Thursday, June 01, 2006

Not The Real World

I'm back from a week's residency at the Virginia Center for the Creative Arts, the artist colony an hour south of Charlottesville, VA, where I worked on my novel, admired the cows, shooed a large black snake out of my studio, talked about Bread Loaf & literary translation with poet Loren Graham, saw a slide show by photographer Rudiger Bergmann, listened to the poetry of Barbara Crooker and Deborah Creasey, and new pages from the novel-in-progress set in India (so far) of Elizabeth Kadetsky-- who also happens to be a roaringly gifted psychic. Back in the Real World (if Washington DC can be considered such): last night at the Mexican Cultural Institute, in "A Literary Look at Mexico", a very interesting panel discussion with Luis Alberto Urrea, author of The Hummingbird's Daughter. I talked about Miraculous Air and Mexico: A Traveler's Literary Companion. Ray Suarez was moderator. More anon.