Lit Bits & A Bit About LAist

• Poetry Appreciation Week continues with more posts forthcoming from some of your favorite litbloggers.  In fact, it seems that the "week" might spill over into next week.  What does that meant to you? It means that if you are lurking in the shadows and have only now gotten up the courage to share your thoughts on poetry (surely the Clash post set the bar very low, did it not?), there's still plenty of time. Please comment or email me about your desire to share and I'll make it happen.
• Michael Redhill's Consolation is now in bookstores stateside! I had a chance (thank you Michael!) to get an advance copy of this (my very first, i must school myself on how to do this better in the future) and it was a moving read that I keep thinking about weeks after finishing it. It lingers in the mind.  My full report on it will be up next week. In the meantime, do check out what the blogcritics have to say. No NYT or LAT love just yet...hopefully we'll see something soon.
• Ed points out a Birnbaum interview with Heidi Julavits which perfectly illustrates the point I'm planning to make in my final Julavits post in the coming days.  She is smart, possibly too smart to seem down-to-earth enough during a reading, but she is a writer who captures the true essence of human beings and all of our faults and pretend non-faults.  Stay tuned.
• Condalmo shares what could be one of the top highlights of my 2007: Twin Peaks, Season Two. On DVD. April 10, 2007.  Mark your calendars and ask for the week off!
• Kensington Gardens is slowing a bit for me, despite my intense praise (which still holds). Reaalllly slowing. Anyone else experiencing the same?
• And finally, I've just been added on as a contributor to the LAist, the premier metroblog for Los Angeles!  Very exciting stuff -- and a huge thank you to Carolyn Kellogg for kicking me in the butt and telling me to go for it.  They cover it all and do so with an attitude seen nowhere else.  I'm so new (and green?) that I won't be on the staff pages for awhile. Have to build up the blog cred and all that.  But, I will be able to cross-post here 48 hours after posting there.  So, watch for that and do check in at the LAist on a regular basis.