I'm delighted to serve as guest editor for issue 6 of the splendid
journal Cardinal Points. The reading period starts immediately and ends
on August 31, 2015. The issue will come out in February of 2016 and will
be presented at AWP in LA.
Please send your work as a Word file to
lshmailo@stosvet.net with CP6 in subject line.
For the kind of work we are looking for, please refer to http://www.stosvet.net/cardinalpoints.html
and if you still have any questions, please feel free to forward them to lshmailo@stosvet.net
Since 2014, Cardinal Points journal is being published in collaboration with MadHat Press.
http://www.stosvet.net/cardinalpoints.html
Sunday, April 19, 2015
Saturday, April 18, 2015
Text of "Apple Bhagan of Mahadevi-Akka," from The Journal of Feminist Studies in Religion
Honored to have my poem, " Apple Bhagan of Mahadevi-Akka," in the Spring issue of the Journal of Feminist Studies in Religion. Mahadevi-Akka was a 12th century Dravidian poet.
APPLE BHAGAN1 OF MAHADEVI-AKKA
When death comes, it
will be diamond white.
The dark months before,
a falling, burying brown.
All is, after all, a
trap of activity,
before
the bursting scent,
naked, of apples gone ground.
When death comes, it
will be a sister’s hand,
as callused as ground,
the slapping of time.
It is, after all, the
root of activity,
so like
the dusted brown bottles
of sour apple wine.
When death comes, it
will be clear and bright.
All actions, after all,
from ignorance arise,
The cycle of rebirth
will dance with Lord Siva
becoming
as babies like apples,
born breathing, born red.
.
1.
A bhaghan (also bhajan) is
a devotion or prayer.
Friday, April 17, 2015
New Staging of Victory over the Sun, Iconic Avant-garde Theater, at BU 4/23
For
immediate release
Media
Contact:
Anna Winestein
annawine@bu.edu, 617.599.3190
New Staging of Victory over the Sun, Iconic Avant-garde Theater, at BU 4/23
annawine@bu.edu, 617.599.3190
New Staging of Victory over the Sun, Iconic Avant-garde Theater, at BU 4/23
Victory over the Sun, the First Futurist Opera by
Aleksei Kruchenykh
Thursday,
April 23, 2015 at 7:30 PM
Boston
University Photonics Center
8 St. Mary’s Street, Room 206
(MBTA Green Line “B” to BU Central or “C” to St. Mary’s St.)
(MBTA Green Line “B” to BU Central or “C” to St. Mary’s St.)
Free and
open to the public | Reception & book-signing to follow
Boston University’s Revolutionary
Voices series will present the mythically iconoclastic Futurist opera Victory over the Sun on Thursday, April 23 in a new experimental staging directed by
Anna Winestein. Concocted in 1913 by the trans-rational poet Aleksey
Kruchenykh, the messiah of painterly abstraction Kazimir Malevich, and the
avant-garde composer-painter Mikhail Matiushin, Victory, called an opera, was in fact an anti-operatic,
anti-theatrical, anti-literary piece of performance art intended to overthrow
all conventional art forms.
Larissa Shmailo’s original
translation, which was commissioned by the Los Angeles County Museum of Art in
1980, has undergone a digitized technological update in the Boston University
production while retaining the Marx Brothers-like feel of the manic original. The
BU performance will feature a digital score written and mastered by Finnish
composer Jukka-Pekka Kervinen, voice performance by Shmailo, visual design by
Anna Winestein, interactive digital projections created by Ajjen Joshi, and
volunteer actors from the BU community.
The
performance of this early achievement of Russian Futurism that spanned many art
forms, including poetry, art, music and theater, will be followed by comments by
historian Harlow Robinson, and a panel discussion among Robinson, Winestein,
Joshi, and Shmailo, moderated by Revolutionary Voices co-director Yuri
Corrigan. The evening will conclude with a book signing by Shmailo, whose
translation is now available from Cervena Barva Press, and a reception.
Revolutionary Voices is sponsored by
the Boston University Center for Humanities, the Jewish Cultural Endowment, the
Provost Arts Initiative, the Center for the Study of Europe, the Department of
Modern Languages and Comparative Literature, and the Department of English.
