Saturday, March 31, 2007

Go Tell It...

Once someone told me a story that changed my life (well, in that way that we'd like stories to change our lives). A friend of mine told me about a time when she was very young and her mother took her to see James Baldwin speak. I don't think she knew much about him, but she was nervous to join the long line of people waiting to speak with him afterwards. Her mother took her hand and they waited. When they got to Mr. Baldwin, her mother asked if he had any advice for her daughter, because her daughter wanted to be a writer just like him. "My advice is to just write," he said. "It don't have to be Shakespeare, honey." I'm not sure exactly why that story changed my life, but I'm pretty sure it did.

In that life-changing vein, there's an interesting site called Americanrhetoric.com that features hundreds of incredible writers whose speeches have shaped the world and our conception of it. The highlights (besides Baldwin of course) include Eleanor Roosevelt, Cesar Chavez, Ernest Hemingway, Ursula Le Guin, William Faulkner, Malcolm X, Martin Luther King, Jr. and many more. Some of them even have audio files where you can listen to the actual speech. Although not all of these folks are popularly recognized as "Writers," there is something inspiring about the fact that all of them were able to craft words (the same words we use!) into messages that change things.

-Abdel

Thursday, March 29, 2007

The Bluecast

Every so often we'll feature one of our contributors reading a story, poem, essay, interview--what have you--and we'll post it here for your listening enjoyment. You can either listen to the piece on our website using the embedded Mp3 player or download the Bluecast and listen at your leisure (we're pronouncing that "lessure").

Our inaugural piece is Robert Lopez reading his story, "Guiding Eyes for the Blind Dog Training School," from our Latina/Latino issue. Enjoy!

And check out Robert's newest book, Part of the World, from Calamaripress.

Wednesday, March 28, 2007

Latina/Latino Issue


Francisco Aragón has a cool interview with former IR editors Grady Jaynes and Mary Speaker on Tertulia Magazine's website. Grady and Mary discuss the process of putting together the Latina/Latino issue and give a nice behind-the-scenes snapshot of the organized chaos which is IR.

Sunday, March 25, 2007

The Future of Publishing?

Are printed books a luxury? It's a scary question for those of us who put them together, but one we may not be able avoid as the world's resources become increasingly spare. IF:Book is a Macarthur Foundation project that examines the implications of this particular question. They also have an interesting article on printed, versus on-screen reading. (If you're alergic to irony, please feel free to print the article out.)
I don't know about you, but I do find it a pain in the rear to have to read off a computer screen all day. I feel like computer type makes me tired. Plus, I don't think I could live without trips to the library! (Sorry, I'm a nerd.) But, on the other hand, trees are pretty essential to living as well.
Thoughts?

-Abdel

Thursday, March 22, 2007

2007 Poetry Prize

Don't forget to enter our 2007 Poetry prize (Deadline March 30th). Joy Harjo is judging and we're already getting quite a few high-quality entries. Besides getting a crack at the $1,000 grand prize, all submissions will be considered for publication and all entrants will recieve a one-year subscription to the magazine.

Friday, March 16, 2007

IR at AWP!















Indiana Review was in full effect at the Associated Writing Program conference in Atlanta this year. It was a nice opportunity for us to meet some really cool IR readers and contributors. Thanks to all of you who came by and said hi. Catch us next year in New York!

Pictured, left to right: Megan Savage, Fiction Editor; Cate Whetzel, Poetry Editor; Tracy Truels, Editor in Chief; Abdel Shakur, Associate Editor