State of the Arts Category Archive: Writing

Writer Bill Holm to be remembered tonight

Posted at 11:31 AM on November 2, 2009 by Marianne Combs (1 Comments)
Filed under: People, Writing

Luminaries from the Minnesota literary world will gather this evening at Plymouth Congregational Church in Minneapolis to remember Bill Holm and to read from his latest work (published posthumously), "The Chain Letter of the Soul."

Those reading from his new book will include Minnesota Poet Laureate Robert Bly, Holm's wife Marcella Brekken, Milkweed Editions' publishers Emilie Buchwald and Daniel Slager, and poets Phil Bryant, Phebe Hanson, Jim Heynen, Jim Lenfestey, Freya Manfred, Joe and Nancy Paddock and John Rezmerski.

Pianist Sonja Thompson will accompany the evening, performing selections of Hayden (one of Holm's favorite composers) and other classics.

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Wizards and witches vs vampires and werewolves: who wins?

Posted at 1:36 PM on October 15, 2009 by Marianne Combs (1 Comments)
Filed under: Books, Film, Writing

Okay, the comparative literature geek in me thinks this is just brilliant. This month the Hennepin County Library is hosting two "literary smackdowns" in which teams of teenagers will debate and defend their favorite fantasy series/publishing & film phenoms -- Harry Potter or Twilight. The audiences will pick the winning team. And of course, teens are encouraged to wear costumes supporting their favorite characters. The public debates take place on October 20 at Central Library and October 27 at Ridgedale Library in Minnetonka.

Either way, Robert Pattinson wins, doesn't he?

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Arts Journal is 10 years young

Posted at 10:29 AM on September 14, 2009 by Euan Kerr (0 Comments)
Filed under: Criticism, People, Writing

Congratulations to Arts Journal which celebrated the 10th anniversary of its first post over the weekend.

AJ serves as both an arts news aggregator and as an originator of content in several different area. It taps into the arts scene through some 200 publications from all over the US and across the English-speaking world. There is always something, if not many things, of interest to read.

Readers can also sign up for a free daily or weekly digest, depending on their appetite for arts news.

Founder and editor Douglas McLennan tells a little bit of the Arts Journal story in his blog Diacritical.

In it he promises much more, including a new design: We're working on the next version of ArtsJournal, which we hope to launch in the next month or so. As the media world changes from newspapers to other sources, we want to make sure we're casting our nets in the right directions. And we want to make it easier to find the stories they're looking for. Here's to another ten.

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The Font Feud

Posted at 3:22 PM on August 28, 2009 by Marianne Combs (6 Comments)
Filed under: Design, Writing

It could be a scene from the movie "Helvetica." People around the world are in an uproar at the Swedish furniture store Ikea, not for the quality of its workmanship, or the prices, but the new typeface used to display its four letter namein its catalogues.

The company is switching from the tried and true Futura to what is sees as a more effective typeface - Verdana. So what's the big deal? And why the change in the first place?

Evidently Ikea wants to make its global image more consistent, and that means using a font that will work in all languages, and with asian characters. Verdana is also the typeface of choice on the web.

But for many Futura is a classic. And Ikea has been quite happy with it for the past 50 years.

While the typophiles are in a heated debate over the move, the bigger question is how (or whether) it will affect the store's brand reputation. It's hard to imagine that a store with such a recognizable image (four blockish yellow letters on a bold blue building) could take a hit from a slight change in font, but comparisons have already been made to the launch of New Coke back in 1985.

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A new literary press opens its doors in Minnesota

Posted at 8:48 AM on August 26, 2009 by Marianne Combs (1 Comments)
Filed under: Books, Writing

It's called Replacement Press and its goal is to publish "culturally engaged fiction by new and emerging writers."

Replacement Press is out to discover the "voices of a new generation" but is not giving that generation any age limits. Instead the founders, Andrew and Sarah De Young, say it's about a fresh voice and a new perspective.

What we're looking for are stories that place their characters in a dynamic social setting. Make connections between the personal and the communal, find that place where individual lives collide with the wider world around them, and then live in that space.

Currently, Replacement Press is accepting submissions and plans to release its first book in Winter 2009. In the meantime, the De Youngs say they want to start a conversation on the future of literary publishing. That shouldn't be a problem, since the Twin Cities are already home to several nationally recognized literary presses: Graywolf, Milkweed Editions, and CoffeeHouse Press.

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Music writer Michael Steinberg dies

Posted at 3:07 PM on July 26, 2009 by Euan Kerr (4 Comments)
Filed under: Criticism, Music, Writing

Michael Steinberg, widely recognized as one of the most important writers on classical music of our time passed away this morning at age 80. Steinberg, husband of recently retired Minnesota Orchestra Concertmaster Jorja Fleezanis was diagnosed with cancer three years ago.

During his career Steinberg worked as a critic for the Boston Globe, a lecturer at several colleges and universities including Smith College, Hunter College, Brandeis University,
and the New England Conservatory. He was in later years program annotator to the New York Philharmonic while also serving as an advisor to the Minnesota Orchestra.

Born in Breslau in Germany in 1928, he spent part of his childhood in England after his mother managed to get him included in the Kindertransport, the rescue effort which got 10,000 children out of Germany before the outbreak of World War II. He moved to the United States with his mother and brother before the end of the war.

It was in England that he first discovered his love of music. In his book "For the love of Music: Invitations to Listening" co-authored with Larry Rothe, Steinberg revealed it was not in a concert hall, but in an alley behind a movie theater.

"It was Fantasia, the original 1940 version that did me in. I saw it just once, at the Cosmopolitan, a dingy movie house in Cambridge England, and although this was more than sixty-five years ago, I remember it more vividly than most of the movies I have seen in the last sixty-five weeks. I saw it just once because as a schoolboy on threepence a week in pocket money - even in 1940 that bought hardly anything, and surely not more than half a movie ticket - I couldn't afford to go again. Besides the guardians of Good Taste would not have encouraged, let alone subsidized, a return visit. But I also realized I did not need to see it again because the most important part was available for free. Behind the sweet little fleabag where Fantasia was playing, there was this alley where I could stand every day after school, stand undisturbed, and listen to the soundtrack of Leopold Stokowski and the Philadelphia Orchestra playing Bach, Beethoven, Schubert, and Stravinsky. On a recent visit to Cambridge I was happy to see there is still a movie theater on the same site, but it is now called the Arts Theatre and is a lot cleaner."

In a statement today Rothe said this of Steinberg:

"In the last years Michael defined what it means to battle an illness. He
continued to hang tough, determined not to let anything keep him from doing
what he had always done, which was to put listeners in touch with the music.
In his writing and in his talks, Michael knocked down walls with
intelligence, wit, and a broad sense of culture. He was a great storyteller.
He expected much from his readers and offered much. You get a taste of all
this in his books: The Symphony, The Concerto, and Choral Masterworks, three
compilations of his program notes. Another book, For the Love of Music,
gathers his reflections on an array of musical subjects.

Concerts to celebrate Michael Steinberg's life will be presented in San Francisco and Minneapolis at times to be announced.

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A poetic ode to friendship

Posted at 12:25 PM on July 3, 2009 by Marianne Combs (0 Comments)
Filed under: Writing

Check out Carol Muske-Dukes' poem "Twin Cities", published in the current edition of the New Yorker. Muske-Dukes uses images of the Mississippi and its east and west banks to recall a friendship from childhood. What holds us together, and what keeps us apart?

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