Feast your eyes on stellar prose, poetry, and interviews in the latest SalonZine.

In This Issue

EDITORIAL

Why Believe? by Salon Staff

FICTION

Death Becomes Us by Tim Kreider

Revelations by Matt Cheney

NON-FICTION

One Day by Annabel Lucy Smith

Poor Her Soul by Mira Ptacin

Pinheads No More by Chris Grillo

POETRY

Composure by Louisa A. Igloria

Birthmark by Prabhakar Vasan

Noise by Cheryl Burke

Consider by Diane Schenker

Yes No Yes by Diane Schenker

INTERVIEWS

Nancy Agabian by Nita Noveno

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We started in the Big Apple and traveled to Nairobi, Kenya and Chicago. Drop by the Salon nearest you and meet other writers.

Upcoming Salons

Ah summer! We’re holding onto you for as long as possible, but what’s that on the literary horizon…? You guessed it: four phenomenal writers who will keep that summer spirit going at the September 19th Sunday Salon. We’re looking forward to it! Join us at Jimmys 43 at 43 E. 7th St. 8pm. (Please note time change for this month’s event.)

Phillip Lopate was born in Brooklyn, New York in 1943 and received a BA from Columbia in 1964, and a doctorate from the Union Graduate School in 1979. He has written fifteen books of poems, essays, novels, film criticism, biographical monograph, urban meditation, and a memoir about teaching. He has edited numerous anthologies including Writing New York (Library of America, 2008) and The Art of the Personal Essay (Doubleday-Anchor, 1994). Phillip has been awarded a John Simon Guggenheim Fellowship, a New York Public Library Center for Scholars and Writers fellowship, two National Endowment for the Arts grants, and two New York Foundation for the Arts grants. His most recent books include Two Marriages (Other Press, 2008), Notes on Sontag (Princeton University Press, 2009) and At the End of …

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> More on upcoming Salons

It's a big literary world, and Sunday Salon is smack dab in the middle of it. Check out the Salon blog for the latest news and views.

No Baggage Travel

Is it possible? I met up recently with travel writer supreme Rolf Potts and a few other travel writing enthusiasts at a watering hole in NYC before Rolf embarked on his 6-week journey around the world with no baggage. …

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Aid to Pakistan

Consider donating to the International Rescue Committee to help out those affected by the flood in Pakistan.

Or here: Save the Children.

Or here: Mercy Corps.

Bahut Shukria. Thank you.

Coming soon: Salonzine’s new issue SPILL

Stayed tuned for the upcoming issue of Salonzine. SPILL is still marinating, but boy, it’s gonna be good!

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Meet folks who have read at Salon, including all the juicy tidbits they shared with us. Oh, and feel free to order their books too!

Nancy Agabian

INTERVIEWED BY NITA NOVENO

Her soft-spoken demeanor might fool you, but Nancy Agabian packs a wallop in her prose. The author of Me as her again: True Stories of an Armenian Daughter, Nancy writes about family, identity, and genocide with a critical eye, insight, and compassion. Her stories are provocative and humorous, just the way we like them. This generous, tireless writer took a break from her busy teaching and writing schedule to answer a few questions for Sunday Salon.

Nita Noveno: Nancy, this book sprang from the experiences of your Armenian family, specifically, your grandmother’s escape from genocide. What ultimately compelled you to write this story?…

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> See who's been busy

So many good books to read these days. Where to start? Check out our latest reviews, books by alumni and tempting recommendations.

{REVIEWED} Ask the Dust

By René Georg Vasicek
Ask the Dust is a dangerous book. Arturo Bandini, the narrator, is a terrorist of the mind. He explodes reality and makes you believe in the urgency of now: “Los Angeles, give me some of you! Los Angeles come to me the way I came to you, my feet over your streets, you pretty town I loved you so much, you sad flower in the sand, you pretty town.”

I didn’t think literature was possible in Los Angeles, and then I read Ask the Dust (1939) by John Fante. At the time I thought I was finished with American novels, too busy devouring the Europeans: Knut Hamsun, Robert Musil, Bohumil Hrabal, Thomas Bernhard, W.G. Sebald. Then one day I was killing time …

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