I was surprised to learn that there are not one, but two cookbooks that have collected recipes from what the US has declared our enemy states.  Gill Partington has published The Axis of Evil Cookbook in the United Kingdom. 

In the United States, Chris Fair has written a similar book entitled Cuisines of the Axis of Evil and Other Irritating States: A Dinner Party Approach to International Politics. Included in this book are recipes from Iran, Iraq, and North Korea among others.  What a creative idea: gastronomical diplomacy.  I love it. 

Here's a synopsis of the book: "Chris Fair has dined with soldiers in the Khyber Pass and with prostitutes in Delhi, rummaged for fish in Jaffna, and sipped Taliban tea in Peshawar. Cuisines of the Axis of Evil is a sophisticated, fun, and provocative cookbook with easy-to-follow recipes from both America’s traditional enemies in foreign policy—including Iran, Iraq, and North Korea—and friends of the U.S. who are nonetheless irritating by any measure. In addition, each country section includes all the smart, acerbic geopolitical nuggetry you need to talk the talk with the best of them. Recipes include Iranian chicken in a walnut pomegranate stew, Iraqi kibbe, and North Korean spicy cucumber, as well as special teas, mango salads, beverage suggestions, and much more."

Chris Fair is a Washington, DC-based analyst of South Asian political and military affairs. She has lived, studied, traveled, worked, and otherwise eaten her way through the Middle East and South and Southeast Asia. She lives bunkered down in an undisclosed location with her beloved spouse who now feels he must wear high-velocity bullet-repellent evening wear.

The deadline for the Wabash Poetry Prize is fast approaching.  You have just over two weeks to get us your poems.  Make sure that we receive your submissions by October 17th.  This year's judge is the venerable Billy Collins.  For complete guidelines, clink on the link to the right.  You can also read about former winners and what the previous judges had to say about their work.  Any questions should be addressed to myself, Mehdi Okasi, at sycamore@purdue.edu.  

We look forward to reading your submissions and wish you all the best of luck with this year's contest.  Keep writing, always.  

Anita Itty and Christopher Atamian have started a new venture called eCognoscente, "a free daily e-mail on matters cultural, both contemporary and classical, in New York City and the rest of the world." Check out this new venture and subscribe!

Anita Itty is a writer and essayist and the winner of the 2004 First Words South Asian Literary Prize. She loves books that ask to be reread, over and over again; music that is ecstatic; paintings that are so beautiful that she can’t drag her eyes away. She drinks coffee to keep herself from getting too carried away while she writes her pieces for eCognoscente.

Christopher Atamian is a journalist and producer. He speaks eight languages and recently translated a book of poetry. Christopher is passionate about modern dance, film, the paintings of Schiele and Klimt, and the poetry of Rilke. He is an expert on all things Armenian.

Congratulations to Patricia Henley and Jon Sealy (former fiction editor at Sycamore Review) who both have stories published in the third issue of the online literary Journal, Freight Stories. Patricia Henley's story, "Red Lily" and Jon Sealy's story, "Renovation," can both be read online. Also included in this issue, the memoirist and short story writer, Cathy Day.

You can read the stories and find out more about Freight stories here.

It's no surprise given our current market that banks are foreclosing on homes all across the country. Even the ghosts of our literary greats are not exempt. Earlier this month the trustees of the Mark Twain house asked for help because the Mark Twain house in Hartford, CT was on the verge of foreclosure. Since then, independent donors have stepped in to help; however, the house isn't out of hot water yet. You can read the full story here.

Today, writers Tom Perotta, Tasha Alexander, Phillip Lopate, and at least seven other nationally best-selling authors will gather in the auditorium to read Twain’s works in hopes of helping to raise money to save the house from financial disaster.

I also hear that if you'd like to own a little of Twain history, they're selling a light bulb from the house for $500.

The finalists for the Man Booker Prize have been announced.  The list this year seems to lack its usual star power (Salman Rushdie was passed over for his new novel).  Among this list, two of the novelists are first time authors: 

Indian novelist Aravind Adiga was nominated Tuesday for his debut, "The White Tiger," which tells the story of a man's dreams of escaping poor village life for success in the big city.

Australia's Steve Toltz, another first-time novelist, writes about a father-son relationship in a "A Fraction of the Whole."

Ireland's Sebastian Barry, a finalist with "The Secret Scripture," was previously nominated in 2005 for "A Long Long Way."

The other three authors in the running are Indian writer Amitav Ghosh for "Sea of Poppies," English author Linda Grant for "The Clothes on Their Backs" and England's Philip Hensher for "The Northern Clemency."

The winner will be announced October 14.  The prize is $88,700 and is certain to boost sales. 

 I purchased Porter Shreve's new novel, When the White House Was Ours yesterday from our local independent bookstore, Vons. Actually, I went on a little bit of a spree, managing to spend close to a hundred dollars in under fifteen minutes. But it's all worth it. Money spent on books is never money lost…did my mother used to say that or have I managed to write fictional advice from real people in order to justify my choices as a writer?

