Loft Literary Center
The Loft Literary Center is a non-profit literary organization located in Minneapolis, Minnesota incorporated in 1975. The Loft is a large and comprehensive independent literary center, and offers a variety of writing classes, conferences, grants, readings, writers' studios and other services to both established and emerging writers. Each year, the Loft hosts more than 400 writers and performers that draw more than 12,000 people, and collaborates with at least 30 local and national organizations. The Loft additionally claims to have more than 170,000 unique visitors through digital resources and online writing classes. History Inception Incorporated in 1975, the Loft started in a bookstore when a group of writers decided to offer classes and readings in the upstairs loft. Following a series of successful events held at Rusoff & Co. Book Dealers in Dinkytown, Minnesota, bookstore owner Marly Rusoff and writers Jim Moore, Patricia Hampl, Phebe Hanson, and Michael Dennis Browne fo ... [...More Info...]       [...Related Items...]     OR:     [Wikipedia]   [Google]   [Baidu]   |
|
Loft Literary Center Lobby At Open Book, Minneapolis, August 2012
A loft is a building's upper storey or elevated area in a room directly under the roof (American usage), or just an attic: a storage space under the roof usually accessed by a ladder (primarily British usage). A loft apartment refers to large adaptable open space, often converted for residential use (a converted loft) from some other use, often light industrial. Adding to the confusion, some converted lofts include upper open loft areas. Loft and attic In U.S usage, a loft is an upper room or storey in a building, mainly in a barn, directly under the roof, used for storage (as in most private houses). In this sense it is roughly synonymous with attic, the major difference being that an attic typically constitutes an entire floor of the building, while a loft covers only a few rooms, leaving one or more sides open to the lower floor. In British usage, lofts are usually just a roof space accessed via a hatch and loft ladder, while attics tend to be rooms immediately under ... [...More Info...]       [...Related Items...]     OR:     [Wikipedia]   [Google]   [Baidu]   |
|
Dai Qing
Fu Xiaoqing (, born 24 August 1941), better known by her pen name Dai Qing (), is a journalist and activist for China-related issues; most significantly against the Three Gorges Dam Project. She left the Chinese Communist Party after the bloodshed of 1989 Tiananmen Square protests and massacre and was thereafter incarcerated for ten months at maximum security facility Qingcheng Prison. Dai is also an author who has published many influential books, articles, and journals. Early life and education Fu Xiaoqing was born 24 August 1941 in Chongqing, Sichuan. Her father was Fu Daqing, an activist from Jiangxi who had studied Russian in Moscow and participated in armed rebellions in Nanchang and Guangzhou; her mother, Feng Dazhang (alternatively known as Yang Jie), had good family connections and had trained as a petroleum engineer in Japan. Both were Chinese Communist Party (CCP) activists and had begun doing intelligence work for the CCP following the Japanese invasion of China in ... [...More Info...]       [...Related Items...]     OR:     [Wikipedia]   [Google]   [Baidu]   |
|
Charles Baxter (author)
Charles Morley Baxter (born May 13, 1947) is an American novelist, essayist, and poet. Biography Baxter was born in Minneapolis, Minnesota, to John and Mary Barber (Eaton) Baxter. He graduated from Macalester College in Saint Paul in 1969. In 1974 he received his PhD in English from the University at Buffalo with a thesis on Djuna Barnes, Malcolm Lowry, and Nathanael West. Baxter taught high school in Pinconning, Michigan for a year before beginning his university teaching career at Wayne State University in Detroit, Michigan. He then moved to the University of Michigan, where for many years he directed the Creative Writing MFA program. He was a visiting professor of creative writing at the University of Iowa and at Stanford. He taught at the University of Minnesota and in the Warren Wilson College MFA Program for Writers. He retired in 2020. He was awarded a Guggenheim Fellowship in 1985. He received the PEN/Malamud Award in 2021 for Excellence in the Short Story. He m ... [...More Info...]       [...Related Items...]     OR:     [Wikipedia]   [Google]   [Baidu]   |
|
Margaret Atwood
