Kevin Sampsell

Hey friends,

It really seems like this whole year has been nonstop action. After all the touring and attention for A Common Pornography, I thought I’d be settling down a little, but I still have a few big readings coming up. Check the events page for that list. We got libraries, benefit readings with rap groups, a huge Future Tense Books celebration (!!!!!), and a big stage appearance at Wordstock.

In other news, I feel comfortable enough to mention that I’ve now dove headlong into a new book. This one is shaping up to be a novel though in some ways it may resemble the short chapter style of ACP. I guess that’s just the way I’m writing these days. Some day I might write something with long, sweeping chapters, but for now, this is the method I get most excited about. I’ll sit down and write anywhere from 75 to 300 words most of the time. On good days, I’ll write 300-1000 words. I don’t think any chapter of this book will be longer than two pages. In some ways, I’ve modeled it after the great Joe Wenderoth book, Letters To Wendy’s. It’s about the ups, downs, joys, kinks, secret thoughts, and buried insecurities of a relationship that has endured seven years of beautiful and painful moments. Parts of this book, tentatively titled Fissions, will appear this fall in Fugue magazine (from University of Idaho) and a few other places. I’ll keep y’all updated on this thing but I’m aiming to have it finished and sent to my agenting and editing peeps next spring or summer.

What else? I wrote about Padgett Powell on the LA Times book blog…

I just published a new chapbook on Future Tense–a totally beautiful and mysteriously sexy thing called Ventriloquism by Prathna Lor…

I designed(?)/built(?)/obliterated(?)/tarnished(?) a Moleskine journal that will be auctioned off at this benefit for Write Around Portland on Oct. 2nd. You can go see the thing I made at Design Within Reach. I mostly just did some word collage and found photo stuff…

I have new stories in the newest Ne’er Do Well and the Portland Review special anthology, 20 Minutes in Portland (with cover art by Matt Bors)…

That’s it for now. Hope your summer was as good as mine (the Southern tour was awesome, plus I got to see Pavement and The National play beautiful outdoor shows in Portland).

Talk to you later.