NEWS

DECEMBER 1, 2020

I am thrilled to have a new story, If You're Lucky, This Could Be You at Epiphany. And another story, The Polish Girl, went up at Squalorly few months ago I forgot to share. Both are in my forthcoming collection, JERKS.

On January 8th, I'll be doing a virtual reading with Best Small Fictions Anthology contributors

On January 17th, I'll be reading with the First Person Plural Series. The theme is "The Way Forward" and I hope to write something new for it.

SEPTEMBER 29, 2020

I'm grateful and excited to share that my new story collection has found a wonderful home. JERKS will be released by Mason Jar Press in spring 2022. It's hard to look that far into the future right now, but hopefully there will be better days ahead.

JULY 21, 2020

Nothing like updating the website once every four years. Oh. Well. What is time, anyway. Life has happened/is happening, with work echoing that arrhythmia, but I'm still here, still hacking away. A few things:

I had an incredibly nourishing and productive residency at Vermont Studio Center this January, which feels light years ago.

I'm honored to be the first guest quarterly editor over at SmokeLong Quarterly. You can read a series of interviews conducted by the wonderful Shasta Grant here here and here. I am also very excited to also be teaching a flash workshop with SmokeLong this summer.

I have a flash piece, Good Girls, in the forthcoming anthology, New Voices of the Holocaust. The book juxtaposes artifacts and images with contemporary voices. I was supposed to be speaking about this project on a panel at AWP this year -- which has been pushed to next year, in a virtual capacity I assume.

I was also a judge for the National Jewish Book Awards Young Adult category, which I'll be doing again this year for the Jewish Book Council. It was a joy to discover the winning novel, Someday We Will Fly, and to experience the range of talented voices.

My story, Neighbors (published in Gone Lawn), was selected for Best Small Fictions Anthology 2020.

The story was also included in Wigleaf's Top 50 [very] short fictions.

In my first byline for The Washington Post, I reviewed Anna Solomon's majestic new novel, THE BOOK OF V.

I'm doing a zoom reading! With the terrific R.L Maizes and Ilana Masad! Hosted by Julie Zuckerman for Literary Modiin! This SUNDAY, JULY 26 at 1 pm EST register here.

While the Sunday Salon is currently on hiatus, we are planning to host our next event, the 11th Annual Dark Tower reading in November, fingers crossed. You can preview the excellent line up here

I'm planning to reboot my private basement workshop to a zoom platform this fall. I've missed the intimacy and ongoing connections of my last longstanding group. Usually I take no more than 6 -- but may take up to 8, if we're online. Stay tuned for more.

Meantime, here's a recent testimonial from a former student (who was just accepted into her choice MFA) : "Working with Sara Lippmann has been an incredible experience. As my editor and teacher, her commentary on my writing has been generous, heartfelt and encouraging. Her command of language and extensive knowledge of literature is evident and contributes to her ability to express her thoughts with precision and clarity. She is thorough, detailed and responsive. I fully trust that my writing is in capable hands when in hers. "

...and I finished my novel. eeee! all the feels. (and blood, sweat, tears.)

now, on to number two.

AUGUST 5, 2016

On Sunday I leave for the VCFA Postgrad conference. There is one train daily. I look forward to taking in the view on the long rumble north. I hope the week is fruitful and lends me clarity of mind and heart. In an effort to reaffirm focus, I'll be hopping off the internet for the duration -- social media in particular.

But before I go, here's an interview I did with the very talented Anna Solomon for Kveller. Her new novel, LEAVING LUCY PEAR, makes a wonderful August read.

Here are some testimonials from my latest class at Ditmas Writing Workshops (scroll down)

JULY 18, 2016

Quick notes before I'm off to the woods --

My new class through Ditmas Writing Workshops starts in September. Discounts for returning students. Come over, eat snacks, read reads, and write all the words with me. Sign up today!

I'll be attending the VCFA Postgrad Conference in August workshop with Andre Dubus III, whose books (whose sentences) send me over moons. Excited. Nervous. Dorm life. Shower shoes! Anyone else? Talk to me.