Margaret Eleanor Atwood (born November 18, 1939) is a Canadian poet, novelist, literary critic, essayist, teacher, environmental activist, and inventor. Since 1961, she has published 18 books of poetry, 18 novels, 11 books of non-fiction, nine collections of short fiction, eight children's books, and two graphic novels, and a number of small press editions of both poetry and fiction. Atwood has won numerous awards and honors for her writing, including two Booker Prizes, the Arthur C. Clarke Award, the Governor General's Award, the Franz Kafka Prize, Princess of Asturias Awards, and the National Book Critics and PEN Center USA Lifetime Achievement Awards. A number of her works have been adapted for film and television. Atwood's works encompass a variety of themes including gender and identity, religion and myth, the power of language, climate change, and "power politics". Many of her poems are inspired by myths and fairy tales which interested her from a very early a ... [...More Info...]       [...Related Items...]     OR:     [Wikipedia]   [Google]   [Baidu]   |
|
Open Book Minneapolis
Open Book is a book and literary arts center in Minneapolis, Minnesota, housing three nonprofit organizations: The Loft Literary Center, Minnesota Center for Book Arts and Milkweed Editions. It also has the Ruminator Books and the Coffee Gallery. It includes a 50,000 square foot space on four floors. The building has approximately 10,000 visitors a month and includes an Orchestra Hall and a theater. History Opened May 21, 2000, Open Book was founded by Linda Myers of The Loft Literary Center, Peggy Korsmo-Kennon of the Minnesota Center for Book Arts and Emilie Buchwald of Milkweed Editions in an effort to create a more permanent home for their respective organisations. It was fully funded by contributions they received from individuals, corporations and foundations and was not funded with government money. Former Minneapolis Mayor R. T. Rybak described the center as an "important anchor" for creative growth in the Washington Avenue Washington Avenue may refer to: United States ... [...More Info...]       [...Related Items...]     OR:     [Wikipedia]   [Google]   [Baidu]   |
|
Milkweed Editions
Milkweed Editions is an independent nonprofit literary publisher that originated from the ''Milkweed Chronicle'' literary and arts journal established in Minneapolis in 1979. The journal ceased and the business transitioned to publishing. It releases eighteen to twenty new books each year in the genres of fiction, nonfiction, and poetry. Milkweed Editions annually awards three prizes for poetry: the Lindquist & Vennum Prize for Poetry, the Jake Adam York Prize (in collaboration with ''Copper Nickel''), and they are a partner publisher for the National Poetry Series. In 2016, Milkweed Editions opened an independent bookstore. History ''Milkweed Chronicle'' was co-founded in 1979 as a literature and art journal by Emilie Buchwald and R.W. Scholes in Minneapolis. ''Milkweed Chronicles first issue was published in 1980. Buchwald served as editor and Scholes as art director. The journal ran for 21 issues until 1987. It featured local and national writers and artists. In the mid-1980 ... [...More Info...]       [...Related Items...]     OR:     [Wikipedia]   [Google]   [Baidu]   |
|
Minnesota Center For Book Arts
Minnesota Center for Book Arts (MCBA) is the largest and most comprehensive independent nonprofit book arts center in the United States. Located in Minneapolis, Minnesota, MCBA is a nationally recognized leader in the celebration and preservation of traditional crafts, including hand papermaking, letterpress printing and hand bookbinding, as well as the use of these traditional techniques by contemporary artists in creating new artists' books and artwork. History MCBA was established in 1983. Two years later, it moved to the first floor of the McKesson building, at 24 North Third Street, in the Warehouse District of Minneapolis. In this space, MCBA established educational, artistic, and community programs to introduce book arts to the public and promote appreciation of artists' books, fine-press publications, broadsides and other artworks created using book art techniques. In 2000, MCBA joined The Loft Literary Center and Milkweed Editions Milkweed Editions is an independent n ... [...More Info...]       [...Related Items...]     OR:     [Wikipedia]   [Google]   [Baidu]   |
|
Mona Simpson
Mona Simpson (née Jandali; June 14, 1957) is an American novelist. She has written six novels and studied English at the University of California, Berkeley and Languages and Literature at Columbia University. She won a Whiting Award for her first novel, '' Anywhere but Here'' (1986). It was a popular success and adapted as a film by the same name, released in 1999. She wrote a sequel, ''The Lost Father'' (1992). Critical recognition has included the ''Chicago Tribune'' Heartland Prize and making the shortlist for the PEN/Faulkner Award for her novel ''Off Keck Road'' (2000). She is the younger sister of the late Apple co-founder Steve Jobs. She was born after her parents had married and did not meet Jobs, who was placed for adoption after he was born, until she was 25 years old. Novels Simpson's novels are fictional and drawn from life experiences. Her first novel, ''Anywhere But Here'' (1986), was a critical and popular success, winning a Whiting Award. In describing her inte ... [...More Info...]       [...Related Items...]     OR:     [Wikipedia]   [Google]   [Baidu]   |
