What We've Been Reading

Brad:
I'm reading Nice Hat. Thanks.,a book of collaborative poems by Joshua Beckman and Matthew Rohrer. It's an older book (it was published in 2002) that I'm just getting around to. It's perfect for summer -- humorous, fleet, leaving you with positive impressions like a day at the beach.

I'm also reading Fort Red Border,the first book of poems by Kiki Petrosino. The title is an anagram for Robert Redford, who appears in the first third of the book, interacting with Petrosino's speaker and framing inquiries into topics such as ethnicity and heritage. If you are in the Twin Cities, she'll be reading at Magers and Quinn on September 12 at 7 pm with (ahem) a poetry editor at InDigest.

Reina:
I just finished reading Surfacingby Margaret Atwood. One of my close friends could not stop praising it, and when I found out that Margaret Atwood is a humanist (a system of thought I've been curious to learn more about recently), I requested my friend's note-laden, dog-eared, and underlined copy, which she readily passed to me with both hands like a treasured object. Unfortunately, I do not feel the same way toward the book as she does. The story of a young woman returning home again after a long and painful absence was told well enough, heavy with symbolism and addressing issues such as sexism, patriotism, and humanity's altogether destructive nature, but it just didn't resonate within me like I had hoped. Still, I haven't given up on Atwood, and I plan to read her more popular novel, The Blind Assassinsome day soon enough.

Dustin:
This past week or so I read two novels that I'm not going to talk about, yet. They aren't out, but both are by past InDigest contributors, and both were quite spectacular. I don't want to ruin it because I'm sure I'll be talking about them a lot soon.

But this week I also read Ada Limón's new chapbook What Sucks Us In Will Surely Swallow Us Whole. It's a collection poems that sort of narrates a road trip through California, but it's less direct than I'm making it sound. It doesn't have a trajectory necessarily, but all the poems are about this road trip and what it means or how it changes people, makes us come to new realizations about people and places. Limón has a really great fashion of creating new images out things that are familiar, or turning intangibles into a digestible image. One of my favorite lines does just that, "She thinks she could go farther / faster without the drag of what she carries; / nothing but her body's own quiet / insistence to accelerate." It's really quite beautiful, not just the words but the book itself is. It's out through Cinematheque Press, a press I've only recently discovered - and have been ingesting everything I can get from rapidly - (I read from Joshua Marie Wilkinson's newest collection, out through Cinematheque, at the last 1207 reading). They make some really great little books, giving great attention to detail and what design elements will really add to the book. They do a fantastic job, I recommend going and buying some of their extremely affordable books.

InDigest Under Construction

As you can tell by the lack of content on the site the last month or so, we're taking a little break. This is not (only) because the summer has finally come to New York and we are out playing Frisbee in the parks. It's because InDigest is currently under the knife, getting a major face lift. We have brought on board a very talented designer and programmer and they are doing amazing things with the look and feel of the magazine, which we hope to unveil sometime in August.

Until then, take this time to catch up on some of the content you didn't get a chance to read and/or look at the first time around. How about these amazing poems by Ada Limón, "61 Trees" and "Rest Stop"? These poems will be included in a book coming out with cinematheque press later this summer. And Ada was recently in The New Yorker; her poem "Crush" found its way into the summer fiction issue.

Maybe fiction is more your thing. How about a story from the early days of InDigest by Sam Osterhout? Sam is currently the host of Radio Happy Hour, a live old-timey radio show that welcomes special guests, such as Norah Jones, Michael Showalter, and Andrew W.K., to perform as themselves in the script. The show is getting all kinds of attention. You can subscribe to the free podcast here.

If you've read everything there is to read on InDigest, then check out our blog, which is still being updated while the magazine is under construction. There are new features like "What's New This Week," which gives a concise list of the week's best releases in books, music, theater...really in everything, and "What We've Been Reading," which highlights some of the books the InDigest crew has been reading.

And of course there is always InDigest 1207 Reading Series, which keeps gaining momentum as the months go by. In August alone we'll welcome John Wray, Marlon James, and Ronaldo V. Wilson. And on the schedule for the fall already are the writers Neil Smith, J.C. Hallman, and James Hannaham, and the musician Franz Nicolay (of The Hold Steady). (Read a review of John Wray's Lowboy by James Wood in The New Yorker, here, and reviews of Marlon James' latest, The Book of the Night Women and J.C. Hallman's book of stories, Hospital for Bad Poets, here and here, respectively.)

