Ask the Author: Gabe Durham

Enjoy five proses from Gabe Durham in the June issue and then he talks with us about adult diapers, the shame of the body, and the change in you, me, and all of us. 1. What would you like to … Continue reading →

the unfirm line – Aaron Burch

“But if you get this far. If you get it.” Aaron Burch, How To Take Yourself Apart, How To Make Yourself Anew I love optimism as it relates to distance and the next step. Hope tied to momentum and time. … Continue reading →

Electric Parade: Typewriting

The colossus sits atop one of my bookshelves. A black, cast iron automaton rules over the elegant, aluminum unibody tools at my desk. Touch screens. Curved angles. Polished bezel and battery packs. The colossus is powered by human endeavor; its … Continue reading →

Ask the Author: Victoria Lynne McCoy

You can read a poem from Victoria Lynne McCoy in the June issue and read on here for more on context in poetry, marriage proposals, and what it would be like on the day it were legal to rape your … Continue reading →

Janice Dickinson’s No Lifeguard on Duty: A Review

Before we begin, let me confirm that yes I do mean that Janice Dickinson, yes she does have a book, and yes I have read it. And I think that you should read it too. Lest you think that No … Continue reading →

Sasha Fletcher’s When All our Days Are Numbered Marching Bands Will Fill the Streets & We Will Not Hear Them Because We Will Be Upstairs in the Clouds: A Review By Troy Urquhart

In the second chapter of Walden, the nineteenth-century naturalist and philosopher Henry David Thoreau asserted that the ultimate creative act is, fundamentally, an act of self-creation, an act in which the artist shapes not objects in the world, but his … Continue reading →

Ask the Author: Emily Howorth

Emily Howorth’s whimsical Look Away, Dixieland is part of the June issue. She talks with us about letting Scarlett O’Hara burn, fact versus fiction, party mixes and more. 1. Would you have let Scarlett O’Hara burn? Why or why not? … Continue reading →

the unfirm line – The Smiths

“I once had a child, and it saved my life.” The Smiths, The Hand that Rocks the Cradle. (To celebrate the Orange Alert Smith-i-sode, as well as a general shout out for Fathers Day.) We are lucky to be a … Continue reading →

There’s So Much To Love; It’s All Because Of You

Congratulations to Ocean Vuong who recently won the 2010 Connecticut Poetry Society’s Al Savard Memorial Poetry Contest for his poem 1967. We’d also like to mention that Gabe Durham will be taking over as editor of Keyhole Magazine. Another installment … Continue reading →

Ask the Author: Kaitlin Dyer

Listen to or read three of Kaitlin Dyer’s poems in the June issue, then rush back here to read about the consequences of rust, organ donation, and making the moves on the denizens of Oz. 1. How would you donate … Continue reading →

Breeding and Writing: Teaching your baby to swear

I’ve written some dark shit. I’d hope I’m not as fundamentally deranged as every character I can imagine. But obviously I’m still the person who thought that stuff in the first place then, aren’t I? And I could have (theoretically) chosen not to write those more troubling thoughts down for preservation. Right?

Who’s at fault?

The twisted author? The ignorant masses? The collective unconsciousness, the hive mind, the overextended self-help book section, the all day CNN reports of raped children and looted buildings? What makes dark things happen in a story, and are they real if they do?

Does fiction have a moral obligation to be responsible?

Or does it save us from everyday obligation and free our minds?
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Museum Appetite 3: Context

Many specific museum exhibits have stayed with me, for either emotional reasons not relating to the art, emotional reasons relating to the art, or on the basis of the art itself.   The last exhibit I really loved was called … Continue reading →

Dan Holloway’s Songs From The Other Side of the Wall: A Review By Amy Whipple

While the big publishing houses continue to fret about the future of the book, Dan Holloway just keeps on going. Founder of the Year Zero¸ Writers collective, Holloway preaches free e-books and otherwise self-published items. Much of what he and … Continue reading →

Electric Parade: Weapons of Choice by Thomas Demary

Each morning, before leaving for work, I grab my tools, all stuffed in a backpack, and head out the door, intending to write during my hour-long lunch break. The contents of my bag: iPad, Nikon camera, three USB cables, three … Continue reading →

Boundaries before Borders: A Review of Alba Cruz-Hacker’s No Honey For Wild Beasts

Alba Cruz-Hacker’s collection, No Honey for Wild Beasts, is a book about finding the courage to say no. These poems dress feminist theory with the music of confessional poetry, singing important messages to a new generation of readers. Cruz-Hacker, like … Continue reading →

Literary Los Angeles: Machine Project

“Sound Synthesis Workshop;” “Intermediate Welding for Aesthetes;” “Paleolithic Bone Tools Workshop.”   Those are a few of the lectures you could have (should have) attended in the last two months at Machine Project, a non-profit arts and sciences organization that … Continue reading →

Ask the Author: Melissa Broder

Two poems from Melissa Broder appear in the June issue and today she talks with us about plushness, the great state of Texas and authenticity. 1. Would the plushness of the toilet paper you handed someone under the stall affect … Continue reading →

Breeding and Writing: The Uterus Monologues

Why does having a vagina mean I have to love my work less?

