Supporting the Edward Said Library in Gaza

 A few days ago, just before the end of the year, a message arrived in our inbox from Mosab Abu Toha — author of Things You May Find Hidden in My Ear: Poems from Gaza (City Lights, April 2022), and founder of the Edward Said Public Library in Gaza. I share that message here, because I hold the view that the Public Library in Gaza deserves wider recognition, and widespread support. 

The email was prefaced by a pair of epigraphs that speak to the vision of the Library, and perhaps of libraries everywhere. The first is from Edward Said: "I don't remember when exactly I read my first comic book, but I do remember exactly how liberated and subversive I felt as a result." The second comes from Noam Chomsky: "The project merits strong support from everyone concerned with justice & basic human rights." Hear, hear.  If you're moved to support this library project, you can donate here.

Here now is Mosab's message: 

Dear friends and supporters,

I hope my letter finds you and your families very well that you are having a good holiday.

I never imagined that The Norton Anthology of American Literature that I found under the rubble of my university in 2014 would bring hundreds of books into my small house in North Gaza. In 2017, I launched a fundraising campaign, and within a few months I opened a public library named after Edward Said in north Gaza, with the Middle East Children's Alliance, aka MECA, as its partner and sponsor.

In September 2019, a second branch of the Edward Said Library opened in Gaza City. Hundreds and hundreds of children and adults come to the library every week to read, sing, draw, learn, and meet with others.

All of this and more could not happen if it wasn’t for donations from supporters like. Gaza needs us all now more than any time before. The two libraries are becoming central to the life and growth of many people in Gaza every single day.

Just last year, a third branch of the Edward Said Library was announced, this time in East Jerusalem. The three libraries do their best to address the increasing numbers of beneficiaries and their needs.

In our small way, the Edward Said libraries care as much as possible for the children and their own library space in it. As part of our evolving counseling and recovering program, we play games with them in the library, while other children draw and play with colors.

Nowadays, the three Edward Said libraries, in addition to their mission of providing books, have expanded their program. They not only work with librarians, but with young writers, musicians, and artists, providing a place for everyone to study and grow, practice their talents, and share them with those who would like to come and visit.

Therefore, I’m inviting you and your families and friends to continue to give the Edward Said libraries a gleaming light in the darkened Gaza.

Of the project, Mariam Said, wife of the late Dr. Edward Said, has written: "I want to express my deep gratitude to all those who contribute to the libraries. I know my husband would be honored that this wonderful project bears his name."

The Edwards Said Public Libraries are sponsored by the Middle East Children's Alliance, to which you can make a secure, 501(c)(3)-compliant, tax-deductible donation online.

Online course in Folklore Studies

Our colleague Md Intaj Ali (Assistant Professor of English at Netaji Subhas Open University and manager of the folkculturearchive.in project) requested that we share the following information about an enticing online program he is coordinating. - ZWB

Inviting registration for an online course: Folklore Studies in the Digital Age (2nd Cycle)

The Centre for Language, Translation and Cultural Studies (CLTCS), School of Humanities, Netaji Subhas Open University, is offering an online 8-week short-term program on Folklore Studies in the Digital Age (2nd Cycle).

About the course: "Folklore studies look at new ways of defining folk and lore in the 21st century, addressing both a paradigm shift and a theoretical point of view. This study not only corresponds to the mere collection of materials and documenting them, but it also applies interdisciplinary tools and theoretical models for a better framework, explicating new areas of knowledge. The basic premise of this course provides a deeper understanding and appreciation of the corresponding developments in the study of folklore. As in the Digital Age, Folklore shows how folklore digitally transcends the boundaries of traditional space and has a genuine effect on our indigenous culture. This course seeks to lay the foundation for students' understanding of theories and techniques of understanding folklore in the digital context."

The course runs for eight weeks from December to January; the registration fee is 750 Indian rupees, or about $10. Click here to view the admission notice on the NSOU website, or here to view the course brochure.

To register, visit this Google Form. Prof. Ali is available to answer questions by email. Please note the last day to register is November 30th.

A letter from Kharkiv

This letter was shared to Twitter today by Steven Seegel, a historian at the Center for Russian, East European, and Eurasian Studies at The University of Texas at Austin. The letter was unattributed, but for the urging that we "read this letter from an academic from Kharkiv." We're sharing it here to the Press blog in case the letter vanishes from social media.

