Gatherings | Issue 28

Ha Seong-nan, Any-Angled Light, Emahoy Tsege Mariam Gebru, Malahat Review List Serve Found Poems, Elsa von Freytag-Loringhoven, Umberto D, AI, Book-Review Bombing, and more

Jun 07, 2023

Below is a list of what I’m reading, watching, listening to.

Enjoy!

Recommended Books

I’m currently reading Flowers of Mold by Ha Seong-nan (translated by Janet Hong). It is a book of literary horror stories which is just about my favourite genre. These stories are strange and funny and beautifully written.

The Yale Review published “The Woman Next Door” from this collection.

From Open Letter Press

About the Author:

Ha Seong-nan is the author of five short story collections—including Bluebeard's First Wife and Flowers of Mold—and three novels. Over her career, she's received a number of prestigious awards, such as the Dong-in Literary Award in 1999, Hankook Ilbo Literary Prize in 2000, the Isu Literature Prize in 2004, the Oh Yeong-su Literary Award in 2008, and the Contemporary Literature (Hyundae Munhak) Award in 2009.

About the Translator:

Janet Hong is a writer and translator based in Vancouver, Canada. Her work has appeared in Brick: A Literary Journal, Literary Hub, Asia Literary Review, Words Without Borders, and the Korea Times. Her other translations include Han Yujoo's The Impossible Fairy Tale and Ancco's Bad Friends.

Recommended Music

My husband, David Poolman, and his collaborators just released their album Any-Angled Light, which is available for pre-order and which you can preview on iTunes.

PRE-ORDER ANY-ANGLED LIGHT

FOR CANADIAN PRE-ORDERS, PLEASE CONTACT US.

An empty bench beside a street light at the end of a peer overlooking a body of water with moutains in the distance.

NMAS 014: Any-Angled Light (12" 180-gram vinyl LP and Digital Download)
Any-Angled Light
US $20.98 / $8.99 (download)

Any-Angled Light is a suite of instrumental music featuring bass, guitar, piano, tenor saxophone, electronic synthesis, and field recordings. Mixing song-structures with open-ended ambient compositions, melodies with sound-collage, the seven individual tracks invoke a range of genres and influences while a breadcrumb trail of sounds and motifs scattered throughout the album builds a sense of continuity, reflecting the unifying theme of a sonic reckoning with the natural world.

Recorded by visual artists and musicians in Montreal, Toronto, and rural Ontario, these songs were constructed in a call-and-response fashion with audio sketches, drawings, photographs, text, and video sent back and forth between the players - a conversational process that began during the winter of 2020 and continued off and on over the next 2 years.

Any-Angled Light is Jen Dorner (piano), Alex Geddie (electronic synthesis), Mike Glendon (tenor saxophone), Kamryn McFarlane (electronic synthesis), David Poolman (bass, MIDI instruments, field recordings), Mike Vass (guitar).

I’ve been listening to Emahoy Tsege Mariam Gebru.

Recommended Poems

For a good time join the Malahat Review list serve. I’m not on the list, but I have been enjoying the fall out on social media. Here’s a found poem by Rhonda Ganz that Rob Taylor published on his blog.

“Enchantment” by Elsa von Freytag-Loringhoven, Poem-a-Day from Poets.org

Recommended Writing Contests

Room Magazine Non Fiction Contest with Judge Tajja Isen, Deadline July 15, 2023

Alicia Elliott to judge the The Ampersand Review Essay Contest - Deadline August 31, 2023

Recommended Viewing

Whenever I’m feeling a little dead inside, I watch Umberto D. I’m not really a crier, but nothing makes me feel and cry like this film. I’ve probably watched this film more than any other.

You Hurt My Feelings was a fun watch despite a wonky third act and a story that diminished in tension as the film went on. But the premise of a writer finding out her husband hates her work is pretty spot on and hilarious. Wish the whole film lived up to the premise. But worth watching nonetheless especially if you are a writer or live with one.