Luna Digest, 2/9

Live-Baffler001As most of the weekend was spent digging the office (read: house) out of the recent Mid-Atlantic snowstorm, here’s a hyper-condensed digest for this week:

News possibly trumping the recent iPad announcement: The Baffler is back.

Sam Lipsyte—author of one of the most anticipated books of 2010—is up this week on FiveChapters with “A New Start.”

Chicago’s newest magazine, Artifice, has just published their first issue.

Timothy McSweeney has died.

Bookforum looks into the future of the magazine.

Robert Birnbaum reviews a new book of poetry by the incomparable Marie Ponsot on The Morning News, which includes the full-text of two of her poems.

In case you haven’t noticed, the line-up at the Conjunctions audio vault is amazing: Philip Roth, Peter Carey, Kelly Link, Robert Coover, Steve Erickson, Lydia Davis, and on and on.

issue14vol2The Independent applauds the literary influence of Ireland’s The Stinging Fly.

Lumberyard magazine chooses former meatpacker and coffee roaster Nikolas A. Butler for their inaugural Roark Prize.

One of the most influential magazines in contemporary poetry, Fence magazine, is looking for a new poetry editor.

Finally, Electric Literature 3 is out. Here’s an intriguing excerpt from “Little Things” by Matt Sumell:

I folded my arms. They felt big, capable of anything. Lifting, carrying, digging, feeding cows PCP so they revolt with unexpected and tremendous violence—anything. Wrapping gifts in tissue paper and busting teeth out of Christian heads. Pumping bicycle tires, pumping gas, pumping iron, bagging my own groceries and skipping boulders across the Long Island Sound all the way to Connecticut. Cracking eggs with one hand and folding laundry. Pushing my Mexican neighbor’s broke-down car across the street Thursday mornings to avoid street sweeping tickets and tossing my cell phone to a friend who needs to make an important call to his mom. Opening every jar for every lady. Helping. I felt like helping. I felt like I could help.

Every Tuesday, Travis Kurowski presents Luna Digesta selection of news from the world of literary magazines. Travis is the editor of Luna Park, a magazine founded on the idea that journals are as deserving of critical attention as other artistic works.


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