A Deconstruction of the Anxieties Associated with English majors, Fiction Writers, and Beyond
In this final installment of "Are We Doing It Wrong?," Dana Diehl, current editor-in-chief of Hayden’s Ferry Review and soon-to-be MFA graduate, speaks about her life as a writer and offers advice for those feeling wary about writing as both a passion and career choice. She also asserts that pandas are the cure to cynicism.
Read MoreThe wonderful Aria Curtis, incoming International Editor, spoke with intern Sarah Todd Stansbury about travel, writing, and reading.
STS: What drew you to the position of International Editor?
AC: Oh, wow. Where to start. I think my upbringing had a lot to do with it. My mother is Iranian and my father is American, and I went to an International School where I was in a Spanish-English bilingual program.
Read MoreIn So You’re Going To Have A Reading: Part II, we discussed briefly what to do when you have rude audience members. In Part III, we’ll expand upon that and look into different scenarios and their solutions.
The night before I have a reading, I usually practice a few times in front of a mirror. When I practice I imagine that they completely enraptured from the moment I start speaking. I imagine them laughing at every single joke I make. I imagine them applauding loudly after I finish. I imagine an agent approaching me afterwards telling me my reading was so impressive that it made them want to start representing me immediately.
Read MoreIt always echoes back to me. You could call it a haunting. You could say ghosted. You can just as easily say that the same loneliness brimming through the old woman’s body brims and finally unfastens me as well.
When I started reciting these old stories with my elders, I felt the slimmest lump in the throat begin to take on a growing heft. These are some of my greatest memories as a mentee under my elders. And it was after the end of our roundtable discussions on the texts that we would begin to read aloud each word, each line, sense the warm touch of every glottal and stressed vowel. Every click of the tongue echoed a little more in my young indigenous, nimíipuu self.
Read MoreComments on Anti-Matter Diet & Being a Poet
Regarding me, or Anti-Matter Diet, I have little to say. Briefly, I looked back into my notes for Anti-Matter Diet. Started 5/8/2003 while driving to work, listening to lectures on particle physics. Completed 5/19/2003. Changed 10/28/2003, 5/2004. Finished again 6/2004, 8/2004, 9/2004, 6/2005, 10/2005. Changed 9/2008.
Read MoreOur new International Editor, Sue Hyon Bae, discusses Mark Doty, Korean euphemisms, and the lack of seasons in the desert with intern Michael Cohen.
Michael Cohen: You’re the new International Editor at HFR—what does that title mean to you?
Sue Hyon Bae: Being constantly surprised, from the moment I accepted the position and every time I look at the queue and find a new amazing translation. I’d applied for poetry editor initially and was flattered but alarmed to be made international editor. It’s also a lot of responsibility; since we don’t have international readers, my fellow international editor Aria and I are solely in charge of choosing which translations to publish, without any third opinions.
Read MoreOur new Managing Editor, Dustin Pearson, discusses adult-like things, sushi rice, and the most important thing he’s discovered since joining HFR (himself) with intern Michael Cohen.
Michael Cohen: You’re the new Managing Editor at HFR—what does that title mean to you?
Dustin Pearson: Well, right now it means doing all the correspondence between our contributors. So the way that our process works is: the genre editors, they’ll go through the material—after it’s been passed up from the first, second, and third readers—and they’ll go through it, basically decide which pieces that they want, and then they’ll accept the piece initially.
Read MoreIn this final installment of my brief exploration of literary hip-hop, I’d like to discuss one of the biggest names in the genre today: Kendrick Lamar. Lamar’s 2012 major label debut album, good kid, m.A.A.d. city, was well received by fans and critics alike, and many of the album’s themes come to a head in one of the title tracks: “m.A.A.d. city.” Check out the audio here: And the lyrics here.
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