Sofia Belimova

Friday Reads: February 2023

Curated by SOFIA BELIMOVA

Welcome back to Friday Reads! Here in Western Mass, a frigid February is upon us—a perfect excuse to stay inside with a good book. Need help finding that perfect read? Look no further than these recommendations from The Common’s contributors. 

The cover of Anne Enright's Actress: a red-haired woman against a turquoise background.Anne Enright’s Actress, recommended by Mathilde Merouani (contributor)

I think Anne Enright should be a superstar. Not that Anne Enright works in obscurity—her 2007 novel The Gathering won the Booker Prize. But if there was any justice to literary success, there would be think-pieces about whether Anne Enright is overrated. People would be so used to hearing that Anne Enright is one of the greats that, in their suspicion, they’d assume she must be too mainstream to be good. But then they’d read her and discover that she is, actually, one of the greats; they would see in her impeccable prose the perfect balance of comedy and tragedy that makes the tragic a little funny and the comic a little sad. If I had it my way, Anne Enright would have to tell fans that she would just like to have dinner in peace. I’m not sure Anne Enright would enjoy this level of fame, but she would certainly have something interesting to say about it.

Friday Reads: February 2023
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The Common to Receive $10,000 from the National Endowment for the Arts

Amherst, MA—The Common literary journal is pleased to announce its seventh award from the National Endowment for the Arts. The $10,000 Arts Projects award approved for 2023 will support the publication and promotion of place-based stories, essays, and poems by diverse writers from around the world.

National Endowment for the Art logo

In previous years, The Common has published numerous global portfolios from areas including Palestine, the Lusosphere, and the Arabian Gulf. In spring 2023, supported by the NEA award, Issue 25 will feature a portfolio of stories and art from Kuwait, co-edited with TC Arabic Fiction Editor Hisham Bustani. This will be the magazine’s sixth annual portfolio bringing contemporary Arabic fiction to American audiences.

“This generous NEA grant funds our continuing commitment to bring readers in this country the best contemporary Arabic short fiction,” says founder and editor in chief Jennifer Acker. “Our unique portfolios showcase a curated selection of work that can’t be found anywhere else.”     

The grant will also support The Common‘s ongoing commitments to make a wide variety of international literature available to American readers and to provide writers in the U.S.with a global platform. The magazine’s comprehensive outreach and promotion plan includes the open-access website, publicity campaigns and partnerships, educational programs like The Common in the Classroom and The Common Young Writers Program, as well as a variety of audio and web features promoting reader and contributor engagement throughout the year

Since 1966, the NEA has supported arts projects in every state and territory in the nation. The Common‘s grant is among 1,251 Grants for Arts Projects awards totaling nearly $28.8 million that were announced by the NEA as part of its first round of fiscal year 2023 grants.

“The National Endowment for the Arts is proud to support arts projects in communities nationwide,” said NEA Chair Maria Rosario Jackson, PhD. “Projects such as this one with The Common strengthen arts and cultural ecosystems, provide equitable opportunities for arts participation and practice, and contribute to the health of our communities and our economy.”

For more information on projects included in the NEA grant announcement, visit https://www.arts.gov/news.

The Common to Receive $10,000 from the National Endowment for the Arts
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Friday Reads: January 2023

Curated by SOFIA BELIMOVA

Happy new year! If you’re hoping to read more in 2023, we’ve got just the thing for you: exciting book recommendations from our contributors. From reportage that reads like a page turner to romance against the backdrop of political turmoil, these exhilarating books are perfect for cozying up somewhere warm. 

Friday Reads: January 2023
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Weekly Writes Volume 7: Accountable You

 
typing on a laptop

Weekly Writes is a ten-week program designed to help you create original place-based writing, beginning January 30.

We’re offering both poetry AND prose, in two separate programs. What do you want to prioritize in 2023? Pick the program, sharpen your pencils, and get ready for a weekly dose of writing inspiration (and accountability) in your inbox!