As always, thanks for reading. Please be patient as we make InDigest better. We promise it will be worth the wait.

David and Dustin
Editors

InDigest 1207 Photos - January 7th, 2009

Check out the photo album from the January InDigest 1207 reading with Ada Limon, Sam Osterhout, and Jess Grover.

InDigest 1207 Reading Series - January 7th, 2009

(Thanks to Taya Mueller and Ada Limon for the photos)

InDigest 1207

The first installment of InDigest 1207 was a success on all fronts. A very special thanks to Ada Limon, Sam Osterhout, and Jess Grover for reading, and to all those who came out and hung out with us.


In InDigest 1207 we ask readers to, along with their own work, bring in some pieces by other writers who have influenced them and read those as well. There were some requests after the reading last night for us to post those read by Ada, Sam, and Jess. So, here you are:

Ada read "One Art" Elizabeth Bishop from her collection, Complete Poems 1927-1979 and "Faint Music" by Robert Hass from, Sun Under Wood.

Sam read from William Stafford's book Kansas Poems. Poems: "North of Liberal," "At Breaks Near the River," and "Key of C--An Interlude For Marvin."

Jess read "Centaur" by Srikanth Reddy from his book Facts for Visitors, "In the Clear Long After" by Olena Kalytiak Davis from her book Shattered Sonnets, Love Cards and Other Off and Back Handed Importunities, "Boot Theory" by Richard Siken from his book Crush and "Wind in a Box" by Terrance Hayes from his book Wind in a Box.

Thanks again everyone. Hope to see you all at the next 1207 on Wed. Feb. 4 when we will proudly be welcoming Meakin Armstrong and Erica Wright.

Lastly, a special thanks to LPR for offering a gorgeous space for this series...And amazing drink specials for all in attendance!

Watch for pictures from last night coming soon.

New Issue!!

Things have been a little crazy in the InDigest offices and we're feeling a little scattered. With the Anniversary Reading in St. Paul, and the kick off of InDigest 1207 But it's nice when you find a few pieces and start getting your shit back together. So, in an effort to get all caught up I thought I would post this, since we have completely forgotten.

We have a new issue!

Here is what is happening in the InDigest One Year Anniversary Issue:

Here is the scoop on the issue:


InPoetics:
New poetry from Stephen Burt, Ada Limon, Brad Liening, Meggie Elder, Jess Grover, and Erica Wright

InNarratives:
"The Town Secrets," an excerpt from a novel-in-progress, Kings of the Wild Frontier by Meakin Armstrong.

"Interior Illusions," an excerpt from a novella in progress of the same title by Lech Harris.

"Hunting Bambi," a new short story from J. Albin Larson.

InErratica:
In Blunt Force Trauma, a new column about underrepresented books and authors, columnist Joe Finck tackles the legacy of Jim Thompson, the classic pulp novelist.

In Bedside Stacks, Ashleigh A. Lambert takes on The Miracle Letters of T. Rimberg by Geoff Herbach and Vacation by Deb Olin Unferth.

InMusic:
InDigest editor Dustin Luke Nelson interviews composer Ted Hearne, and John Darnielle of The Mountain Goats.

InGallery:
Paintings from Kara Hendershot.

Thanks, once again and always, for reading. We can't overstate how pleased we are to have the opportunity to publish new, interesting, and compelling work for just over a year now. And a special thanks to all who have lent a hand to make this past year possible. First, Dustin and I would like to thank Jesse Sawyer and Chris Koza, two of the founding editors of InDigest. This magazine would not exist without their presence in the beginning. And thanks to all who have given their time in some way or another over the year: Jeremy Smith, Reina Podell, Jay Peterson, Alex Lemon, Charles Greene, Ashleigh Lambert, Jess Grover, Ryan Thompson, Chris Thompson, Dan Wieken, and Neil Reiter - there are a probably a lot of people we are missing here, and we're sorry if we missed you. Suffice to say that David and Dustin are not InDigest by themselves, it takes a whole lot of people to keep this running. Thank you all. And thank you for reading.

David and Dustin
Editors, InDigest Magazine

Ada Limon

In case you read the last post early on, and are really on top of your InDigest news I thought I would off an update. The below post has been revised with some new information.

Ada Limon has been added to the January 7th reading. Awesome. Come hang out with us at LPR.