Here are some recent publications --

Short story in Monkeybicycle nabbed the Longform Pick of the week

A personal essay over at DrDoctor

Nick Black squeezed a lot from me in this interview over at Bath Flash Fiction

JUNE 2, 2016

School's (almost) out for summer. Let the parental panic begin!

But first, it was an honor and a pleasure to guest edit a special all-flash issue of BLUE FIFTH REVIEW featuring wonderful work by Kari Nguyen, Megan Giddings, Leesa Cross-Smith, Amanda Miska and Amy Rossi.

My wee story from NANO FICTION, Fallen Souffle, landed on the Wigleaf Top 50 in some pretty stupendous company. I'm loving reading and rereading these excellent selections of very short fiction.

You can read a new story, Blame the Machine (and a postcard) over at Wigleaf.

DOLL PALACE got a sweet nod in this books article over at Luna Luna.

I interviewed the whip-smart Rebecca Schiff for Kveller.

APRIL 1, 2016

New month, new work --

My story, Let All the Restless Creatures Go, is running now at Midnight Breakfast. The entire issue is wonderful, and I'm happy to be a part of it. Extra happy that Longform picked it up as their Fiction of the week.

Pleased to have new fiction, Second Hand Bursts, at Burrow Press Review.

And a craft essay on the balance of work and play at About.com.

And a teeny tiny Swayze story at Jellyfish Review. (Nominated for Best of the Net)

My next class through Ditmas Writing Workshops starts on April 18 and will run through June. Sign up today: ditmaswritingworkshops.com

JANUARY 5, 2016

Happy New Year! I'm calling this one the year of the novel - putting it down here on my first day back to work, so hold me to it, please?

Few things came out during the holidays:

Doll Palace got some new love in this razzle-dazzle review from the remarkable Meg Tuite at Entropy

My story, JERKS, at Third Point Press.

CHARITY CASE, at People Holding. There is also a recording of it at the new People Holding podcast. I can't bear the sound of my voice, but if you can, have a listen.

TOO LITTLE, TOO LATE - an excerpt from my novel-in-progress, is live at Front Porch journal. I can't say enough good things about the caliber of the editorial staff and their thoughtful involvement in helping this piece function as a stand alone entity.

For Buffalo Almanack, I revisited Susan Minot's iconic LUST and my life at 22.

Also I've got some events on the horizon:

1/13 - Reading with Jacob M. Appel and EJ Levy for the new Yeah You Write series.

1/30 - I'm heading down to Philly to read at Big Blue Marble Bookstore with the wonderful Amanda Miska and Susan Rukeyser.

2/3 - I'm joining the Hungry Ghost lineup at Stephen Langlois new series in Fort Greene.

2/11 - I'm reading at the Vica Miller literary salon with Lauren Acampora, Shelly Oria, and Rebecca Schiff!

Hope to see you in real life, sooner rather than later.

Till then - let's do this, 2016.

NOVEMBER 30, 2015

Almost December, folks. I've been neglecting this site miserably because life but --- updates:

I'm delighted to be offering a class through Rachel Sherman's Ditmas Writing Workshops. My class on flash fiction begins on Monday January 25. See all offerings (including workshops with Sherman, Lee Houck, and Rebecca Schiff) You can sign up here. Better, come out to Kettle & Thread on Church Ave this Wednesday, Dec 8 at 7:30 pm for a meet and greet and reading with instructors Rachel Sherman, Lee Houck, Rebecca Schiff, and myself. Also: snacks.

My book is included in this wonderful NYFA gallery installation by Anne Muntges. Stacks: Three Decades of Writing Fellows. Through February in Dumbo.

I am judging Split Lip Magazine's Turnbuckle Chapbook contest so submit to that if you are into submitting. I am into reading your work. Deadline is January 16!

New fiction, Ambassador of Forbidden Things, over at Storychord.

One True Thing, a screed of a short over at Corium.

On January 13th, I'll be reading with Jacob Appel and EJ Levy in the new Yeah You Write Series. I'm told there will be custom-paired cocktails, so yeah.

My short story, Pulling Teeth, came out over the summer at Litro NY.

JUNE 17, 2015

Updating while waiting on a call from the wonderfully talented Karen Stefano, whose debut collection The Secret Games of Words is just out. We'll be recording a conversation on a podcast thingy momentarily, the link of which I'll post once I have it.

