National Book Foundation — HOW TO WRITE A REJECTION LETTER… some thoughts...

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HOW TO WRITE A REJECTION LETTER… some thoughts from Jeff Shotts, executive editor of Graywolf Press, publisher of the 2013 National Book Awards Winner for Poetry Incarnadine. “… take no pleasure in practicing the art of rejection. Take no...

HOW TO WRITE A REJECTION LETTER… some thoughts from Jeff Shotts, executive editor of Graywolf Press, publisher of the 2013 National Book Awards Winner for Poetry Incarnadine.

“… take no pleasure in practicing the art of rejection. Take no satisfaction in disappointing someone. Do not mock, do not assume an authority, do not enjoy writing such a letter. You embarrass the art of rejection, let alone the role of the editor by doing so.

"It is so much easier to say yes. Yes is what the editor wants to say. No is what the editor must say.

” Even as you practice the art of rejection, always side with the author. You are the writer’s advocate, even when they might not see that, even as you fail each other.“


Excerpted from On Craft: Jeff Shotts on the Art of Rejection

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YEEHAW! National Book Awards on Campus is in Huntsville, Texas at Sam Houston State University. TONIGHT’S EVENT: National Book Awards on Campus Reading at Gaertner Performing Arts Center at 6:30pm is free and open to the public. Click here for...

YEEHAW! National Book Awards on Campus is in Huntsville, Texas at Sam Houston State University. 

TONIGHT’S EVENT: National Book Awards on Campus Reading at Gaertner Performing Arts Center at 6:30pm is free and open to the public. Click here for details!

After the reading, Graywolf Press editor Jeff Shotts will interview National Book Award Fiction Winner Phil Klay, National Book Award YPL Finalist John Corey Whaley, and National Book Award Poetry Finalist Fred Moten. 

But first! Some authentic Texas BBQ! (Pictured from left: Jeff Shotts, Phil Klay, John Corey Whaley, Fred Moten, and SHSU professor of creative writing Amanda Nowlin-O’Banion join the clean plate club.)

Lit NBAwards National Book Awards on Campus Sam Houston State University Texas BBQ Phil Klay John Corey Whaley Fred Moten Jeff Shotts Graywolf Press
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dieselbookstore

In preparation for the announcement of the National Book Award in a few short weeks (Nov. 19), we thought we’d link to a few excerpts and/or reviews to each book shortlisted. Awards aren’t such an important thing to us here at DIESEL, but we do love the attention they often bring to books that otherwise might escape the radar of even some of the best readers. This week, we’re profiling the Poetry Short List. 

(1) See & hear Louise Glück reading from her lush and lovely new collection,Faithful and Virtuous Night. (N.B.: I read from this book at a recent Literary Karaoke, and oh my does it feel nice on the lips.)

(2) Read an excerpt from Fanny Howe’s utterly powerful new work, Second Childhood. 

(3) Maureen McLane hits it out of the park in this excerpt (she is the first reader in the video) from This Blue.



(4) If Patrick James Dunagan’s review in The Rumpus does not send you to a bookstore shelf in search of Fred Moten’s Feel Trio, you either are not a reader of poetry or you should check your pulse. (N.B.: More of this are coming to the store very soon. Order one from your local DIESEL!) 

& lastly (5) Claudia Rankine … what can I say about her Citizen? Hers is a new American epic. It is something you simply must experience. 

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TERRIFIC multimedia roundup of our #NBAwards Poetry Finalists. Thanks dieselbookstore!

Also Katie Peterson– featured in the Louise Glück video– wrote many of the entries for our National Book Awards Poetry Winners blog. 

Lit poetry Claudia Rankine Louise Gluck Fred Moten Fanny Howe Maureen N. McLane Graywolf Press FSGbooks
National Book Awards on Campus brings our Winners and Finalists to college and university communities across the country. March 23 and 24, our honored authors are at Sam Houston State University in Huntsville, TX. From left, 2014 National Book Award...

National Book Awards on Campus brings our Winners and Finalists to college and university communities across the country. March 23 and 24, our honored authors are at Sam Houston State University in Huntsville, TX.

From left, 2014 National Book Award Poetry Finalist Fred Moten, NBF Assistant Director Leslie Shipman, Graywolf Press Executive Editor Jeff Shotts, National Book Award Fiction Winner Phil Klay, and National Book Award YPL Finalist John Corey Whaley.

MARCH 23:

6:30pm-8pm: Readings by all three 2014 NBA visiting authors, as well as on-stage interviews moderated by Jeff Shotts, executive editor of Graywolf Press, at Gaertner Performing Arts Center, Payne Concert Hall. Book signings will take place after the moderated discussion.

This event is FREE and open to the public.

MARCH 24:

National Book Award YPL Finalist John Corey Whaley and NBF Assistant Director Leslie Shipman visit Huntsville High School for reading and Q&A. Whaley and Shipman will also visit BookUp students at the Boys and Girls Club of Walker County in Huntsville, TX. 

National Book Award Fiction Winner Phil Klay takes part in “craft talk” on fiction writing with SHSU’s creative writing MFA students. 

National Book Award Poetry Finalist Fred Moten takes part in “craft talk” on poetry with SHSU’s creative writing MFA students. 

LIt NBAwards on Campus Sam Houston State University Phil Klay Fred Moten John Corey Whaley Jeff Shotts Texas BookUp creative writing
In 1952, Marianne Moore became the first woman to win the #NBAward for #Poetry. Moore’s Collected Poems, which also won the Pulitzer Prize, demonstrates her rightful place in the canon of modern poets. On our blog dedicated to the Winners of the...

In 1952, Marianne Moore became the first woman to win the #NBAward for #Poetry. Moore’s Collected Poems, which also won the Pulitzer Prize, demonstrates her rightful place in the canon of modern poets. On our blog dedicated to the Winners of the #NBAward for #Poetry Lee Felice Pinkas writes that “Moore can create subject matter from anything… No creature is too small, no idea too insignificant for Moore to applaud or discover.” In her acceptance speech at the #NBAwards Ceremony, Moore obliquely acknowledged the skepticism that then greeted modernists’ willingness to break with poetry’s stylistic and formal conventions, saying, “I can see no reason for calling my work poetry except that there is no other category in which to put it. Anyone could do what I do, and I am the more grateful that those whose judgment I trust should regard it as poetry.”

NBAPoets National Poetry Month poetry Lit female poets modernism NBAwards
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Wishes, Lies and Dreams: Teaching Children to Write Poetry by Kenneth Koch

and the Students of P.S. 61 in New York City.

Chelsea House Publishers, 1970. First Edition. $35.

Seminal work on teaching poetry to kids by this noted poet

Jacket design by Joe Brainard

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A classic teaching text from Kenneth Koch, New York School poet and twice a Finalist for the National Book Award.

“Koch’s method was in fact no more than an attitude that began with the assumption that children are natural poets. Teaching them meant only encouraging them with enthusiasm, respect, ideas, and a general amnesty on all the obstacles of free expression such as spelling, meter, and rhyme.” – LIFE magazine, May 15, 1970

lit poetry Kenneth Koch writing teaching national poetry month 2015

This week, we were thrilled to announce the Longlists for the 2019 National Book Awards. These titles in the categories of Fiction, Nonfiction, Poetry, Translated Literature, and Young People’s Literature represent some of the best writing of the year. The Finalists will be announced October 8, all in the lead up to the 70th National Book Awards on November 20. 

reading amreading literature poetry fiction national book award national book awards YA ya lit translation nonfiction memoir writing
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