Dzanc Books

Dzanc Books Signs Jonathan Baumbach to New Book Deal

         

Dzanc Books to Publish Jonathan Baumbach

February 18, 2009 - Ann Arbor, MI—Dzanc Books is proud to announce that it will publish a novel by Jonathan Baumbach in early 2011, entitled Dreams of Molly.  Johnathan is the author of 14 books of fiction, including You, or The Invention of Memory, On The Way To My Father’s Funeral: New and Selected Stories, B, a novel, D-Tours, Separate Hours, Chez Charlotte and Emily, The Life and Times of Major Fiction, Reruns, Babble and A Man to Conjure With. He has also published over 90 stories published in such places as Esquire, Open City and Boulevard.

Jonathan, co-founder of The Fiction Collective in 1973 (it was reinvented as FC2 in 1988), the first fiction writers cooperative in America, has seen his work widely praised.   His short stories have been anthologized in Best American Short Stories, O.Henry Prize, and The Best of Tri-Quarterly.  The New York Times Book Review referred to him in 2004 as “. . . an underappreciated writer. He employs a masterfully dispassionate, fiercely intelligent narrative voice whose seeming objectivity is always a faltering front for secret passion and despair."

“Jonathan Baumbach is one of the true paterfamilias of independent-minded writers.”  Steve Gillis said, “A staple in the literary scene for over forty years, Baumbach's latest novel,  Dreams of Molly, is a wonderful addition to his oeuvre.  A love story as only Baumbach can write,  Dreams of Molly  is filled with the longings and lingerings, sex and deprivation, humor and heartache as well as the New York nuances that have driven Baumbach's fiction from the start.   We at Dzanc are very excited to publish this newest work from a true American original.”

About Dzanc Books

Dzanc Books was created in 2006 to advance great writing and champion those writers who don’t fit neatly into the marketing niches of for-profit presses. As a non-profit, 501(c)3 organization, Dzanc Books not only publishes literary fiction, but works in partnership with literary journals to advance their readership at every level. Dzanc is also fully committed to developing educational programs in schools, as well as supporting literary community service projects with its Dzanc Prize program.

For more information on Dzanc Books and its mission, imprints, books, authors, awards, and programs, please visit www.dzancbooks.org.

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Short Story Collection Contest Results

DAVID GALEF WINS FIRST DZANC SHORT STORY COLLECTION CONTEST

February 2, 2009, Ann Arbor, MI—Dzanc Books is pleased to announce that David Galef, Professor of English at Montclair State University, is the winner of our short story collection contest.  Galef’s manuscript, My Date With Neanderthal Woman, was selected from more than 100 submissions.  This collection will be published in October 2011.

 

Keith Taylor, Editor and Consultant at Dzanc Books, notes:  “Galef’s stories, whether longer or as tiny one-page wonders, can contain both humor and fear. In this work the ordinary slips easily into the allegorical, then into the dream and sometimes into the nightmare, often leaving the reader with moments of narrative that will stick like a sharp-edged image from a memorable poem or painting. Galef’s vision blossoms in a twenty-first century America, but its roots stretch back to the terror behind the oldest folk legends.”

The short list of finalists also included collections from Jennifer Spiegel, Sam J. Miller, William Orem, BJ Hollars, and Lise Saffran.

ABOUT DAVID GALEF

DAVID GALEF has published fifteen books: the novels Flesh, Turning Japanese, and How to Cope with Suburban Stress; the short-story collection Laugh Track; two children’s books, The Little Red Bicycle and Tracks; two translations of Japanese proverbs, Even Monkeys Fall from Trees and Even a Stone Buddha Can Talk; a work of literary criticism, The Supporting Cast; an edited anthology of essays called Second Thoughts: A Focus on Rereading; a critical edition of Thomas Hardy’s Tess of the d’Urbervilles; a co-edited anthology of fiction called 20 over 40; the poetry collection Flaws, and, most recently, the poetry chapbook Lists and the fiction chapbook A Man of Ideas and Other Stories. In addition, he has written over seventy short stories for magazines ranging from the British Punch to the Czech Prague Revue, the Canadian Prism International and the American Shenandoah. His essays and reviews have appeared in The New York Times, Newsday, The Village Voice, Twentieth Century Literature, The Columbia History of the British Novel, and many other places. His awards include a Fulbright fellowship, a Henfield Foundation grant, a Writers Exchange award from Poets & Writers, and a Mississippi Arts Council grant, as well as residencies at Yaddo and Ragdale. A co-founder of the M.F.A. program in creative writing at the University of Mississippi, he is now a professor of English at Montclair State University.  To interview David, please contact Dan Wickett at dan@dzancbooks.org.

 

ABOUT DZANC BOOKS, SHORT STORY COLLECTIONS, AND OUR NEXT CONTEST

 

Dzanc Books was created in 2006 by Steven Gillis and Dan Wickett to advance great writing and to champion those writers who do not fit neatly into the marketing niches of for-profit presses. As a non-profit, 501(c)3 organization, Dzanc Books not only publishes literary fiction, but works in partnership with literary journals to advance their readership at every level. Dzanc is also fully committed to developing educational programs in schools and organizes workshops and Writer-In-Residence programs in Michigan and elsewhere to meet that goal.

 

Dzanc Books is very committed to the short story and publishing collections.  Three of the KC Star’s top ten story collections this year were published by Dzanc Books or one of our imprints (BLP, OV Books) and between these three houses there will be at least 8 collections published in both 2009 and again in 2010.

 

Dzanc Books is holding a second short story collection contest beginning immediately.  Details can be found at http://www.dzancbooks.org/submissions.html.

 

For further details and more information on Dzanc Books, its mission, titles, authors, awards, and programs, please visit www.dzancbooks.org .

 

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