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9 posts from January 2013

Jan 30, 2013

re: Joyce, episode 138: Egyptians and Cant

The cocklepickers become Gypsies in Stephen's mind. Bing awast to Romeville.

Click here to download the episode directly.

Jan 23, 2013

re: Joyce, episode 137: Dream On!

Stephen's dream, almost. Haroun al Raschid. Adverb becomes verb.

Click here to download the episode directly.

Jan 16, 2013

Simile Challenge Winner!

The Simile Twallenge (should we have called it "Twimiles"?) has now closed, and thank you for all your game and engaging entries. Some of you have no shame; you openly canvassed my heritage, my interests as you perceive them, my generous nature; at one or two moments I half-expected bribes (well, you never know a man's price until he tells you.) Others of you have had a roller-coaster 2012, to judge from the directly contradictory nature of your good-year/bad-year entries. Yet others sent in entries that must have been written under the influence of some strange, rain-forest chemicals, to judge from how wide of the mark you fell in terms of what makes a simile. I love, in these challenges, how our concerns get aired, how the collective unconscious surfaces. Beneath the gathered skin of you all - you are drinkers, you love and/or fear animals, you spend a lot of time gazing at the night sky, you are deeply literary, you drink a ton of tea and coffee, your emotions range between desperation and glee, you are drawn to contemplation of the natural world, and/or you think that everything more or less sucks. Good stuff: that's nature: all human life is there. Thank you all again: I love my Tweeple (most of them) and the handsome winner is Steve Shilstone @steveshilstone who wrote something that I wish I'd written: "2012 was like being caught in a revolving door with an undisciplined monkey." Congratulations, Steve: the new monkey in your life will be a copy of Ulysses.

re: Joyce, episode 136: Panther & Paws

The dogs digs; Thomas Gray's Elegy. Spouse-breach and pards, and Brunetto Latini's Tesoretto.

Click here to download the episode directly.

Jan 09, 2013

re: Joyce, episode 135: Cocklepickers & Dogsbodies

Tatters, the cocklepickers' dog, encounters a fallen comrade on Sandymount Strand and is called away. In Memoriam.

Click here to download the episode directly.

Jan 08, 2013

2012 in Review: Simile Challenge

Now that we’ve all had a week to look back on the past year, who can write the best simile to describe it? I love similes; they’re the energy drink of writing. The great English dictionary maker, Dr. Samuel Johnson, loved them too; the simile, he said, will “illustrate and ennoble the subject, and show it to the understanding in a clearer view.”

You don’t need to be as lofty searching for similes that sum up 2012. Remember Norm in Cheers;

“How’s the world using you, Norm?”

And Norm answers, “Like a baby to a diaper.”

Between those two portly gentlemen, Dr. Johnson and Norm, you’ll find your pitch. We ran a simile challenge last year, we had a ton of entries and great fun; the winner was @rebeccablood "He gazed up at the pole dancer like a baby watching a ceiling fan." This year the task is to tell us how your year was in 140 characters or fewer. You might go for something like, “The past year was as memorable to me as my first tooth extraction.” Or – “Living through 2012 was liking losing my virginity – anxious, messy, unsatisfying, and leaving me wondering what it was all for.” Or you may reach for a different response; “2012 was for me like eating floating islands followed by chocolate and strawberry ice-cream parfait – luscious, thrilling and dangerous.” What about “2012 was like Life of Pi in multiples – there was a snarling tiger in every room.”

Whatever you choose, make it clear. If you write, say, “The past year to me was as explosive as the ultimate and curated antinomic deriding of subatomic particles” – you won't win because I won't know that the hell you mean. If you write, say, “2012 sucked like a drain” – you’ll have a better chance, but you won’t win because I’ve now used it. And if you do win – you get a copy of James Joyce’s Ulysses, which will encourage you, I hope, to join the mighty band of 600,000 people who have downloaded my weekly Ulysses podcast on this website. Go to it; write with the clarity of an upcoming dawn in a clear sky; write with the energy of a steam engine driving a triphammer. Oh, just simile your heart out. The rules are…

2012 IN REVIEW: SIMILE CHALLENGE RULES 

Step 1: Follow @FDByTheWord on Twitter
Step 2: Tweet a simile that describes your past year. Include the hashtag #FDsimile in your tweet.
You may enter the Simile Challenge as many times as you wish during the course of the contest.

The challenge begins Wednesday January 9th 2013 at 9am. 
The challenge ends Friday January 11th at midnight. 

At noon EST, on Tuesday January 15th 2013, Frank will pick a winner.