Victory Over the Sun is presented in collaboration with the Ballets Russes Arts
Initiative and Cervena Barva Press.
Useful links
:
:
http://www.bu.edu/european/2015/03/12/victory-over-the-sun/
http://www.ballets-russes.com/Victory.html
http://www.thelostbookshelf.com/cervenabooks.html
Thursday, April 09, 2015
Sunday, April 05, 2015
Interview on PennSound
I'm delighted my interview by Leonard Schwartz on PennSound's Cross-Cultural Poetics show is now up! We discuss my collection, #specialcharacters, Aleksei Kruchenych, and why Russians read poetry and Americans don't.
http://www.writing.upenn.edu/pennsound/x/XCP.php#316
http://www.writing.upenn.edu/pennsound/x/XCP.php#316
Friday, March 20, 2015
AWP Panels - please join me in Minneapolis!
I am pleased to be on two exciting panels at the AWP Conference at the Minneapolis Convention Center. Please be sure to join us!
Daughters of Baba Yaga: The Eastern European Woman Poet in the United States
Number: R270
Moderator: Larissa Shmailo
With Katia Kapovich, Irina Mashinski, Gloria Mindock, Annie Pluto
Date/Time: Thursday, April 9, 4:30 to 5:45 pm
Room 205 C&D Level 2
From Pushkin to Pussy Riot: Poetics and Politics of Translating Russian Poetry
Number: S212
Moderator: Phil Metres
With Larissa Shmailo, Alex Cigale, Matvei Yankelevich
Date/Time: Saturday, April 11, 1:30 to 2:45pm
Room 205 C&D, Level 2
Monday, March 09, 2015
Interview for WordMothers
Meet Larissa Shmailo
By WordMothers ¶ Posted in Fiction, Interviews with Editors, Interviews with Writers, Performance, Poetry, Poetry ¶ Tagged american literature, fiction, libretto, novel, poems, poet, poet interview, poetry, russian literature, screenplay, screenwriting, translation, translator ¶ Leave a comment
Interview by Nicole Melanson ~
Interview with writer Larissa Shmailo by Nicole Melanson - photo by Joel Simpson
Larissa Shmailo is editor-in-chief of the anthology Twenty-first Century Russian Poetry (Big Bridge Press), poetry editor for MadHat Annual, and founder of The Feminist Poets in Low-Cut Blouses. She translated Victory over the Sun for the Los Angeles County Museum of Art’s celebrated reconstruction of the first Futurist opera; the libretto is now available from Červená Barva Press. Larissa has also been a translator on the Russian Bible for the Eugene A. Nida Institute for Biblical Scholarship of the American Bible Society.
Larissa’s poetry collections are #specialcharacters (Unlikely Books), In Paran (BlazeVOX [books]), A Cure for Suicide (Červená Barva Press), and Fib Sequence (Argotist Ebooks). Her poetry CDs are The No-Net World and Exorcism (SongCrew); tracks are available from Spotify, iTunes, Muze, and Amazon. Larissa won the New Century Awards for jazz, rock, electronica and best album for Exorcism. Her novel, Patient Women, is forthcoming from BlazeVOX [books].
Larissa Shmailo’s website www.larissashmailo.com
Facebook: /LarissaShmailoPoetryandProse
Twitter: @larissashmailo
WHEN DID YOU START WRITING?
As a writer, capital W, at age 36. I was welcomed immediately into the New York City open mike circuit as a poet and a performer, and began getting wonderful features right away. Editors asked me for my work, which was thrilling.
WHAT IS YOUR LATEST BOOK OR CURRENT PROJECT?
My translation of the first Futurist opera, Victory over the Sun by Aleksei Kruchenych, which I did for the Los Angeles County Museum of Art and which has been performed and studied all over the world, is in print: Larissa Shmailo’s translation of Victory over the Sun.
