Content Tagged ‘doyle’s cafe’

We kick off today’s news with the announcement that Astoria to Zion: Twenty-Six Stories of Risk and Abandon from Ecotone’s First Decade has won a gold IPPY (Independent Publisher Book Award) in the anthology category. Another award-winning Lookout title!

It’s only been a few weeks since our Astoria to Zion event in Boston, and we’ve just posted pictures on our Facebook page. Here’s one of contributors and master storytellers Bill Roorbach, Matthew Neill Null, and Steve Almond, but there are plenty more so go check them out!

Astoria to Zion contributor Maggie Shipstead continues to dominate lit news with her new novel, Astonish Me. She’s featured in Elle and the Miami Herald, and sits at number one on Huffington Post’s list of 6 Books You Should Read this Summer. And, if you live in the Saratoga area, Maggie will be at the Northshore Bookstore on May 3 at 7 p.m. for an interview and book signing.

First we want to send a huge Thank You to everyone who made the Astoria to Zion launch parties possible. The Center for Fiction and Doyle’s Cafe were gracious hosts, our readers were entertaining and enthralling, and we couldn’t have asked for better attendees.

image via LilyandVal

While we were busy in Boston and New York, Astoria to Zion authors and Ecotone contributors were also busy. And we’ve got some interesting lit news lined up for you so keep reading!

Rebecca Makkai had us rolling with her Ploughshares piece “Writers You Want to Punch in the Face(book).” I think we all know someone like Todd Manley-Krauss.

Fair warning: shameless self-promotion ahead for our two Astoria to Zion launch events in NYC and Boston next week. You won’t want to miss these!

We’ll be at the Center for Fiction in New York on April 7 at 7 p.m., with contributors David Means, Maggie Shipstead, and Douglas Watson, who will read from their terrific stories in the anthology.

The post-reading Q&A will focus on how technology affects writing and literature—and the short story in particular. How important is the concept of place in an age when our physical location is largely irrelevant as long as we’re within cord’s length of a power source and range of Wi-Fi? Are digital resources essential to conduct and organize research? How do Twitter and Facebook influence our thinking and writing processes?