Winter News From The Simpson Literary Project
Rise and shine, Simpsonistas!
Because it’s Lunar New Year, and the 2020 zodiac element is metal. This is auspicious, according to my cherished Qigong teacher, who explains that metal signifies it’s time to shine.
Indeed, thanks to you, it is the Simpson Literary Project’s time to shine. Thanks for the heart-warming response to our Year End Appeal. In December, you tripled our number of donors and donations. Thank you, thank you, thank you.
The future promises to be exhilarating, with important developments on the horizon that we long to share with you.
In the meantime, then, Happy New Year! And now on to our wintry news…
All for now,
Joe
Chair, Simpson Literary Project
jdp@newliteraryproject.org
Featured Author
Anne Raeff was a finalist for the 2019 Simpson/Joyce Carol Oates Prize and is longlisted for the 2020 Simpson/Joyce Carol Oates Prize. Her story “Chinese Opera” along with her conversation with authors Lori Ostlund and Joe Di Prisco is published in Simpsonistas: Tales from the Simpson Literary Project Vol. 2.
Anne Raeff was a Finalist for the 2019 Simpson/Joyce Carol Oates Prize. Her second novel, Winter Kept Us Warm, was published in February 2018 and won a Silver Medal from the California Book Awards. Her short story collection, The Jungle Around Us, won the 2015 Flannery O'Connor Award for Short Fiction. The collection was also a finalist for the California Book Award and was on the San Francisco Chronicle's 100 Best Books of 2017 list. Clara Mondschein's Melancholia, also a novel, was published in 2002. Raeff's stories and essays have appeared in New England Review, ZYZZYVA, and Guernica among other places. Raeff is proud to be a high school teacher and works primarily with recent immigrants. She lives in San Francisco with her wife and two cats. Her much-anticipated new novel, Only the River, which is set largely in Nicaragua and examines the long-term effects of colonialism, revolution, and war, will be published this spring by Counterpoint Press.
Read wonderful work by Anne on her website: www.anneraeff.com.
Upcoming Events with Laila Lalami
Our 2019 Simpson/Joyce Carol Oates Prize Winner Laila Lalami will be in residence in the Bay Area for a week in March 2020. Laila will be joining a number of writing seminars at UC Berkeley, visiting our Simpson Project workshops, and speaking to faculty and parents of Lafayette schools.
Please join us for two events open to the public:
March 11, Wednesday: "Who Belongs in American Fiction?" Laila Lalami, author of The Other Americans, in conversation with Namwali Serpell at UC Berkeley, 7 p.m., the Fife Room.
March 17, Tuesday: Laila Lalami in conversation with Joyce Carol Oates and Joe Di Prisco. Lafayette Library and Learning Center, 7 p.m.