The Russian army cleans Ukrainian cities off the face of the earth. Destroying key infrastructure so that there is no water, light, heat. Rescuers can't dismantle the debris under the shelling. The Russian army is squeezing the civilians out of the cities so that they can then fight the rest as if they are terrorists. Yesterday, many of my Kharkiv residents became refugees. This is what happens in life: just yesterday you were finishing an article and making plans for your vacation, and today you are standing with a bag at the station in Poltava (a good city, I've been trying to see a long time ago), with your scared children and a cat in a carrier. I didn't have time to drive in to pick up my mother (no gasoline, traffic jams and debris everywhere, burned cars and again shelling). And there is a chance to start your life with a clean leaf, but you are somehow not very happy about it.

What's on my mind today? What is more terrifying than the destruction of my country by the request of a nuclear-button maniac will be a new world in which such crimes remain unpunished. The defeat of Hitler's Germany and the trial of Nazi criminals have created confidence in several generations of Europeans that there is a global moral order in which evil is punishable. But for justice to prevail, a military defeat of the criminal regime is necessary, and there are problems with that in the nuclear era. So as soon as the maniac has a remission period, Western politicians will sit with him again at a very long table. 

This is and will be the collapse of the world order, the real end of history. The thought of my children and grandchildren having to live in this world of evil conquering makes me physically sick. END

Let us hope that this belief in "a global moral order in which evil is punishable" is not unfounded. No; let us demand that if this moral order is not presently existing, that we can work together, as individuals and institutions and nations, to bring it into being without delay. 

Job Opportunities at Thornwillow Press

Thornwillow Press in the Hudson Valley of NY is expanding rapidly and is listing a number of new positions in all departments, with full-time and part-time posts as well as spots in their Training Program. We share their call for applications with hopes that it will come to the notice of anyone interested in living their best life in the book arts. Feel free to pass it along! For more information, email opportunities@thornwillow.com.  

Thornwillow is a printer and publisher of handmade limited edition books. We do all of the editorial, design, printing and binding at the press in Newburgh, New York. We’ve been at it for more than 35 years and are one of the leading fine press publishers in the world. Over the years, Thornwillow has published the work of John Updike, Toni Morrison, Louise Glück, and President Obama among many others. Thornwillow’s books are in the permanent collections of The Metropolitan Museum, The Smithsonian Institution, the Vatican, and the White House. We are committed to teaching and perpetuating the related arts and crafts of the written word. We are looking to hire full time people to join our team at the press. Both experienced and enthusiastic entry level applicants are welcome to apply.  

 

The Bindery. We are looking for full time people to join our bindery. In the bindery we do every aspect of fine bookbinding in house from folding and sewing to making paper, cloth, and gold tooled leather bindings. We also make the clamshell boxes, marble and decorative paste paper in house. Experience is not necessary, as we are committed to training interested people and passing on the craft.  We are looking for people with enthusiasm, the ability to work with their hands, patience and determination, and a love of books. In the bindery we are also able to entertain applicants for part time positions.

 

The Press Room. We are looking to hire full time people to join our press room team. Most of our books are printed on a Heidelberg flatbed cylinder press, but we also have Vandercooks, C+Ps and engraving presses that we run every day. Experience would be nice, but is not necessary. We are prepared and happy to train. First and foremost we are looking for enthusiasm and commitment to learning a craft we love. Being mechanically minded and enjoying working with machines is important.  

 

Graphic Design, Fulfillment, Data Management, Book Keeping, Marketing, & Website Maintenance. We have full and part  time positions available in these areas. For all that we are dedicated to the perpetuation of traditional crafts, we are an ecommerce company. Through the internet, we unite a local and global community of book makers and book readers who together celebrate the written word. With this in mind, we are looking for people who have a love of handmade things and at the same time are excited by technology. We have books to design, a website to keep updated, audio and video to edit, photographs to be taken, spreadsheets to update, inventories to control, orders to process, customers to talk to, shipments to get out the door, invoices to send out, and bills to pay. Like any business, we have a significant flow of work that needs to be done. Having experience in any of these areas is a plus, but we are also willing to train. 