Weekly Writes Volume 7: Accountable You
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December 2022 Poetry Feature: Kevin McIlvoy

Poems by KEVIN McILVOY

Editor’s note: In October a friend told me about Kevin McIlvoy’s recent passing, days after I had read and been deeply moved by the following poems. We are honored to offer them to you here. 

—John Hennessy

 

Kevin McIlvoy, known to his friends as Mc., published six novels, a story collection, and a collection of prose poems and flash fictions. A long-standing faculty member in the Warren Wilson College MFA Program for Writers, he was my colleague but, more importantly, my friend. Mc. loved books and, like many writers, he loved them so much eventually the only way to love them more was to add to them by writing. These poems were sent out prior to his death on September 30, 2022. He is missed by many, but thanks to his work, his voice is still with us. 

—C. Dale Young

December 2022 Poetry Feature: Kevin McIlvoy
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Most-Read Pieces of 2022

As 2022 comes to an end, we want to celebrate the pieces our readers loved! Browse our list of 2022’s most-read pieces to see the writing that left an impact on our readers.

Most-Read Pieces of 2022
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The Way Back Home

By S. G. MORADI

 

Image of a building with colorful glass windows in the twilight.

Iran

We grew up on salty rocks, collecting bullets,
holding onto hope as if it were a jump rope that 
come our turn, would go on spinning forever
our feet never failing us.
We ran through sunburnt alleys, kicking up
clouds of dust that were quick to settle
as if somehow knowing
that we had nowhere else to go.

The Way Back Home
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Learning from Las Vegas (Air) Strip

By ZOE VALERY

This woman in the airport is neither catching a plane nor meeting one. (…)
Why is this woman in this airport? Why is she going nowhere, where has she been?
      —Joan Didion, “Why I Write” (1976)

 

In the margins of the Strip, planes shimmer in and out of Las Vegas. I photographed this periphery, populated by plane watchers. Why they watch and why I write seem to be connected by a tenuous link that became clearer as the afternoon transpired.

*

Palm trees and an airplane in the sky.

Sundown marks the time and the place for a discreet show among Las Vegas locals. At the golden hour, vehicles on Sunset Road veer toward McCarran International Airport and park in front of the runway. While the casino-jammed stretch of Las Vegas Boulevard known as the Strip blinks itself awake in the background, the airstrip stages a steady stream of landings and take-offs. Every day, new and seasoned plane watchers come here to view the aircrafts rolling between the sky and the Vegas skyline.

Learning from Las Vegas (Air) Strip
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Craft Classes: Translation, Nonfiction, Revision, and Poetic Form

Image of a graphic with all four headshots, saying: 2023 craft classes; join us for a series of illuminating craft classes on writing and translating formal poetry, editing your own work, and writing nonfiction on place and belonging. 

Give your writing a boost this winter. Join The Common for a series of craft classes with these literary luminaries.
 

    • Boris Dralyuk: “Extraordinary Measures: Translating Formal Poetry” [register]

    • Anna Badkhen: “Writing about Place: Geography, belonging, historical context, and the implications of our gaze” [register]

    • Megha Majumdar: “Demystifying Publishing and Being Your Own Best Editor” [register]

    • Zeina Hashem Beck: “The Ghazal and the Poetic Leap” [register]

 
Each class includes a craft talk and Q&A with the guest author, generative exercises and discussion, and a take-home list of readings and writing prompts. Recordings will be available after the fact for participants who cannot attend the live event.
 
Each class is $125, or $85 for current subscribers or current and past Weekly Writes participants. 

 

Craft Classes: Translation, Nonfiction, Revision, and Poetic Form
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Friday Reads: December 2022

Curated by SOFIA BELIMOVA

 

Last month, we launched Issue 24, which features wispy, ethereal poems, striking watercolors of the Stebbins Cold Canyon flora and fauna, stories about resilience in the face of war and natural disaster, and essays that celebrate humor and heritage. Wondering what our contributors are reading to keep themselves inspired? Look no further than this month’s Friday Reads.

 

Book Cover of Meet Us by the Roaring Sea by Akil Kumarasamy. Abstract drawings on black background.

Friday Reads: December 2022
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