Sowing Seed

Watch Seed, Hugo Perez's 15-minute scifi short about America's genetically modified future on ITVS (Independent Television Service).

"The year is 2022. After a decade of world famine and food riots, the Mendelian Corporation now bioengineers the world’s entire commercial supply of genetically modified seeds...."

Perez visits the Writers Institue tomorrow, Friday 10/8. Note room change for 4:15 event (Recital Hall, PAC). Evening event still in Page.

Also check out Hugo's July 2010 interview on the ITVS "Beyond the Box" blog in which he mentions that there is a feature length version of the film in the works.

And speaking of scifi, read Hugo's September 2010 interview with William Gibson, author of Neuromancer and the father of "Cyberpunk" fiction, here.

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William Kennedy on Mario Vargas Llosa

From the New York Times Book Review, read William Kennedy's 1982 review of newly-crowned Nobel Laureate Mario Vargas Llosa's novel, Aunt Julia and the Scriptwriter (1977, English translation 1982).

"Vargas Llosa once said he didn't like novels with a moral, and he hasn't imposed one here, though any book which is so well wrought, which defines a world with such unarguable accuracy, is moral; and what's more, it made me laugh out loud. Perhaps it carries an antimoral - that soap opera is good for you. It is a work that celebrates story: story that gives pleasure to a large number of people, story also as a pleasure principle for the writer."

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Reinventing the Apocalypse

Writing on the Bookslut blog, Guy Cunningham argues that Salvation City by Sigrid Nunez (who visits the Writers Institute today) reinvents the "Post-Apocalyptic Novel."....

"Salvation City repudiates its own genre -- because the 'apocalypse' of this post-apocalyptic novel isn’t the end of the world. And it’s this that separates Nunez’s novel from The Road or Stephen King’s The Stand (which also centered on the aftermath of a flu outbreak). Cole is interested not in surviving, but in living. And as a result, his story is really about a young man’s efforts to navigate two homes: that of his parents -- secular, intellectual, tumultuous -- and that of Pastor Wyatt and Tracy in Salvation City -- religious, focused on homeschooling, serene. It’s to Nunez’s credit that this conflict is far more engrossing than the apocalypse that sets it in motion."

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Castelli Book Makes Second Cut for Prix Femina

Annie Cohen-Solal's new biography of New York art dealer Leo Castelli has made the second cut for the Prix Femina, a prestigious French prize honoring literature written by women. The winners will be announced on Wednesday, November 3rd.

Cohen-Solal will visit UAlbany, October 12 (Tuesday) at 7PM [NOTE EARLY START TIME]. The event is in the University Art Museum, Fine Arts Building, Uptown Campus and is cosponsored by the Art Museum.

BTW: That's Andy Warhol's "Leo Castelli 1975" on the right.

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Louisa May Alcott in Print and On Screen

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"Woefully Unsung"

In a discussion of literary politics, particularly regarding race and gender, The Economist's "Prospero" blog yesterday lamented the fact that Sigrid Nunez's The Last of Her Kind (among other works by women and minority authors) is not widely acclaimed as a "Great American Novel."....

"'When men write books about family life,' observed Katha Pollit recently, 'they are read as writing about America and the Human Condition. When women write books that are ambitious, political and engaged with the big world of ideas, they are seen as stories about the emotional lives of their characters.' I'm reminded of the way I felt when I first read The Last of her Kind, a fine novel by Sigrid Nunez, a woefully unsung author. Here was a smart, ambitious book—a Great American Novel of sorts—which spanned decades in the lives of two women who first met in college in the 1960s. It was about love, friendship, history and ideas, all from a female perspective. It felt thrilling to feel a real sense of familiarity with the characters on the page. But is it any wonder that Ms Nunez has been marginalised as a women's author? Read more.

Nunez reads on Thursday, October 7.

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UAlbany Authors at Fall Festival, Sat., Oct. 9

The Physics of Sailing, Garlic and Other Alliums, The Nature and Nurture of Giftedness, Toolbox for Sustainable City Living....

These are just a handul of titles for books that will be showcased by UAlbany authors at outdoor presentations during the University's 2010 Fall Festival, from 10:30AM to 3PM. In association with the Homecoming and Alumni Weekends, the festival is free and also features abundant children's activities, a tailgate party for the Danes' football opener, running races for adults and kids, a huge farmers market, and student performances. Signs on campus will direct visitors to events and parking. Click here for a detailed schedule.

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