In other links: here is a video of me reading Reunion in Minneapolis which I'm far too embarrassed to watch but you can. Many thanks to the inimitable Meg Tuite, for the recording and for hanging out with me at AWP - the hands down highlight of the trip.

Monday, June 22 I will be reading at St. Mark's Bookshop with Jacob M. Appel and Patrick E. Horrigan. The other authors are wonderful and this will be my last book event, so I'm looking forward to it.

This Sunday the Sunday Salon celebrates 13 years with a tremendous lineup: Sarah Tomlinson, Mensah Demary, Mia Alvar, Erika Wurth + Chiwan Choi! With music from Robert Lopez! Come, join us! (It's also my last event as co-host so I will likely be a sappy blubbering mess. Good times!)

Doll Palace reviewed generously at Alternating Current. Compared to Richard Yates. Yeah, I'll take that.

I have a new flash over at Fiction Southeast. And here is the story behind the story.

New microfiction, Life Lessons, at People Holding.

I wrote about my bat mitzvah for the Rebar Project.

MAY 1, 2015

Honored and thrilled that DOLL PALACE has been longlisted for the 2015 Frank O'Connor Internation Short Story Award in tremendous company!

APRIL 21, 2015

Winter was long. I lost track. Life happened, is happening. I went to Cartagena, Boston, Philadelphia. There is a lot to say, none of it all that urgent or interesting. I have been talking a lot lately, haven't shut up, for various podcasts so that's been sweaty and awkward. I read on the radio. I went to Minneapolis with 14,000 of you. I spent good time with good people, which is the only way to do it. The book hustle is coming to a close, with a final reading at St. Mark's Bookshop on June 22. I'm slogging away at the novel. I've fallend behind. I owe people work. I have a new short story out in Heavy Feather Review - a surrealist tale called Runner's Paradise - that I actually think came out just how I wanted it, so that's something. I have micros forthcoming in Santa Fe Literary Review and Cape Fear Review, and a flash in Fiction Southeast. I am gearing up for a mini solo writing retreat later on this month. Can I write a book in 4 days? I need a miracle. I got a miracle: We are going to California in June. More on that, soon. My time at Sunday Salon is coming to an end. In July I'll be teaching, August -

Meantime, here is the special issue of Sunday Salon zine called Threshold, which Nita Noveno and I put together. It was a pleasure to interview Chris Tarry about his book - and I am super proud of all the fearless featured work: by Kari Nguyen, Ben Tanzer, Jen Knox, Krista Madsen, Cathy Linh Che, and many more. Do check it out.

APRIL 21, 2015

JANUARY 5, 2015

You, people, are tremendous. My deepest and sincerest thanks to all of you, to each one of you, for your incredible support, generosity, and encouragement these past months with this twisty little book. Those of you who have bought it and read it, who have raffled it off or given it to a friend, posted shouts and photos, written a review or taken the time to interview me, shared a kind word or blurb or invited me to read in your city, who have schlepped to one of my events and suffered through a sad, squirmy reading. Grateful may be the word but it feels slim, insufficient. My heart is full. I am amazed and humbled by your friendship and good-will. Thank you for everything.

I hope you enjoyed your holidays. I hope you are delving into new things in this new year. I'm an awful blogger and incompetent juggler of tasks, but as my 2015 is about less show & tell and more quiet, more focus, is about - at the very least - streamlining my countless procrastinations, this newsy page will go dim shortly. Find me on twitter, on goodreads, at gmail; better yet, find me in REAL LIFE. I just received my first royalty check, so although I won't be springing for everyone's dinner, I will be riding the subway. I would love to see you.

Here are the last bits of last year's show:

-My book will change your life, says the tireless and mind-numbingly talented Ben Tanzer. I say good God. Thank you.

-Thanks, too, to The Quivering Pen's (and Fobbit author) David Abrams for recognizing Kelly Bahr, the talented designer of Doll Palace, and for including her work on this list of Favorite Book Covers 2014.

-Additional thanks to dear friends and wonderful writers Kathy Fish and Robert Vaughan for giving DP the nod on their lists of favorite reads from the past year.

