Free Books (Till August) + More!

Free Books? Yes, They're Free! Download and Read!
Between July 4 and August 4, 2006, you can download free books from the 330,000 or so the World eBook Fair has available online. The free access highlights the 35th anniversary of Project Gutenberg, which grew out of the project that posted the first file for downloading from the "electric library" of the Internet, the Declaration of Independence. Says World eBook Fair

The World eBook Fair welcomes you to absolutely free access to a variety of eBook unparalleled by any other source. 1/3 million eBooks await you for personal use, all free of charge for the month from July 4 - August 4, 2006, and then 1/2 million eBooks in 2007, 3/4 million in 2008, and ONE million in 2009.

Ten times as many eBooks are available from private eBook sources, without the media circus that comes with 100 billion dollar media mavens such as Google. The World eBook Fair has created a library of wide ranging samples of these eBooks, totaling 1/3 million. Here are eBooks from nearly every classic author on the varieties of subjects previously only available through the largest library collections in the world. Now these books are yours for personal use, free of charge, to keep for the rest of your lives

.

Texts are available in over 100 languages, from such sources as the Alex Catalogue of Electronic Texts Collection, the Asian Classics Input Project, Mp3 Audio eBook Collection, Classic Literature Collection, eBooks Brasil Collection, Ancient Near Eastern Archives, Japanes eBook Collection, Mathematics Collection, Poets Collection, Project Gutenberg Consortium, and many more.

Tyehimba Jess Reads in Bryant Park
Tyehimba Jess, a friend, fellow CC '01 grad and longtime Illinoisan, sends the following info about his Academy of American Poets reading tomorrow:

Word for Word: Mark Bibbins, Thomas Heise, Tyehimba Jess, and
Joyelle McSweeney
July 11, 2006, 6:30 p.m.
Bryant Park Reading Room
42nd Street, between 5th & 6th Avenues,
New York, NY

The Academy of American Poets presents its second summer of readings in the Bryant Park Reading Room, as part of the 2006 Word for Word Series. Free and open to the public, the series highlights emerging poets and takes place monthly from May until September.

New American Writing #24 Out
Paul Hoover writes to say that the new issue of New American Writing (#24) is on stands. One of the highlights Paul's email announces is a "generous Nathaniel Mackey feature including "The Atmosphere is Alive," an interview with the poet by Sarah Rosenthal and a representative selection of his poetry and prose." Also in the 220-page issue are translations of work by Pura Lopez-Colome, the inexhaustible Pablo Neruda, Aase Berg, Vladimir Holan, and one of Vietnam's greatest poets, Nguyen Trai (1380-1442), translated by Paul and Nguyen Do, as well as poems by a wide array of, well, American writers, including Pierre Joris, Rosmarie Waldrop, Clayton Eshleman, Mac Wellman, Karen Garthe, Martine Bellen, Rusty Morrison, Joanna Klink, Edward Smallfield, Joseph Lease, Brian Teare, Diane Newman, G.C. Waldrep, John Olson, Campbell McGrath, Devin Johnston, Lisa Isaacson, Ethan Paquin, and Douglas Messerli.

Nate Mackey's newest book of poems, Splay Anthem appears this month from New Directions. The catalogue copy describes the new book as so: " Part antiphonal rant, part rhythmic whisper, Nathaniel Mackey's new collection of poems, Splay Anthem, takes the reader to uncharted poetic spaces. Divided into three sections—"Braid," "Fray," and "Nub" (one referent Mackey notes in his stellar Introduction: "the imperial, flailing republic of Nub the United States has become, the shrunken place the earth has become, planet Nub")—Splay Anthem weaves together two ongoing serial poems Mackey has been writing for over twenty years, Song of the Andoumboulou and "Mu" (though "mu no more itself / than Andoumboulou")." It is as marvelous as its title is strange!

A Former Student's First Publication: Congratulations!
One of the very first undergraduate students to whom I taught creative writing, a little over a decade ago at NYU, has published his first story. Congratulations, Francisco Mejia! He's now living and working in Slovakia, and the story, "The First Rain," appears in the Slovakian national newspaper Hospodarske Noviny, under the title "Prvy Dazd." His wife Jarmila translated it. (The photo at left shows the story, and a face shot of him; from what I can make out of the Slovakian, he's called a "verbal samurai," which is one of the aptest descriptions I've read in a while.) Francisco is a prodigious, talented writer, and I am definitely looking forward to more good news from him about his publications. (I also think the photo of him at left favors Morrison--Toni, that is, and not Mateo.)