branta

Books to prevent lit fits?

Late in December I asked contributors and Branta readers what their holidays would hold viz things literary. Whether writers would write or be stymied; if the readers would benefit from the downtime to catch up; what gifts of lit they were hoping to receive. This post gathers their thoughts and recommendations.

The Malahat Review, Canada’s premier literary magazine, invites entries from Canadian, American, and overseas authors for the first-annual Open Season Awards. An exciting spring showcase of literary excellence, Open Season bestows a prize of $1,000 in each of three marquee categories: poetry, short fiction, and creative non-fiction.

The book is dead and we’re inviting all of its friends to help us to bury it. This year the Scream, Canada’s strangest literary festival, will explore the imminent demise of books, book culture and all that readers hold dear. In the face of its decaying vestiges we celebrate its life, its death and the spectre of its future. Join us from July 2nd to 13th in offering our elegies, predictions, ululations and dreams of technological salvation.

So who am I, then, to write a book about my life? Am I a nobody? Am I a Somebody, therefore deserving of attention from my fellow human beings? What would make me deserving of this? Or anyone? What value is one life, compared to another? I say there is no comparing for value: each and every life is precious, sacred, and fascinating. Every story is worthy of the shaping, the telling, and the listening. Yes, every single one.