Podcast Interview Thingie

If you're tired of hearing my voice by now, that is totally understandable, but if not there's an interview podcast thingie I did a couple weeks ago up on the WonderRoot site. It runs about fifteen minutes long (I read after for another couple) during which we discuss my writing process, the lit scenes of Atlanta vs. Seattle, self-publishing, etc. It's here.

Near Boats

Apologies for the shameless self-promotion (I only seem to update this blog with announcements about my published work these days), but I have an audio poem up at Literary Local, an Atlanta-based literary site. I'm reading a poem called "Near Boats." If you feel like listening, it's here. (There's a goofy picture of me too.)

Grief, A Beautiful Place to Visit

An essay I wrote last year about grief is up at The Good Men Project. I'm glad to finally see it in "print." It's here.

What Kind of Person Are You?

I have a new essay up on The Nervous Breakdown about race, creative writing programs, and the importance of imagining across racial boundaries.

In related news, this video is really funny:

Ten Books

Over the last year or so I have read a lot of books. There have been a relative few, however, that I loved unequivocally, that have stayed with me, informing the way I view the world and operate within it. They are:

Leaving the Atocha Station by Ben Lerner
Open City by Teju Cole
The Ask by Sam Lipsyte
On Beauty by Zadie Smith
Hard Rain Falling by Don Carpenter
Notes from No Man's Land by Eula Biss
Magic Hours by Tom Bissell
Bluets by Maggie Nelson
The Art of Cruelty by Maggie Nelson
The Gift by Lewis Hyde

Besotted With Music

This is exciting: Sherman Alexie has agreed to blurb my little self-published book of poems!

His quote: "Alex Gallo-Brown’s poems are the sad and beautiful tales of a lost son, lost father and, yes, lost generation. But these poems are fun and smart. Flooded with imagery and besotted with music. I love them."

LOG

The Healing Center in Seattle, a grieving community my mom has been a part of since my dad died in October of 2007, was kind enough to invite me to give a reading next month (it's happening Saturday, April 27th). They've posted a version of the introduction to The Language of Grief on their blog in anticipation. It's here if you want to take a look.