I hit the ground running at 8:30 a.m., presenting "Impressions of Jacques Rigaut"--excerpts of Rigaut narrative from Housebreaking the Muse--as part of the panel "Dreams of Dada/Surrealism." I was in the distinguished company of Steve Katz, Yuriy Tarnawsky, and conference co-director, Dimitri Anastasopoulos. Each of us had, I believe, a wildly different take on the…
I had the pleasure and honor of joining Dimitri Anastasopoulos, Dave Kress, and Anne-Laure Tissut for "Purple Brain: A Paul West Panel." The panel was both well attended and well received. Dimitri took as his starting point PW's throwaway line "Much fiction is like mustard rubbed on the belly--take it or leave it," and from…
I'll be participating as a panelist on the following: Purple Brain: A Paul West Panel Anne-Laure Tissut, Dimitri Anastasopoulos, Dave Kress, Edward Desautels, Christina Milletti (critical/model airplanes) Location: Ellicott (3rd) Time: Friday, October 16, 2009, 11:30 to 12:50 PM Dreams of Dada/Surrealism (critifiction) Steve Katz, Yuriy Tarnawsky, Edward Desautels, Dimitri Anastasopoulos Location: Ellicott (3rd) Time:…
I've prepared this essay for the 4th Biennial &Now Festival of Innovative Writing & the Literary Arts, to be held this week in Buffalo, NY. I'll be joining Anne-Laure Tissut, Dimitri Anastasopoulos, Dave Kress, and Christina Milletti for "Purple Brain: A Paul West Panel." The essay recalls some of my fond memories of Paul, and…
The novelist Paul West has had the greatest influence on my development as a writer. I first had the great fortune of encountering this member of the American Academy of Arts and Letters, winner of the Prix Médicis and the Lannan Literary Award for Fiction, Literary Lion of the New York Public Library system, and…
Ed Desautels' Maximum Fiction 