The editors of Electric LIterature, a bi-monthly anthology of short fiction, select stories "charged
with wit and emotional gravity right from the first sentence." You
choose how you want to read them. We deliver content in every viable
medium
Choosing from America's best contemporary
writers and embracing new forms of distribution the folkElectric Literature has big plans: to facilitate
a renaissance of the short story. Cool. For starters, there's a lunchtime event in Washington Square Park on October 13 and October 20.
Where: Washington Square Park, (west
of the fountain).
When: Tuesday October 13th, 2009 and Tuesday October 20th, 2009, Noon –
1:30pm
Oct 13th:
Colson Whitehead and Carmiel Banasky
Oct 20th: Stephen O’Connor and special guests
The Electric Literature Soapbox Reading
Series is exactly what it sounds like: Writers will read their work atop a box
in the middle of Washington Square Park.
Washington Square has a long and storied history of both arts and activism.
To celebrate the area, the Soapbox Reading Series is an inclusive event for a
diverse audience of passersby, office workers, cops, shoppers and literary
enthusiasts sharing in a common, transportive experience.
The Soapbox readings will entertain and promote literary fiction by
connecting authors directly with the public, while celebrating the diversity of
the city and its cultural wealth.
No rain dates, so pray for sun!
Colson Whitehead, a
2002 MacArthur Fellow, is the author of four novels and a book of essays about
New York City. His most recent book is Sag
Harbor.
Stephen O’Connor
is the author of Rescue, short
fiction and poetry; Will My Name Be Shouted Out?, memoir and social criticism; Orphan Trains, narrative history, and Here Comes Another
Lesson, short fiction, forthcoming from Free Press. His fiction and
poetry have been in The New Yorker, Poetry Magazine, Conjunctions,
TriQuarterly, Threepenny Review, New England Review, The Missouri Review, The
Quarterly, Partisan Review, and many other places. His essays and
journalism have appeared in The New York Times, DoubleTake, The
Nation, AGNI, The Chicago Tribune, The Boston Globe
and elsewhere. He teaches fiction and nonfiction writing in the MFA
programs of Columbia and Sarah Lawrence.
Carmiel
Banasky grew up in Portland, Oregon and received her B.A. in Creative
Writing from the University of Arizona. In Oxford, Mississippi, she taught
preschool and, in her spare time, attempted to organize a pro-choice movement.
She failed. Eventually, she found her way to New York City to finally focus on
writing. Currently, she is studying with Peter Carey and Colum McCann at Hunter
College, where she also teaches creative writing. She has two stories published
with Glimmer Train Stories, one of won first prize in their Family Matters
contest. Other stories can be found online at The Boy Bedlam Review.