheon Books

Thierry Groensteen, Publisher, Critic, Comics Historian
Mark Siegel, Editorial Director, First Second Books

La Maison Française of NYU

16 Washington Mews, at the corner of University Place

An evening reception will be held in honor of the French participants from 6:30 to 8:30 pm at the French Publishers’ Agency
853 Broadway, suite 1509, between 13th & 14th Streets

Please RSVP for both events at stagiaire@frenchrights.com by November 6.

We look forward to seeing you!

The Spotty Dog

Bud Parr at Words Without Borders features a photo from the 9/18 reading in a recent blog post. More photos from the event pictured above can be found here.

Agur’s story, in WWB’s September issue, contains this memorable image:

“But the marvel of it strikes me: the cemetery is like a phone book engraved on pages of marble. Except that here, instead of being alphabetized, the names are arranged according to some hidden logic of fate, and the numbers represent years of birth and death. Only one rule is followed: a man always lies beside a man, and a woman beside a woman. So that no shame should ensue, God forbid, on the day the dead are resurrected.” » Read the rest of this entry «

I’ll be making two appearances in September:

• The first under the auspices of Words Without Borders at Spotty Dog Books & Ale in Hudson, NY, September 19, in honor of their September 2009 issue “Walking the World,” the second installment of a two-month focus on international nature writing. I’m honored to be joining the astute, humane, and contemplative Israeli author Agur Schiff as he discusses his story, “How Old Is the Queen of England?” expertly rendered from Hebrew by Jessica Cohen. Schiff’s writing is cogent and urgent; his characters fully perceived and capable of unexpected gestures. His endings show a deft, light hand, striking off almost at a tangent from the tale into poetry. I’ve had the privilege of getting to know Agur here at Ledig House, and in that short time my appreciation for the layers in his work has only deepened through our fascinating conversations. If you like his stuff–and Jessica’s!–be sure to read more here. My own contribution to the issue is an excerpt from Paradise… Kind Of, a gentle, dreamy travelogue by the artist Troub’s, who has made a name for himself in France with graphic travel memoirs. His fundamental amiability and the fresh-faced, wide-eyed curiosity he turns on the world around him come through amply in these meanderings around Balikpapan, Borneo. Of interest primarily for the pictures: Troub’s loose and cheerful linework. I’m not sure what Agur and I will be discussing… probably something to do with words, pictures, and Israeli politics.
• The second: a community reading has been scheduled for Saturday, September 26th, at 5pm. It will be in the Charles B. Benenson Visitors Center at the Omi International Arts Center. (Off of Route 22 in Ghent. Between 9H and Route 21; adjacent to Letter S Road.) Ledig House residents will read from their work and there will be a BBQ to follow.

See y’all there!

Some catching up:

• My residency at Ledig House starts soon, and to get us even more amped up, the folks there have posted the names, bios, and photos of everyone staying up there this fall. Scroll down to find yours truly, grinning like an idiot. What’s a grin without a shirt?
• I will, from time to time, be guest blogging at Absinthe Minded, the official blog of the literary journal Absinthe: New European Writing. Despite its relatively recent inception, it’s already attracted fascinating entries from the talented ensemble editors Dwayne Hayes and Jessica Bomarito have assembled, including pieces on Aleksandar Hemon, and Lars von Trier’s latest flick, a horror foray. I’m delighted to be round-robining with them, and will chirp up from time to time on books, movies, and many things Euro (mostly French). Here’s a link to my first post, a bit of chattiness courtesy Roland Jaccard, an author I translated for a recent issue of Absinthe.
• Over at Comic Book Bin, Leroy Douresseaux has this pithy appreciation for manhua star Benjamin’s Orange, which I translated for Tokyopop: “It’s not so much a graphic novel as it is an illustrated short story or poem.  Basically, Orange’s narrative is a recollection of tragic event, as well as a list of grievances by the first person narrator, Orange.”

A few new links to announce:

• My close friend H.V. Chao has his first-ever published story, “The Interview,” up at Diet Soap, Douglas Lain’s speculative situationist zine. Not only is Portland-based Lain himself a formidable fiction writer, but he also finds the time to run a fantastic mind-bending podcast, whose signature theme is a banjo version of The Internationale.
• My friend M@ alerted me to Heather McDougal at Cabinet of Wonders raving, with pictures, about Joann Sfar—specifically, series I was involved in translating: Sardine and Little Vampire. Nice words and nifty pictures.
• Two new pieces up in July’s Words Without Borders: an excerpt from Jochen Gerner’s tongue-in-cheek comics essay Contre la B.D. and Carles Torner’s essay on Claude Lanzmann’s Shoah.