Says Gerald Janacek of my translation:
< Victory over the Sun, one of the most important events in Russian Futurism and in the avant-garde in general, is not well recognized in the West. Now in a new edition of Larissa Shmailo’s brilliant translation of the text, with a lively introduction by Eugene Ostashevsky, readers can appreciate the significance and innovativeness of the 1913 play. Using Shmailo’s translation and Malevich’s pathbreaking stage designs, the play was reconstructed and staged in 1980 to great acclaim and remains a signal accomplishment in the history of the avant-garde.
—Gerald Janecek, Author of Zaum: The Transrational Poetry of Russian Futurism (UCSD, 1996) and Sight and Sound Entwined (Berghahn Books, 2000)
We are restaging the opera with music and choreography at Boston University April 23.
Writer Larissa Shmailo Translated Libretto - Victory over the Sun
Translated libretto of Victory over the Sun
WHAT IS YOUR WORK ENVIRONMENT LIKE?
It is my dining room table and is surrounded by bookshelves. It is usually untidy.
WHEN DO YOU WORK? WHAT DOES A TYPICAL DAY LOOK LIKE?
I have my own business, Scribes Media, for writing, editorial, and translation services, and there is no typical day – I eat what I catch. I tend to work on my own literary projects in the A.M. and late afternoon/evenings.
WHAT IS YOUR WRITING PROCESS?
I sit down at the computer and start to type. Occasionally, I bring ideas there that I get lying on the couch, but my substantive writing is done by engaging the blank page. I usually complete poems in one sitting and have a bad habit of polishing the beginning of unfinished novels and screenplays instead of forging on. I procrastinate mightily on reviews.
WHO OR WHAT INSPIRES YOU?
I am inspired by my brilliant mentor, Annie Finch. A brilliant, creative, loving individual who has taught me volumes about poetry.
I mine my own story for dark poems and prose, I listen for strange juxtapositions, things that ordinarily wouldn’t mix. I also gratefully accept prompts and commissions.
WHAT IS THE HARDEST PART OF WHAT YOU DO?
Managing my time, which I waste in buckets, but it relaxes me so to be a little time drunk. I need a lot of silence, time without television or books or word processors, but I also have a passionate need to write my screenplay, so I am conflicted.
WHAT IS YOUR ARTISTIC VISION?
I am grateful that my debut novel, Patient Women, is being published by BlazeVOX [books] and would like to write a historical novel entitled Dora, based on my parents’ experience interned in the Dora Northausen concentration camp. I also am writing a screenplay which I’d like to see made into a film. I’d like to see more communities for women like WordMothers, especially writing groups where work is shared with female peers.
WHO ARE YOUR FAVORITE FEMALE AUTHORS?
Annie Finch, Charlotte Bronte, Jane Austen, Edna St. Vincent Millay, Emily Dickenson, Anne Elliott
WHICH FEMALE AUTHORS WOULD YOU LIKE TO SEE INTERVIEWED ON WORDMOTHERS NEXT?
Annie Finch, Anne Elliott, and Joani Reese
Thank you, Larissa Shmailo!
— Nicole Melanson
* Author photo by Joel Simpson
By WordMothers ¶ Posted in Fiction, Interviews with Editors, Interviews with Writers, Performance, Poetry, Poetry ¶ Tagged american literature, fiction, libretto, novel, poems, poet, poet interview, poetry, russian literature, screenplay, screenwriting, translation, translator ¶ Leave a comment
Interview by Nicole Melanson ~
Interview with writer Larissa Shmailo by Nicole Melanson - photo by Joel Simpson
Larissa Shmailo is editor-in-chief of the anthology Twenty-first Century Russian Poetry (Big Bridge Press), poetry editor for MadHat Annual, and founder of The Feminist Poets in Low-Cut Blouses. She translated Victory over the Sun for the Los Angeles County Museum of Art’s celebrated reconstruction of the first Futurist opera; the libretto is now available from Červená Barva Press. Larissa has also been a translator on the Russian Bible for the Eugene A. Nida Institute for Biblical Scholarship of the American Bible Society.
