Soft Skull News

The Kelly Writers House and the University of Pennsylvania have announced that our friend and author Cristin O'Keefe Aptowicz is the recipient of the 2010-2011 ArtsEdge Residency, a collaborative residency project designed to encourage the careers of emergent writers.

Cristin, author of the comprehensive history WORDS IN YOUR FACE: A GUIDED TOUR THROUGH TWENTY YEARS OF THE NEW YORK CITY POETRY SLAM, as well as five books of poetry, will be headed to her hometown for the year, where she'll be treated to living and studio space and will be teaching a Spring 2011 Creative Writing course at Penn focusing on non-fiction and poetry. She plans to use the ArtsEdge residency to work on a non-fiction book about the life and times of Thomas Dent Mutter, founder of the Philadelphia’s Mutter Museum.

Many congratulations to Cristin! If you get a chance, take a moment to visit her new Facebook fan page.

Posted by Anne Horowitz at 01:45 PM | Permalink | Comments (0) | TrackBacks (0)

Congratulations to Mac McClelland, who is the June winner of the Sidney Award for her article about the impact of the oil spill on fishermen's wives in the gulf, entitled "Depression, Abuse, Suicide: Fishermen's Wives Face Post-Spill Trauma," published on MotherJones.com. McClleland's piece details the way the oil spill in the gulf has affected individual households, from a shortage of food for fishermen's families to disputes with BP over the size of relief checks - as well as a surge in reports of domestic violence, up in some places by 320%.

Sidney Judge Charles Kaiser said, "McClelland succeeds in putting a human face on the tremendous toll taken on fishermen's families by this environmental catastrophe" - a toll which already includes the suicide of an Alabama charter boat captain.

McClelland, the human rights reporter for Mother Jones, is the author of For Us Surrender Is Out of the Question: A Story From Burma's Never-Ending War (Soft Skull Press), which describes how U.S. sanctions have done nothing to reduce oppression in that war-torn nation.

The Sidney Award is given once a month to an outstanding piece of socially-conscious journalism by the Sidney Hillman Foundation.

For an interview with McClelland about the piece click here.

Posted by Anne Horowitz at 04:07 PM | Permalink | Comments (0) | TrackBacks (0)

So pleased to see a poem of Jennifer Knox's included in The New Yorker. You can read it here. Jennifer's the author of five collections, among them A Gringo Like me, which originally came out from Soft Skull in 2005 and is now available from Bloof Books. If you want to know a little more about Jennifer, this little introduction ought to be a good place to start.

Posted by Anne Horowitz at 02:07 PM | Permalink | Comments (0) | TrackBacks (0)

I posted too soon! In my excitement over the honor bestowed today on Lydia Millet, I didn't scroll far enough down the list of finalists. Rajiv Joseph, a phenomenally talented young playwright, winner of an NEA Award for Best Play and a Whiting Writers Award, is a Pulitzer prize finalist in drama for his play "Bengal Tiger at the Baghdad Zoo." This play—a “philosophical and existential investigation into the Iraq War” (Los Angeles Times)—will be published by Soft Skull this October, alongside two others ("Gruesome Playground Injuries" and "Animals Out of Paper"), in a collection of Rajiv's three major works to date.

Audiences will be seeing more of Rajiv throughout 2010. "Bengal Tiger" is set to play from 4/14-5/30 at the Mark Taper Forum in downtown Los Angeles, and "Gruesome Playground Injuries will have its New York premiere this fall. It's also being presented by the Woolly Mammoth Theatre Company in D.C. beginning 5/17.

This is really one of the biggest days in Soft Skull's history. Two Pulitzer finalists. Just...wow.

Posted by Anne Horowitz at 05:07 PM | Permalink | Comments (0) | TrackBacks (0)

An enormous, giddy congratulations to Pulitzer prize finalist Lydia Millet, whose sharp, sly story collection, LOVE IN INFANT MONKEYS, has won her the recognition she so richly deserves. We couldn't be happier for her, or more honored to be the publisher of five of her luminous books.

Posted by Anne Horowitz at 03:44 PM | Permalink | Comments (0) | TrackBacks (0)

As a a publisher we put our heart and soul into every title we publish. A lot of the time the world shrugs, which is one of the brutal truths of the industry. But it’s the occasional starred review for a challenging, atypical author like Alain that can make it all worthwhile.

Starred Review - Broken Glass Alain Mabanckou, trans. from the French by Helen Stevenson. (Publishers Weekly)

Set in a sad-sack Congolese bar called Credit Gone West, this ingeniously satirical novel by Congolese poet and novelist Mabanckou (African Psycho) creates a microcosm of postcolonial African experience through the tales of sodden bar patrons. Broken Glass, a 64-year-old former teacher who renounced a conventional life for the drinking life, jots down his and others' stories in a notebook given to him by the bar's owner, Stubborn Snail, because “the days when grandmothers reminisced from their deathbeds was gone now.” Broken Glass endures ribald tales by unsavory regulars such as Pampers, a frequenter of the sex district who lands in jail, only to be sexually abused by the inmates. Another fixture, Printer, recounts the convoluted tale of his travels in France, where he married a gorgeous white woman, moved to a Paris suburb “well away from negroes,” and then discovered his wife was sleeping with his visiting son. Mabanckou moves fluidly from story to story, stringing sentences together without periods and settling into a pleasing prose rhythm. Literary allusions (Holden Caulfield has a cameo) and gentle ironies punctuate this wickedly entertaining novel. (June)

Posted by Denise Oswald at 11:22 AM | Permalink | Comments (0) | TrackBacks (0)

As the soon-to-be publisher of Frédéric Mitterrand's memoir in the United States we have been following closely the current discussion concerning Mr. Mitterrand in the press. We'd just like to say that what is most surprising to us regarding the situation is that Mr. Mitterrand's story has for quite some time been public knowledge to the French people, and in the most high-profile fashion. The Bad Life was published four years ago and became a bestseller in France. The controversial passages have been known to us all along and, among other things, it was the frankness and thoughtfulness with which Mr. Mitterand discussed his life that drew us to the project. Whether you agree with Mr. Mitterrand’s story or habits, he approaches them with a compelling and thought-provoking honesty and we continue to stand behind this elegant and brave book in the same way we have since undertaking to publish it here. As a publisher, Soft Skull has always embraced controversial conversations. That which makes us uncomfortable certainly warrants further rather than less scrutiny.

We look forward to releasing The Bad Life quite soon.

Posted by Denise Oswald at 05:42 PM | Permalink | Comments (0) | TrackBacks (0)

We're torn between two covers for our next book by Martin Millar (coming out in January). The book, which glows with Martin's signature combination of warmth, humor, myth, and rock'n'roll, is called RUBY AND THE STONE AGE DIET and tells the story of a friendship between two young, lovelorn squatters in South London.

I quite like both of these. If you have an opinion as to which would make the more effective cover, can you email me at anne@softskull.com? Would really appreciate any and all feedback.

Posted by Anne Horowitz at 03:02 PM | Permalink | Comments (0) | TrackBacks (0)

Turn your volume way up.

Posted by Anne Horowitz at 06:59 PM | Permalink | Comments (0) | TrackBacks (0)

Available this fall.

Posted by Anne Horowitz at 05:48 PM | Permalink | Comments (0) | TrackBacks (0)