It’s more passive aggressive than it was in olden days, to be sure. We’ve come a long way. But that mostly-unspoken bitterness is still there: I thought you were a mother.
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PANK Contributors Continue to Represent!

Before you read this, make sure you are seated securely. Take a deep breath. Prepare to be BLOWN AWAY because our contributors have truly outdone themselves this week. In case you forgot, there is a really interesting, awesome, moving, odd … Continue reading →

Tom Bissell’s Extra Lives: Why Video Games Matter — A Review By Salvatore Pane

In 1989, my parents bought me a Nintendo Entertainment System for Christmas. I was four years old and this was, unequivocally, the happiest moment of my entire life. This is not an uncommon story; the NES sold more than 61 … Continue reading →

Museum Appetite 2: The Mixed-Up Files

Six weeks ago, I spent the night in UCLA’s Hammer Museum during an event called the Dream-In, curated in conjunction with the Machine Project and artSpa. The Dream-In was an investigation of dreams and dreaming, held in conjunction with the … Continue reading →

June Subscription Drive

It’s still June, oh, happy days, and we’re still holding our subscription drive. We know, you’ve already bought PANK. Thanks for that. But have you shilled for us yet? Have you gone out there and canvassed the neighborhood, proselytizing and … Continue reading →

Connected: The Web (2.0) of Literature & Strangers by Mensah Demary

It’s easy to forget the breadth and scale of the world’s literary landscape. Millions of books from all cultures, all perspectives and should one step out of his comfort zone, out of the few genres and authors that move and … Continue reading →

June PANK is Here For You

We’re pretty excited about the June issue of PANK. There’s a little bit of everything in this one and contributors include James Tadd Adcox, Melissa Broder, Gabe Durham, Kaitlin Dyer, Emily Howorth, Alexandra Isacson, Kevin Kaiser, Victoria Lynne McCoy, Teresa … Continue reading →

Ask the Author: Elizabeth Hildreth

Elizabeth Hildreth offers one of her English to English translations in the May issues and gives us some answers to our burning questions. 1. What is the sound of your voice in geological terms? Blowout 2. What kind of prosthetic … Continue reading →

Ask the Author: D.E. Steward

D.E. Steward’s place-based writing appears in the May issue and he talks with us about the sink as a toilet, smuggling and the language of the future. 1. What are the hygienic benefits of pissing in the sink? No stink … Continue reading →

Literary Los Angeles: The After-Movie Q&A

One of my favorite Los Angeles institutions is the after-movie Q&A.   Of course, question-and-answer periods following new releases and small screenings are not exclusive to Los Angeles but I’d hazard that in no other city do they feature so … Continue reading →

Breeding and Writing: The fast-food joint at the end of the universe

What happens if the foil-wearing pyramid people are right, and something drastic happens in 2012, leaving all of our technology obliterated? Who would we be?

Say we all survive and start over. Could you help your kid with a science project without Google? Stand reading a single newspaper once a day, or worse, once a week? Could you permanently remember how your favorite songs go, even without being able to listen to your iPod for the rest of your life? Continue reading →

Julie Enszer’s Handmade Love: A Review and Interview By Dan Holloway

A Review: Julie Enszer‘s poetry, riddled with the juxtapositions and contradictions facing feminists and LGBTQ activists today, reads like  the author is throwing questions against the side of her skull to break them open. Her collection Handmade Love isn’t a … Continue reading →

Ask the Author: Jennifer Spiegel

Jennifer Spiegel’s Glasnost is featured in the May issue and she talks about her work, Russia, and the presumptions of perception. 1. What was your intent in “Glasnost” in showing everyone’s present and future? This is the serious question. Are … Continue reading →

June is Busting Out All Over

Brian Oliu writes about the most beautiful house in America. We are planning a road trip. Listen to James Tadd Adcox in the Orange Alert Podcast 14. He also shines the  light of his bright writing on Abjective this week … Continue reading →

Ask the Author: Catherine Zobal Dent

Catherine Zobal Dent’s innovative Flesh appears in the May issue and today, she talks with us about the shared characteristics between Jesus and mass murderers, her work in PANK, and how she would cut her own hair, among other things. … Continue reading →

the unfirm line – Charles Bukowski

“Writing was strange. I needed to write. It was a disease, a drug, a heavy compulsion, yet I  didn’t like to think of myself as a writer.” Charles Bukowski, Hollywood. I think I can count the number of times I … Continue reading →