Larissa’s poetry collections are #specialcharacters (Unlikely Books), In Paran (BlazeVOX [books]), A Cure for Suicide (Červená Barva Press), and Fib Sequence (Argotist Ebooks). Her poetry CDs are The No-Net World and Exorcism (SongCrew); tracks are available from Spotify, iTunes, Muze, and Amazon. Larissa won the New Century Awards for jazz, rock, electronica and best album for Exorcism. Her novel, Patient Women, is forthcoming from BlazeVOX [books].
Larissa Shmailo’s website www.larissashmailo.com
Facebook: /LarissaShmailoPoetryandProse
Twitter: @larissashmailo
WHEN DID YOU START WRITING?
As a writer, capital W, at age 36. I was welcomed immediately into the New York City open mike circuit as a poet and a performer, and began getting wonderful features right away. Editors asked me for my work, which was thrilling.
WHAT IS YOUR LATEST BOOK OR CURRENT PROJECT?
My translation of the first Futurist opera, Victory over the Sun by Aleksei Kruchenych, which I did for the Los Angeles County Museum of Art and which has been performed and studied all over the world, is in print: Larissa Shmailo’s translation of Victory over the Sun.
Says Gerald Janacek of my translation:
< Victory over the Sun, one of the most important events in Russian Futurism and in the avant-garde in general, is not well recognized in the West. Now in a new edition of Larissa Shmailo’s brilliant translation of the text, with a lively introduction by Eugene Ostashevsky, readers can appreciate the significance and innovativeness of the 1913 play. Using Shmailo’s translation and Malevich’s pathbreaking stage designs, the play was reconstructed and staged in 1980 to great acclaim and remains a signal accomplishment in the history of the avant-garde.
—Gerald Janecek, Author of Zaum: The Transrational Poetry of Russian Futurism (UCSD, 1996) and Sight and Sound Entwined (Berghahn Books, 2000)
We are restaging the opera with music and choreography at Boston University April 23.
Writer Larissa Shmailo Translated Libretto - Victory over the Sun
Translated libretto of Victory over the Sun
WHAT IS YOUR WORK ENVIRONMENT LIKE?
It is my dining room table and is surrounded by bookshelves. It is usually untidy.
WHEN DO YOU WORK? WHAT DOES A TYPICAL DAY LOOK LIKE?
I have my own business, Scribes Media, for writing, editorial, and translation services, and there is no typical day – I eat what I catch. I tend to work on my own literary projects in the A.M. and late afternoon/evenings.
WHAT IS YOUR WRITING PROCESS?
I sit down at the computer and start to type. Occasionally, I bring ideas there that I get lying on the couch, but my substantive writing is done by engaging the blank page. I usually complete poems in one sitting and have a bad habit of polishing the beginning of unfinished novels and screenplays instead of forging on. I procrastinate mightily on reviews.
WHO OR WHAT INSPIRES YOU?
I am inspired by my brilliant mentor, Annie Finch. A brilliant, creative, loving individual who has taught me volumes about poetry.
I mine my own story for dark poems and prose, I listen for strange juxtapositions, things that ordinarily wouldn’t mix. I also gratefully accept prompts and commissions.
WHAT IS THE HARDEST PART OF WHAT YOU DO?
Managing my time, which I waste in buckets, but it relaxes me so to be a little time drunk. I need a lot of silence, time without television or books or word processors, but I also have a passionate need to write my screenplay, so I am conflicted.
WHAT IS YOUR ARTISTIC VISION?
I am grateful that my debut novel, Patient Women, is being published by BlazeVOX [books] and would like to write a historical novel entitled Dora, based on my parents’ experience interned in the Dora Northausen concentration camp. I also am writing a screenplay which I’d like to see made into a film. I’d like to see more communities for women like WordMothers, especially writing groups where work is shared with female peers.
WHO ARE YOUR FAVORITE FEMALE AUTHORS?
Annie Finch, Charlotte Bronte, Jane Austen, Edna St. Vincent Millay, Emily Dickenson, Anne Elliott
WHICH FEMALE AUTHORS WOULD YOU LIKE TO SEE INTERVIEWED ON WORDMOTHERS NEXT?
Annie Finch, Anne Elliott, and Joani Reese
Thank you, Larissa Shmailo!
— Nicole Melanson
* Author photo by Joel Simpson
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