*The simile must be your own. You will be disqualified if you lift it from a published work. No purchase necessary. Void where prohibited.
*You may enter via mail (and skip steps 1 and 2) by sending a postcard with your 140 character verbage to Frank Delaney, c/o Meier, 907 Broadway, 4th Floor, New York, NY 10010. Entries must be received by
Monday January 14th 2013.

Jan 07, 2013

Upcoming Events

Red Hook Literary Festival
April 14th, 2013, 11am
Red Hook Village Hall 
Author panel discussion. 
http://www.rhcanadmin.com/red-hook-lit-fest/ 

Governor's Mansion, Hartford, Connecticut
April 21st, 2013
Poetry reading with Hill-Stead Museum.
Details TBA 

University of Connecticut, Torrington
May 10th, 2013  
Graduation speaker.  

ASAP Young Writers, Washington Depot, Connecticut
May 11th, 2012
Host.  
Details TBA.

Half-King
May 14th, 2013
Hosts evening of thrillers.  
www.thehalfking.com/readings

Southbury Public Library
May 22nd, 2013
Benefactors' Reception: An Evening with Frank Delaney.
Details TBA.  

Rosenbach Museum
June 14th, 2013
Philadephia annual Bloomsday dinner. 

Rosenbach Museum
June 16th, 2013 
Philadephia annual Bloomsday celebration. 

Litchfield Community Center
July 27th, 2013
Details TBA.  

Jan 02, 2013

Re: Joyce, episode 134: Of Mice and Morse

Still on Sandymount Strand: a dog, depicted with a painter's eye, barks at the sea. Heraldry. Seamorse… or seamouse?

Click here to download the episode directly.

Jan 01, 2013

Past Events

Rochester Arts & Lectures
March 14, 2013
Rochester, New York
http://www.artsandlectures.org/

Hunt Hill Farm
March 8th, 2013, 6:30pm
New Preston Ct. 
Frank anchors a festive dinner for St. Patrick's Day at Hunt Hill Farm, New Preston Ct. 
Link for tickets: http://hunthillfarmtrust.org/

University Club, Litchfield County/Yale Club of NW Connecticut 
Lecture, "The Hero of Your Life – A Crash Course in Practical Mythology 
January 23rd, 2013 

The Half King  
Panel Moderator, "Autobiography and Memoir"  
December 4th, 2012, 6:30pm
New York, NY 
https://web.ovationtix.com/trs/pe/9735652 

Hotchkiss Library 
September 29, 2012
Sharon, Connecticut 
http://www.hotchkisslibrary.org

Festival of Books at Spencertown Academy Arts Center
Saturday September 1st, 2012 1:30pm  
Spencertown, New York 
http://www.spencertownacademy.org/ Kent Memorial Library 
Sunday, June 24th 2012
Frank to interview Meryl Streep.  

Rosenbach  Museum & Library Rosenbacchanal & Bloomsday 2012
Friday & Saturday, June 15th and 16th 2012
Speaker and Guest of Honor.  
More here.  

Spoken Interludes
Wednesday, April 25th 2012 6pm 
Riverview
One Warburton Avenue
Hastings-on-Hudson, NY 

Literacy Programme Kent Morrison Gallery
Friday, April 27th 2012
Guest speaker: time to be confirmed

Literacy Volunteers of Greater Waterbury: Watertown
Sunday, March 18th 2012
Guest speaker: venue and time to be confirmed.

Darien Community Lunch
Tuesday, March 27th 2012

The Half King
Monday, March 12th 2012, 7pm
Conversation with Sebastian Junger. 
www.thehalfking.com

University Club of New York
Tuesday, February 28th 2012
(Private event)  
One West 54th
StreetNew York, NY 10019
www.universityclubny.org

Convent of the Sacred Heart Academy
Wednesday, February 15  2012, 6 to 8:30pm
Annual Author Fundraiser (private event)
Convent of the Sacred Heart
1 East 91st Street
New York, NY
www.cshnyc.org 

Kent Memorial Library 
Saturday, February 11 2012,  4 to 6:00pm 
32 North Main Street
PO Box 127Kent, CT 06757 
phone: 860.927.3761 
See more here.  

 

 

Sharon, CT
Friday, August 5 2011
The Hotchkiss Library of Sharon


www.hotchkisslibrary.org
Carmel, CA
September 23-25, 2011
The Carmel Authors & Ideas Festival
www.carmelauthors.com


Burlington, VT
October 2, 2011
New England Library
Association Conference
Vermont Conference Center