Submit to Annalemma 7: Endurance

Every day the world tests our will, our ability to keep moving forward. With this in mind we chose the theme for Annalemma Issue Seven: Endurance. The word has a connotation of athletic ability and physical stamina. But the mind … Continue reading →

Ask the Author: Shanna Germain

The multitalented Shanna Germain’s Big Red is one of my favorite stories in the May issue and she talks to us about the fairy tale character she resembles, what the wolf takes and fat bottomed girls. 1. Which fairy tale … Continue reading →

A Visual Review of Ann Carson’s Nox

New Little Books From PANK

Our second Little Books reading period has closed. We read and enjoyed more than fifty excellent manuscripts. We have laughed, we have cried, we have agonized. We thank everyone who entered and trusted us with their writing. Matt and I … Continue reading →

Dan Gutstein’s Non/Fiction: A Review By Amy Whipple

Before we start, you should   to know that I can get rather Glenn Beck-ish about genre. Start talking about rounding corners in a memoir, and I’ll get all kinds of slippery-slope on you (complete with finger jabs in the … Continue reading →

Museum Appetite

I lived in Los Angeles for nearly a year before I visited the Museum of Jurassic Technology.   I went on a whim with two friends, and none of us had visited the museum before.   We could not have … Continue reading →

The Machine’s Arrival by Mensah Demary

I was twenty-five. My father and I were in his living room: the floors were overcast like marble and, along the walls, various prints featured animated Jazz musicians in suspended animation, frozen in creative glee. We spoke of my future, … Continue reading →

Kickstart Brett Elizabeth Jenkins

Brett Elizabeth Jenkins, one of our intrepid readers and bloggers, needs your help! She has a Kickstarter page for a Midwest Poetry Tour and there are only eleven days left for the funding to come through. Her tour is only … Continue reading →

Ask the Author: Nancy Carol Moody

The May issue marks Nancy Carol Moody’s second appearance in PANK. She talks with us about her mythical beast swagger, Captain Obvious’s appearance and more. 1. What would Captain Obvious look like? What would be his superpowers? Captain Obvious is … Continue reading →

Literary Los Angeles: You Are Welcome

I was at a book party this week.   I didn’t know anyone well, but I recognized some names and faces, including the face of one man who looked so familiar I spent much of the evening wondering whether he … Continue reading →

Ask the Author: David LeGault

David LeGault’s Make Me a Knife is included in the May issue. He talks with us extensively about knives and we learn some things. 1. How much research did you do in writing “Make Me A Knife”? Can you make … Continue reading →

Ask the Author: Seth Fischer

Seth Fischer’s Dead Cows is one of our favorite stories form the May issue. He talks with us about his sanity, the shape of his genitals and oh so much more. 1. Are you yourself batshit insane, sir? The source … Continue reading →

the unfirm line – Pet Shop Boys

“When I look back upon my life, it’s always with a sense of shame. I’ve always been the one to blame.” Pet Shop Boys, It’s a Sin Sometimes a phrase will turn on me as the years pass. When I … Continue reading →

Breeding and Writing: Why you aren’t ready to be a writer

I don’t want her to die yet. I want another Christmas. I want family pictures, and her attendance at my son’s graduation in seventeen years, and her hair to have the chance to turn grey. I need it all to stop for a minute and let me catch up, let me breathe.

We don’t get that chance in the writing world, either.
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Gather Round For These Words

We would like to congratulate Summer Block and Rachel Swirsky for taking first and second place, respectively, in the 2010 storySouth Million Writers Award. Well done! This week kicks off with work from Kuzhali Manickavel at AGNI and hey, she … Continue reading →

Ask the Author: Kyle Minor

Kyle Minor brings more of his smart writing to the May issue and discusses realism, bleeding and more with us. 1. What would you define as low-stakes domestic realism? Raymond Carver stories? This kind of question is the price you … Continue reading →

Three Reasons to Read Federman : A Review of Shhh: The Story of a Childhood by J. A. Tyler

Raymond Federman died in 2009. This is not the reason to read Federman. Rest in peace as they say, but Federman would not want it like that, to gain readers simply by his own mortality. Raymond Federman didn’t die in … Continue reading →

Ask the Author: Mabel Yu

Mabel Yu’s writing will be featured both in PANK 5 as well as in the May issue of PANK. She talks about the executioner’s song, the embarrassing things that can happen in groups and more. 1. What song would you … Continue reading →

Electric Parade by Mensah Demary

Drinking my Saturday morning coffee, browsing on my iPad, I make the usual online rounds: email, Facebook, Twitter and Google Reader. As I swipe and tap the glass, cigarette smoke wafting through the living room, I’m energized by guilt and … Continue reading →