Stitches—Mend in The Potomac

Cooler weather has arrived, and that means hat season. So now is a good time to share my story, “Stitches—Mend,” published in the latest issue of The Potomac.

The Potomac is a literary journal of poetry and politics. “Stitches—Mend” is included in the “Quicktions” section, right under a story by Clarinda Harriss.

“Stitches—Mend” is a bit experimental for me, told in very small parts, and covering everything from appreciating one another, deaths in the family, seeing splinters in people’s eyes, and being grateful for the little things that really aren’t so little.

In the same issue, you’ll find fiction by Nathan Leslie, Nitin Jagdish, and even Roger Castleman as well as poetry by Shirley J. Brewer and Danuta E. Kosk-Kosicka.

Read “Stitches—Mend” at this link.

http://thepotomacjournal.com/issue16/Fiction/Goodman.html

Check out the other great selections in the latest issue.

http://thepotomacjournal.com

Lit and Art at Baltimore Book Fest

It’s that season again—time for the Baltimore Book Festival. It’s the Mid-Atlantic Region’s biggest literary celebration! The event takes place from Friday, September 26 at noon to Sunday, September 28 at 6 p.m.

Once again, the Lit and Art Reading Series has a place at the Baltimore Book Festival’s CityLit Stage—the hottest stage of the festival! Our program takes place at 2 p.m. on Sunday, September 26 and features Tom Glenn, Eric D. Goodman, Holly Morse-Ellington, Nitin Jagdish, Nathan Leslie, Liz Moser, and Manzar of the Watermark Gallery. The event will be emceed by NPR’s Aaron Henkin, whose program “The Signal” takes listeners on a weekly tour of Baltimore’s cultural landscape.

Other featured writers participating in this year’s festival include Alice McDermott, Rafael Alvarez, Jessica Anya Blau, Sid Gold, Jen Michalski, Lalita Noronha, and a multitude of others.

Learn more about this year’s Baltimore Book Festival at www.baltimorebookfestival.org.

Go right to the CityLit Stage!

www.baltimorebookfestival.org/schedule/location/3/CityLit-Stage

George Saunders Celebrates 10 years of CityLit Fest

The annual CityLit Festival, a favorite spring event in Baltimore, is celebrating 10 years this Saturday. From its very inception, ringmaster Gregg Wilhelm has brought in top names to headline the festival: the likes of Edward P. Jones and Junot Diaz.

This year, the fiction headliner is George Saunders, author the bestselling Pastoralia, set against a warped, hilarious, and terrifyingly recognizable American landscape; CivilWarLand in Bad Decline, a finalist for the PEN/Hemingway Award; and In Persuasion Nation, one of three finalists for the 2006 STORY Prize for best short story collection of the year. The New York Times Magazine called Saunders's latest collection, Tenth of December, "the best book you'll read this year."

Headlining poets are poets laureate Stanley Plumly of Maryland and Dick Allen of Connecticut read their latest work. Plumly is the author of Orphan Hours and is recipient of the 2010 John William Corrington Award for Lifetime Achievement in Literature). Allen is the author of Present Vanishing and recipient of the 2013 New Criterion Poetry Prize, one of the country's most prominent prizes for a book-length collection of poems that pays close attention to form.

Other featured authors include Jen Michalski, Elisabeth Dahl, Nathan Leslie, Tim Wendle, Nik Korpon, and CL Bledsoe. I’ll be on hand as well in the Literary Marketplace.

Join us on April 13, 2013, 10 a.m. to 5 p.m. at the Enoch Pratt Free Library in downtown Baltimore, and discover (again) why Baltimore magazine called CityLit Festival "a can't miss event on the city's social scene."

www.citylitproject.org/index.cfm?page=news&newsid=130

Lit and Art Kicks Off 2013

Join us this Sunday as we kick off the 2013 Lit and Art schedule!