|
Lorrie Moore
Lorrie Moore (born Marie Lorena Moore; January 13, 1957) is an American writer. Biography Marie Lorena Moore was born in Glens Falls, New York, and nicknamed "Lorrie" by her parents. She attended St. Lawrence University. At 19, she won '' Seventeen'' magazine's fiction contest. The story, "Raspberries," was published in January 1977. After graduating from St. Lawrence, she moved to Manhattan and worked as a paralegal for two years. In 1980, Moore enrolled in Cornell University's M.F.A. program, where she was taught by Alison Lurie.Kelly, p. 2. Upon graduation from Cornell, Moore was encouraged by a teacher to contact agent Melanie Jackson. Jackson sold her collection, ''Self-Help'', composed almost entirely of stories from her master's thesis, to Knopf in 1983. Works Short stories Her short story collections are ''Self-Help'' (1985), ''Like Life'', the ''New York Times'' bestseller '' Birds of America'', and ''Bark''. She has contributed to ''The Paris Review''. Her first s ... [...More Info...]       [...Related Items...]     OR:     [Wikipedia]   [Google]   [Baidu]   |
|
Nat Hentoff
Nathan Irving Hentoff (June 10, 1925 – January 7, 2017) was an American historian, novelist, jazz and country music critic, and syndicated columnist for United Media. Hentoff was a columnist for ''The Village Voice'' from 1958 to 2009. Following his departure from ''The Village Voice'', Hentoff became a senior fellow at the Cato Institute and continued writing his music column for ''The Wall Street Journal'', which published his works until his death. He often wrote on First Amendment issues, vigorously defending the freedom of the press. Hentoff was formerly a columnist for: '' Down Beat'', ''JazzTimes'', ''Legal Times'', ''The Washington Post'', ''The Washington Times'', ''The Progressive'', ''Editor & Publisher'' and ''Free Inquiry''. He was a staff writer for ''The New Yorker'', and his writings were also published in: ''The New York Times'', ''Jewish World Review'', ''The Atlantic'', ''The New Republic'', ''Commonweal'', and '' Enciclopedia dello Spettacolo''. Early ... [...More Info...]       [...Related Items...]     OR:     [Wikipedia]   [Google]   [Baidu]   |
|
Amiri Baraka
Amiri Baraka (born Everett Leroy Jones; October 7, 1934 – January 9, 2014), previously known as LeRoi Jones and Imamu Amear Baraka, was an American writer of poetry, drama, fiction, essays and music criticism. He was the author of numerous books of poetry and taught at several universities, including the University at Buffalo and Stony Brook University. He received the PEN/Beyond Margins Award in 2008 for ''Tales of the Out and the Gone''. Baraka's plays, poetry, and essays have been described by scholars as constituting defining texts for African-American culture. Baraka's career spanned nearly 52 years, and his themes range from black liberation to white racism. His notable poems include "The Music: Reflection on Jazz and Blues", "The Book of Monk", and "New Music, New Poetry", works that draw on topics from the worlds of society, music, and literature. Baraka's poetry and writing have attracted both high praise and condemnation. In the African-American community, some comp ... [...More Info...]       [...Related Items...]     OR:     [Wikipedia]   [Google]   [Baidu]   |
|
Kathy Acker
Kathy Acker (April 18, 1947 isputed– November 30, 1997) was an American experimental novelist, playwright, essayist, and postmodernist writer, known for her idiosyncratic and transgressive writing that dealt with themes such as childhood trauma, sexuality and rebellion. She was influenced by the Black Mountain School poets, William S. Burroughs, David Antin, Carolee Schneeman, Eleanor Antin, French critical theory, mysticism, and pornography, as well as classic literature. Biography Early life The only child of Donald and Claire (nee Weill) Lehman, Acker was born Karen Lehman in New York City in 1947, although the Library of Congress gives her birth year as 1948, while the editors of ''Encyclopædia Britannica'' gave her birth year as April 18, 1948, New York, New York, U.S. and died November 30, 1997, Tijuana, Mexico. Most obituaries, including ''The New York Times'', cited her birth year as 1944. Her family was from a wealthy, assimilated, German-Jewish background ... [...More Info...]       [...Related Items...]     OR:     [Wikipedia]   [Google]   [Baidu]   |