Shya Scanlon

Jeez, it was last summer, I think, when Opium Magazine invited me to read at an event celebrating small presses in the New York Public Library. Though most of the magazines involved were represented by a member of their respective editorial departments, Todd Zuniga–never one for following the rules–sent me in to read my own work. There, I happened to sit beside a very unassuming, pleasant man named Raymond Hammond who, I learned, was the editor of none other than The New York Quarterly. Because he spoke about his fondness for W.D. Snodgrass–hardly a poet known for experimentation–Raymond surprised me after my reading by explaining how he was always on the lookout for good prose poetry, and that he’d been impressed by what I’d read: excerpts from a book-length work called “In This Alone Impulse.” Now almost a year later, the first in three consecutive issues slotted to contain poems from the manuscript has appeared: Issue 64. I’ll no doubt post when issues 65 and 66 appear, and perhaps without the obnoxious, self-important preamble.
Shit, who am I kidding?
Anyway, the New York Quarterly follows an interesting policy of only publishing one poem from each author featured. The result is a veritable kaleidoscope of contemporary work, and its a testament to Raymond’s role not only as editor, but as a kind of curator, that he makes the combinations and juxtapositions throughout often surprising and insightful. I encourage you to get yourself a copy.

A few months ago I received an email from Walter Cummins, editor of The Literary Review. My work had been recommended to him by my literary guardian angel, the brilliant Terese Svoboda, and he thought I would be a good fit for their Summer Chapbook Issue. Cut to this morning, and the production editor has sent me the proofs to my 25 page chapbook called “Poolsaid.” It’s a series of pp/ff that I’d started a couple years ago, put away, then revised heavily under the tutelage of Renee Gladman, Carole Maso, and my peers at Brown. A couple pieces of it had been published, but to have an opportunity to place the entire work in such an illustrious journal is truly an honor. The Summer Chapbook Issue will feature nine writers, publishing selections from their chapbooks in the journal, then make the chapbooks available in full on the LR website (as a downloadable .pdf, I’m told). Très egalitarian, no? I’ll post again when the issue hits the shelves and the chapbooks are available, but I was excited to see the proofs, and haven’t undated in a while, so…

Opium Magazine has just released its sixth print issue, and its just as handsome as the five before it. Who else would have a “green” issue without using the color green? Those wacky, high-concept folks. The poem I have in it is about walking through the Meat Packing District in Manhattan, which I encourage you to do next time you’re in the city. See if you don’t agree with me. Anyway, pick up a copy here.

I’ve discovered that my work was included in The Diagram III: Ander Monson’s third print anthology of work published in The Diagram’s online issues. Specifically “favorite pieces from 2004 and 2005.” I received no notification that this was coming out, or maybe I just overlooked it. I do recall signing something when the work was initially published, which granted him the right to anthologize in this way. Anyway, it’s certainly a nice thing to discover: he chose my work twice! Once wasn’t enough! You can purchase the anthology here.

I just received a note from John Wang, editor of Juked Magazine, that a short pp/ff piece of mine he published a few months ago was chosen by the good people over at Wigleaf as part of their “Top 50 (very) Short Fictions of 2008″. I’m honored to have been chosen, and even more honored to share a list with a number of really outstanding authors. The list is an interesting one, and many of the pieces, having appeared online, are linked to. I encourage you to explore it.

On Saturday, May 10th, I had the privilege of reading from my thesis along with the inimitable Thibault Raoult. We hosted the event at my house, and of the many folks who showed up, one* thought to take an audio recording of my reading. Later, he put it to some images taken during the day. I might post the source recording at some point, but for now I’ll just link to the resulting slide show, which he posted to Google. Here it is.

*Thanks, Steve

I’ve been awarded the John Hawkes Prize in Fiction for the first fifty pages of the novel I’m writing, “Uno Che.” I feel very honored to have been chosen, and consider it a good sign. If the first fifty pages can win a prize, maybe the entire thing can find a publisher. It works that way, right?