The first 2013 event in the Lit and Art Reading Series takes place on January 27 from 2 to 5 p.m. at the Watermark Gallery, 100 South Charles Street, second floor of the Bank of America building right across from Baltimore's Inner Harbor.

Featured authors and poets include Virginia Crawford, Earl Crown, Tom Glenn, Nathan Leslie, and Laura Shovan. Live music by Erik Kestler and original artwork by Manzar.  Hosted by Nitin Jagdish and Eric D. Goodman.

Bring your own work to share during the open mic session.

The event is free and open to the public. Wine, refreshments, and conversation will flow.  Join us for Lit and Art at the Watermark from 2 to 5 p.m. on Sunday, January 27. Come discover what has been called "the best excuse to get lit in Baltimore on a Sunday afternoon."

Learn more about the events, featured participants, and more at the Lit and Art Facebook Page:

http://www.facebook.com/groups/408637512490280/?ref=ts&fref=ts#!/groups/181120815252390/?fref=ts

Exciting Year for Lit and Art

Along with 2013, we ring in some exciting changes for the Lit and Art Reading Series. The first event of the new year is Sunday, January 27 from 2 to 5 p.m. at The Watermark Gallery.

Started in October 2007, the Lit and Art Reading Series provides a unique opportunity to sample a wide variety of artistic sensibilities in one sitting. Hosted by authors Eric D. Goodman and Nitin Jagdish and the Watermark Gallery’s resident artist, Manzar, the events are free and open to the public. Let us pour you a complimentary glass of wine!

In past years, we have averaged about five events per year. For 2013, we’re proud to announce five events in the first half year, with more to follow.

This year’s programs will feature the talents of Michael Kimball, Nathan Leslie, Laura Shovan, Virginia Crawford, Tom Glenn, Julie-Wakeman-Linn, Earl Crown, Nik Korpon, Kathy Cottle, Djelloul Marbrook, Holly Morse-Ellington, Caryn Coyle, Lucrecia Guerrero, Jerry Holt, Austin Camacho, Lauren Eisenberg Davis, Harrison Demchick, Charles Rammelkamp, Sue Ellen Thompson, Goodloe Byron, Erik Kestler, Manzar, and more!

The first 2013 event takes place on January 27 from 2 to 5 p.m. at the Watermark Gallery, 100 South Charles Street, second floor of the Bank of America building right across from Baltimore's Inner Harbor.

Featured authors and poets at January’s event include Virginia Crawford, Earl Crown, Tom Glenn, Nathan Leslie, and Laura Shovan. Live music by Erik Kestler and original artwork by Manzar. Hosted by Nitin Jagdish and Eric D. Goodman. Bring your own work to share during open mic.

Come experience “the best excuse to get lit in Baltimore on a Sunday afternoon.” Learn more about the Lit and Art reading series and other literary events at www.facebook.com/home.php#!/groups/181120815252390/?fref=ts

Nathan Leslie—Tracks is a Tour-de-Force

Author Nathan Leslie knows a thing or two about short fiction collections—he’s written six of them, including Believers, Madre, and Drivers. He’s also the fiction editor for The Pedestal Magazine, has been editor for two anthologies, and teaches creative fiction at Northern Virginia Community College. Here’s what the prolific fiction expert had to say about Tracks.

“Eric D. Goodman's scintillating first novel-in-stories travels along several parallel plot-lines, introducing the reader in mesmerizing fashion to men and women and the train tracks which serve as the object of their reflections and obsessions. Tracks is a tour-de-force, mirroring in its original structure perhaps train tracks themselves. The Westward expansion of our country, the grind of the daily commute, urbanization, the Holocaust—Goodman encapsulates all of this, so much of history and contemporary living. In the process, Goodman captures something almost ineffable—trains are us and vice versa. If one of the goals of great fiction is to set forth into new fictional territory, Tracks is that. And then some.”

Learn more about Nathan Leslie and his own fiction at his website.

http://www.nathanleslie.com/