Happy Friday! We’re gearing up for the Association of Writers and Writing Programs conference next week and looking forward to our Thursday evening mingle with Ecotone, the Common, Archipelago Books, New Directions, and the New York Review of Books. Please join us at Mackenzie’s Scotch Pub in Minneapolis.
If it’s your first conference, Bustle offers these tips for how to avoid literary burnout. Among them, locate your favorite lit mags and presses at the book fair in advance (we’ll be at tables 1018 & 1020 with the Ecotone crew) and keep an eye on Twitter for #AWP15 (and of course follow us: @lookoutbooks).
Don’t miss the Lookout and Ecotone editorial team on the following panels:
Founding editor David Gessner
But Seriously . . . Is It Time for More Humor in Environmental Writing?
Friday, 4:30 p.m.
Publisher Emily Louise Smith
Image Is Everything: Literary Magazines on Design, Friday, 4:30 p.m.
Literary Publishing in the 21st Century, Saturday, 3 p.m.
Editor Anna Lena Phillips
Ecotone at Ten: A Reading and Conversation
Friday, 10:30 a.m.
Associate editor Beth Staples
Pinning Editors Down: Lit Mag Fiction Editors Define What Works
Friday, 9 a.m.
If you get restless at the convention center and want to venture out, we suggest these lovely indie bookstore and restaurant pairings, recommended by the hometown Minneapolis team at Graywolf Press. From Birchbark Books (owned by Louise Erdrich) and The Kenwood, to Moon Palace Books and Peace Coffee, there’s a nearby bookstore and eatery to indulge every palate.
Earlier this week, we revealed the cover of our forthcoming novel, Honey from the Lion, by Matthew Neill Null, as well as Matt’s new author website. Thanks to our crack design team, led by Anna Coe. You can now read an excerpt and the terrific advance praise for the book. Keep checking the website for forthcoming events, an author note, and the reading guide.
The gorgeous cover, illustrated by Alexander Heaton
In Ecotone author news, contributor Arna Bontemps Hemenway has won the prestigious 2015 PEN/Hemingway Award for Debut Fiction. Read his story “A Self-Made Man” in issue 15.
Contributor Paula Meehan has won the Lawrence O’Shaughnessy Award for Poetry. She will be reading in recognition of this award on April 24 in Saint Paul, MN. Meehan has a piece forthcoming in issue 19.
Finally, UNCW Presents delivered a van load of donated books to New Hanover Detention Facility on Wednesday, including the complete Lookout catalog, and we’re looking for other ways to share books within our community.