Should I apply for the training program, or for a job? Applying for a job requires a degree of experience. "Experience" usually, but not always, entails actual work in the field, not just educational or student work. Full time positions are salaried and commensurate with skill (usually starting around $35,000 for a candidate with a base level of proficiency). If the applicant does not have experience, candidates should apply for positions through our intern or training program. 

 

About the Training Program. For candidates with moderate or limited experience, but great enthusiasm and eagerness to learn, we have a training program that typically follows this course: The program usually starts with a three-month trial period during which everyone gets to know each other and the work. This trial period is paid a stipend of $500 per week. After the trial period is over and everyone mutually agrees to move forward, the starting salary is $32,500. As skill and proficiency grows, the salary increases. The expectation is that anyone going down this path is at least interested in staying with it for a minimum of two years and ideally more. To learn properly to become a good bookbinder or printer (or baker or taxi driver for that matter) takes many years and at Thornwillow with each step forward there are always new and exciting ways to continue to grow. That said, it is a lot of time and effort that is only appropriately invested in someone interested in sticking with it. 

Work Study Fellowships and Internships. For applicants interested in learning, but not able to commit to an extended period of time, we offer a limited number of Fellowships and Internships. These run for a minimum of 3 months and are tailored on a case-by-case basis. Fellows and Interns are  expected to perform real, useful work on a steady and consistent basis for the duration of their time at the press. 

Affordable Housing. We also have a few options for affordable housing near the press. Either a room ($750 per month) in a shared apartment with others involved at the press or an entirely separate apartment. Please inquire if you are interested.

On unpublished and unpublishable work

On Twitter, essayist Paul Crenshaw asks: 

What’s the collective noun for all your unpublished pieces, the detritus and debris from writing, the cast-offs and castaways languishing on their little file of an island?

One of the team members at Pen & Anvil -- and why DO so many people have access to our social media account? -- pinged my handle in a reply, taking the view, I suppose, that this is the sort of question I'd have fun in answering. They were right! Here is my reply: 

I resent that you think I think about this a lot. Though, I do. Viz: Jeofails. Compost. Hellboxlings. Bad jokes. Benthic snow. Sequestra. Woundikins. Pendlings. Beneficiaries of no one's orphanotrophism. Dead squibs. Pulp cabinet. Diple heap. Hobobooks. Ye olde parapraxial hoard.

Of course I think about this a lot. Most of my writings are stillborn. My rate of return on personal poetry submissions is.... not a number I wish to quote here. Those writings that do survive the rigors and wrenchings of gestation and birth most often turn out to be not suited for life. Those, I allow to wither and perish -- sports, errors of the lineage. They would only be rejected by editors, rightly so. Kill your darlings, friends, and weep not for unadopted children. Writing is a brutal art. 

Do check out all the replies in Crenshaw's original thread -- some really lovely metaphors and phrasings are on display!

Stross on tech-free fiction

 Prolific novelist Charlie Stross earlier this month weighed-in on the habit of "serious" novelists to omit many basic features of the modern world:

My take: any “literary” novel that doesn’t exist in a world with magic internet mirrors in every hand, strange plagues exploding out of wet markets in Wuhan, and invisible killer robots haunting the skies above Kandahar, is historical nostalgia for a world that went away in 1990.

User Pickwick invites us to characterize such boring fiction as "grimdull", contrasting with e.g. "grimdark" and "grimpunk."

The deadwhitemaleness of school curricula and the YA canon

From the timeline, on that bird site, of Massachusetts poet Johnny Longfellow:

Try imagining all the public tax dollars that land in the coffers of the copyright holders of canonical texts. Then, you'll understand much of what underlies and drives toxic YA lit debates regarding which texts are deemed worthy of inclusion/exclusion within school curricula.

Imagine, too, the profits made by publishers who republish and promote works in the public domain for use in school curricula, minus any need to pay agents, authors, or their estates. So too, the profits made by those who create supplementary texts to accompany such works.

Yet, such factors are little discussed in YA circles, lest they distract from the seemingly well-intended and righteous topics of pedagogical practice, the inclusion of traditionally marginalized voices, and what values are transmitted to children/young adults via the humanities.