Anca Szilagyi » fiction

Background Reading for a Novel-in-Progess

AS — Thu, 18 Apr 2013 18:04:53 +0000

I’ve been feeling anxious about the many things I’m juggling at the moment, so I just did a “brain-dump,” hashing out my immediate deadlines and less imminent ones, projects where I owe work to others and projects where I owe work to myself, and when in the coming months I will be able to do that. This is something I do from time to time, but having just finished auditing the ArtistTrust EDGE program, I have a few more tips and resources under my belt, with healthy reminders about making time for the writing and valuing that work. I feel a lot better. Of my own projects, there are a handful of short stories that I want to develop further, a handful to submit (or continue submitting), and a general plan to arrange the collection (in hard copy, not in my mind, which I’ve pretty much done) in September.

Anxiety-reduction aside, the brain dump also got me excited about looking ahead to my second novel. I wrote a quick, rough sketch of about 115 pages last April and put it aside to simmer. I took a number of inspiring and invigorating classes at Hugo House in March, including Chris Abani‘s class on voice and Sam Lipsyte‘s class on keeping a story going. Now, I’m taking Peter Mountford‘s excellent class on narrative structure, and had a really productive workshop of my synopsis and first chapter. I’m looking forward to digging deeper into the main conflict of the story before I set out to rewrite with more intention. And I’m excited to keep reading novels that I think will feed this book. For my first novel, I read countless books. I wish I had kept a more careful list all in one place, but my notes are scattered over many notebooks, and it would take me some time to sift through the pages to put it all together. I pretty much read anything I could get my hands on that was from or about Argentina and seemed remotely related, as well as a number of books that used magic realism in some way similar to how I tend to write it. I’m trying to be more organized about my second novel.

So far, here are some of the works feeding into Novel # 2. If you have any recommendations that fit into the nodes developing here, feel free to leave a comment!

Pictured left to right: A Convergence of Birds, An Almost Perfect Moment, The Brooklyn Follies, The Map and the Territory, Bleak House, Billy Budd and Other Stories, Just Kids, The Emperor’s Children, A Young Man’s Guide to Late Capitalism, The Big Short, Lives of the Artists. Not pictured: some legal fiction by Grisham, some spy fiction by Le Carre.

Made at Hugo House Reading – The Zoo

AS — Wed, 03 Apr 2013 04:19:58 +0000

In February, the Made at Hugo House fellows read from our works-in-progress. I read “The Zoo,” which I had written in October while nervously waiting to hear whether I’d gotten into the program, and which was published in Washington City Paper’s D.C.-themed fiction issue in January. It was a lovely evening!

Upcoming Readings

AS — Sun, 27 Jan 2013 00:13:40 +0000

Recently, a gardening-savvy friend got me excited about what will crop up in our yard as the weather warms – lilacs, cherries, and plums, oh my! I just have to get through these last cold, muddy weeks. Luckily, I’ve got three readings on the horizon that will sneak me right into spring, all at the loverly Richard Hugo House:

Tuesday, February 5, 8 pm – The Castalia Reading Series - This is the monthly reading series for the UW MFA program, and I get to read as an alum for the first time. I’m reading alongside fellow alum & poet Rachel Welty and students Derek Robbins, Jay Yencich, and Kristine Greive.
Friday, February 15, 7:30 pm – Made at Hugo House Midyear Reading - As a part of the Made at Hugo House Fellowship, the fellows (Bill Carty, Irene Keliher, Eric McMillan, Katharine Ogle, Elissa Washuta, and me) will be sharing new work produced in the first half of the program.
Thursday, March 21, 7:00 pm – Cheap Beer & Prose - I’m reading alongside Nicole Hardy, Corinne Manning, and Kristen Young as a part of the series’ annual ladies’ night. Wee!

Addendum: At the Pine Box, Monday, February 11, 7:30 pm - Pacifica Launch Party - The literary magazine I help edit is launching its first issue! Lisa Nicholas-Ristcher, Maggie MK Hess, Sarah Kathyrn Moore, Leena Joshi, Joannie Stangeland, and Jake Uitti will be reading, and the book, designed by Ryan Diaz, is beeeeautiful.

The Zoo

AS — Thu, 03 Jan 2013 05:01:31 +0000

I’m honored to have my story “The Zoo” included as one of four stories in Washington City Paper’s D.C.-themed fiction issue . Here’s how the story begins:

The Zoo

That’s what my brother calls it. The quarantined room at the end of the hall. It has two sets of windows: one looking into an air lock, where two white bunny suits hang on the wall, then another looking into the room kept pristine for the most fragile.

Town of Shadows

AS — Fri, 21 Dec 2012 18:40:00 +0000

I’ve reviewed Lindsay Stern’s debut novella over at Ploughshares. Here’s how the review begins:

What: a debut prose-poem novella

Who: the eponymous town of shadows
And: its cast of shadowy characters, including a rug doctor, a lepidopterist, bureaucrats, a bodiless mayor speaking from a gramophone that sputters ash, a child with an hour glass and a white balloon who might be god, etc.

Where: mirrors, shadows, bell jars, and graves
When: see “where”

Continue reading

Hugo at the Henry: Writing with Visual Art

AS — Wed, 19 Dec 2012 02:49:31 +0000

I’m gearing up to teach Hugo at the Henry: Writing with Visual Art again this winter, bringing Hugo House students to the Henry Art Gallery to look at art and write. I taught a version of the class over the summer, and the Henry put together a beautiful e-booklet of writing produced by students then, now available right here. I’m so proud of the work they created in that short time, and so thankful to Rachael Faust and Jayme Yen at the Henry for making this e-booklet possible.