Regardless, I want to tell you all about this novel because it kept me up late into the night as I read straight through Part I. I'm a fan of Porter Shreve's work, but this novel, in my humble opinion, marks a new period in Porter's career. This is an impressive piece of work with characters that jump off the page. I care about every one of them; from the idealistic father to the laconic and aloof Linc...they make me want to scream my advice at them. To make a reader care that much is a brilliant feat. The voice of our protagonist, Daniel Truitt, is so endearing that the reader doesn't want to leave his side. His point of view is the right choice to tell this story as he observes the chaos around him, both inside and outside the house. Daniel’s political interests give the reader access to the political backdrop of 1976 with the election of Jimmy Carter to the presidency. The private and public stakes are seamlessly woven here as we see the impact that politics has on the private lives of these characters. But I still have to finish the novel (I’m at a really juicy point); however I couldn't wait to blog about it so you, my fellow readers, could go out and pick up this book.

Here are some reviews:

"Porter Shreve has always had a keen feel for a story and an instinct for what is interesting in the world. He is a wonderful and accomplished young writer.” —Lorrie Moore, author of Birds of America and Who Will Run the Frog Hospital?

"A loosely autobiographical story of free love and family set against the hopeful but disappointing Carter presidency, Shreve's third novel skillfully interweaves the story of teenager Daniel Truitt with that of the United States at a crossroads.... The political backdrop is perfectly played, as is the bittersweet nostalgia that makes the book and its freewheeling gang irresistible." —Publishers Weekly

"A year in the life of an experimental school, nostalgically evoking both politics and the sunset of hippiedom, in the ’70s. .... [When the White House Was Ours] nicely counterpoints Daniel’s coming-of-age story with the bewildering, and even endearing, goofiness of this memorable time in his—and the country’s—growing up." —Kirkus Review

“Shreve sure tells smart, inventive, sociologically intriguing stories, and his latest is a fun-to-read novel with great relevance and charm... The coming-of-age element is irresistible, as is the impossible dream of an anything-goes school, and what a wild and crazy extended family Shreve has created in the age of free love and Watergate.” —Booklist

Patricia Henley has written a fantastic essay published in the Glimmer Train Bulletin entitled, "The Potholder Model of Literary Ambition," that chronicles her writing life and provides some great insight into the experiences of a National Book Award nominated writer.  This is a generous essay in which Patricia reveals the truths of her experience and offers some very sage advice to aspiring writers.  You may read the essay here. 

Patricia Henley is the author of three collections of short stories and two novels. Her first novel, Hummingbird House, was a finalist for The National Book Award in 1999. Her second novel, In the River Sweet, was a Border's Original Voices selection and was honored as a Best Book of the Year by several newspapers. Her short story collection, Worship of the Common Heart, remains in print by MacAdam/Cage. www.patriciahenley.com

Congratulations to Hannah Tinti whose first novel, The Good Thief  is reviewed in the NY Times Bookreview.  You can read the glowing review here. 

Hannah's first collection of stories Animal Crackers was a fantastic read and comes highly recommended.  Her style is sharp, her characters memorable, and her stories, important.  Hannah Tinti is also one of the founding editors of OneStory and a fellow graduate of Connecticut College where we both studied under the tutelage of the great Blanche McCrary Boyd. 

Sycamore's reading period is now open.  Please address all correspondence to the appropriate editor:

Poetry- Theresa D. Smith and Dave Blomenberg

Fiction- James Xiao

Non-Fiction- Erin Blakeslee.

Art/Design- Mehdi Okasi (EIC)

All entries for the Wabash Prize in Poetry should follow the guidelines outlined in the link to the right and should be addressed to Wabash Prize in Poetry/Sycamore Review.  For complete guidelines click on the link.  

We look forward to reading your work.

Read an interesting article about Rushdie's new novel here.  This one is on my summer list.  I'd be interested to hear what people think of it. 

Besides being a world-famous writer, Rushdie is busy doing films (he plays a doctor in Helen Hunt's recent film "Then She Found Me") and teaching at Emory University.  I wonder what it would be like to take a class with the newly knighted Sir Salman Rushdie. 

In an interview in 1989, Toni Morrison stated that, "There is no place you or I can go, to think about or not think about, to summon the presences of or recollect the absences of slaves ... no wall, or park, or skyscraper lobby. ... There's no 300-foot tower, no small bench by the road that I can visit or you can visit. ... And because such a place doesn't exist ... the book had to." 

On Saturday a ceremony was held on Sullivan's Island off the South Carolina coast with some 300 attendees to dedicate Mrs. Morrison's bench.  Read the full story here.

The event was sponsored by the Toni Morisson Society.

I know that this is very early, but we at Sycamore Review are very excited to announce that Poet Laureate, Billy Collins will be judging our Wabash Prize in Poetry this fall. The deadline is October 17th and while we won't begin accepting submissions until August 1st, you might want to get a head start in polishing up those manuscripts.

I'd like to congratulate Matthew Simmons, whose story, "Saxophone Lung Explodes" was chosen by Richard Bausch as the winner of the this year's contest. There were many exceptional entries and as a staff, we had a very difficult time selecting the stories that we forwarded to Mr. Bausch. However, "Saxophone Lung Explodes" won the contest because of (in Mr. Bausch's words) "its exquisite strangeness and for its grief." Congratulations to Matthew Simmons and thank you to everyone who submitted to this years contest. You can read Matthew's story along with interviews with Pulitzer Prize winning writer, Michael Chabon, and novelist, Peter Ho Davies. If you'd like to purchase a copy, please write us and be sure to include a check for $7 made payable to Sycamore Review.

I'm certainly behind on this, but I just recently came across Toni Morrison's letter endorsing Obama.  As Ms. Morrison claims, this is a first for her.  You can read her letter here.