Just as the cockles of my heart were warming over Ralph Stanley’s banjo pickin’ Obama radio spot, a reader in North Florida sends along a little something that guarantees they’ll be frozen over till at least sometime next April. The Jackson County School Board has taken action against a teacher who apparently made racial commentary on presidential candidate Barack Obama. . . .
If I had a dime for every poorly-conceived novel written in close third person, with alternating chapters from alternating perspectives, that arrived in the mail, I’d be well on my way to free train fare to my sister’s place. For this proliferation I blame Jonathan Franzen, but not in a bad way. Say what you will about The Corrections — . . .
My friend Alexi Zentner wins the 2008 Narrative Fiction Prize. (Next issue of Narrative will include an excerpt from my still-unfinished novel.)
I don’t try to teach technique, because frankly most technical problems go away when a writer realizes where the life of a story lies. (Via.)
Eatonville, Zora Neale Hurston’s hometown & the first all-black incorporated town in the U.S., is profiled. (Via.)