This winter, the Henry’s special exhibits include Now Here is Also Nowhere, which explores ephemeral and intangible concepts like love, death, memory, and imagination, Pipilotti Rist’s immersive projection A la belle étoile, and En plein air, which explores how landscape painting influenced early photography. We’ll also have a chance to request work from the permanent collection not currently on display. It’s going to be a fabulous quarter!

Here’s the run down on the class:

Hugo at the Henry: Writing with Visual Art

Meets Thursdays, 6-8 pm, at the Henry Art Gallery

January 31-March 7, 2013

To register: http://hugohouse.org/class/hugo-henry-writing-visual-art-0

Made at Hugo House: More Like Home Than Home

AS — Thu, 01 Nov 2012 03:12:48 +0000

Sunday night, I had the pleasure of reading a short story that takes place in Pike Place Market right in Pike Place Market, at the Can Can. The event, a literary cabaret produced by Sailor St. Claire, was called The Naked Bunch, and its theme played off of William S. Burroughs Naked Lunch, asking: what’s your fix? So I read a short story called “Sugar,” the first story I’ve set in Seattle since moving here that I actually like. What I really loved about the event was how eclectic and yet cohesive it was – fiction, poetry, strip tease, and music all coming at that what’s-your-fix question from differently kinky angles. The night before that was also a treat. I read another new story called “The Zoo” at the Long Talking Bad Conditions Blues reading series hosted by Zachary Watterson at Liberty Bar. Zachary named the series after a novel by Ron Sukenick that is comprised of one extraordinarily long sentence, which lends a certain urgency to the series that I really like. That’s two nights of readings with wonderful, talented writers – not to mention burlesque dancers and musicians! I feel really lucky.

There’s another reason I’m feeling really lucky these days. I’ve been awarded a Made at Hugo House Fellowship! This new fellowship provides funding, space, and resources to four to six writers age 35 and younger in King County. During my fellowship, I’ll be completing my short story collection “More Like Home Than Home,” which explores themes of migration, place, and home in settings like Bucharest, New York, and Seattle, and several places in between. So there was something extra sweet about reading “Sugar,” a story set in Seattle that I’m finally happy about after three years of living here, at such a great venue like The Can Can. Hooray!

Reading at The Can Can. Photo by Kristen Young.

I needed a high-res photo for the fellowship webpage, so I asked my friend Sayed Alamy at GuyEatsOctopus to take a few shots. He did a super job!

Photo by Sayed Alamy.

Mr. Penumbra’s 24-Hour Bookstore

AS — Fri, 05 Oct 2012 14:51:04 +0000

My review of Robin Sloan‘s debut novel Mr. Penumbra’s 24-Hour Bookstore is up on the Ploughshares blog. I’m still having fun playing with the review-in-lists form. Here’s how it begins:

What: a book about books
And: their simultaneous demise and triumph
And, obviously: immortality

Lit Galore

AS — Wed, 26 Sep 2012 20:04:13 +0000

October in Seattle will be brimming with literary events. Between Arts Crush, City Arts Fest and a whole slew of other goodies, I’ll be glad I went back to drinking coffee and taking my multivitamins! Here are a few events I’m involved with, one way or another:

Wed. Oct. 3, 6-7 pm. The Furnace Reading Series Presents “The Last Night at Manuela’s” .What happens when a stage play is adapted for radio? That’s what Buffy Aakaash has done with his award-winning play, which is set in Mexico on the Day of the Dead. Come watch it live as it’s broadcast on Hollow Earth Radio! We’ll have hot chocolate on hand (just sayin’). This is a free and featured Arts Crush event made possible with support from the Seattle Office of Arts & Cultural Affairs. Hosted by Corinne Manning. (Nb: I kicked off this free quarterly series in August and now help to coordinate it.) Facebook Twitter

Sun. Oct. 6, 6-7 pm. Sunset Reading on the Melrose Promenade. An evening of poetry and sunset-gazing featuring the fabulously talented poets Brian McGuigan, Elizabeth Cooperman, and Katherine Ogle, plus one of the best views in Seattle. One of a string of events promoting the Melrose Promenade project, which is working toward making Melrose Avenue Seattle’s next great open space.

Sat. Oct. 27, 1-5 pm. Found Stories at Richard Hugo House. I’m teaching a one-day class using found objects as generative material for new fiction. Fun! And then, right afterwards…

Sat. Oct. 27, 6 pm. Long Talking Bad Conditions Blues reading series at Liberty Bar in Capitol Hill. I’m thrilled to be reading with Eugene Cross, Jane Wong, Katherine DeBlassie, Matthew Nienow, and Suzanne Morrison. Hosted by Zachary Watterson.

Then of course, there’s the marathon Seattle Lit Crawl on Thursday, October 18, meandering from First Hill to Capitol Hill from 5 to 10 pm at which many of my talented writer friends will be reading.

Whew! I think in November I might need a nap.

Found Stories

AS — Thu, 06 Sep 2012 05:06:02 +0000

I’m looking forward to teaching Found Stories, a one-day class at Hugo House this October 27 aimed at generating new fiction using found objects. There will be some very essential and very fun pre-class homework: I’m asking students to bring in objects that they find – post-it notes, mittens, music boxes – anything that will be helpful in generating stories, which, really, could be anything. I’ll be bringing in a few of my own artifacts, and until class, I’m also keeping an eye out for goodies left on sidewalks, yard sales, and the like. But I’m really curious about what else people will bring. What stories catch your eye when you see something left behind – discarded or forgotten?

In the meantime, here’s a great story Andrei Codrescu told on NPR today about two items he found while moving: a box of chocolates wrapped in miniature covers of one of his poetry books and a bag of petrified pretzels. And here’s a bit about Joseph Cornell, an artist I’ve been slowly reading up on who used found objects in his dreamy work .