-Thanks to the inimitable Penina Roth, I am reading at Franklin Park next week 1/12 for Short Fiction night. Also reading: Phil Klay, Kevin Fortuna, Morgan Parker and Malerie Willens. I feel nauseous already. Will I puke on stage? Wait and see.

As for now, it's Monday. Time to get back to work after a long hiatus, one, that for me, has stretched way beyond the holiday season, much longer than I would like to admit. Time to stop squawking and pick up the pen, rediscover the page. See what's there - if anything. Put down one word, then the next. Pray for that leap.

Wishing you leaps of grace: today and all days.

DECEMBER 17, 2014

I'm not one for lists, and never made one of these before but here I am procrastinating as usual, staring at the shelves, overwhelemd by the staggering heap of books TBR, books bought or gifted, that I haven't started or finished and feeling guilty about it, feeling like I've had my head shoved so far up my own weaselly ass lately that it's a wonder I can see anything at all, so I thought I'd jot this down in an effort to keep myself honest, what I've read all the way through and in some cases reread thus far in 2014, in no particular order (not counting books read in manuscript or books read with my kids.) Lots of goods here. Happy Holidays!

Sister Golden Hair by Darcey Steinke
The Ghost Writer by Philip Roth
The Absolutely True Diary of a Part-time Indian by Sherman Alexie
Stone Arabia by Dana Spiotta
From Here by Jen Michalski
Love and Shame and Love by Peter Orner
Salvage the Bones by Jesmyn Ward
My Brilliant Friend by Elena Ferrante
Naked Me by Christian Winn
Together We Can Bury It by Kathy Fish
Hibernate by Elizabeth Eslami
I'm Not Saying, I'm Just Saying by Matthew Salesses
How to Catch a Coyote by Christy Crutchfield
Life in the Air Ocean by Sylvia Foley
The Understory by Pamela Erens
The Virgins by Pamela Erens
An Untamed State by Roxane Gay
The Ascent of Eli Israel by Jonathan Papernick
There is No Other by Jonathan Papernick
XY/XX by Jonathan Papernick
Excavation by Wendy Ortiz
Hollywood Notebook by Wendy Ortiz
Starting Out in the Evening by Brian Morton
Venus Drive by Sam Lipsyte
Ophans by Ben Tanzer
Lost in Space by Ben Tanzer
Every Kiss a War by Leesa Cross-Smith
The Dark Sunshine by Len Kuntz
Sabbath's Theater by Philip Roth
The Dying Animal by Philip Roth
2 A.M. at the Cat's Pajamas by Marie-Helene Bertino
Dear Lucy by Julie Sarkission
Dept. of Speculation by Jenny Offill
Is Life Like This? by John Dufresne
Tollbooth by Bud Smith
F-250 by Bud Smith
Made to Break by D. Foy
The Last Days of California by Mary Miller
It Happened in the Catskills by Myrna Katz Frommer
Catskill Culture by Phil Brown
Borsct Belt Bungalows by Irwin Richman
From Wildness to Woodstock: In the Catskills by Alf Evers
The Ladies Auxiliary by Tova Mirvis
The Collected Stories of IB Singer
Plum by Kim Triedman
Don Dreams and I Dream by Leah Umansky
Stoner by John Williams
Bound by Blue by Meg Tuite
New York 1, Tel Aviv 0 by Shelly Oria
Inside Madeleine by Paula Bomer
The Mermaid of Brooklyn by Amy Shearn
Rules of Civility by Amor Towles
The Empathy Exams by Leslie Jamison
The Lucky Body by Kyle Coma-Thompson
Cutting Teeth by Julia Fierro
Games to Play After Dark by Sarah Gardner Borden
The Handmaid's Tale by Margaret Atwood
The Age of Innocence by Edith Wharton
We Were the Mulvaneys by Joyce Carol Oates
The Bridge to Take When Things Get Serious by Lori Jakiela
When I First Held You (edited by Brian Gresko)
Rainey Royal by Dylan Landis
Here in the World by Victoria Lancelotta
A Cloth House by Joseph Riippi
Because by Joesph Riippi
The Cloud of Unknowing by Mimi Lipson

DECEMBER 17, 2014

How is it mid December? Latke season already, and 2015 will be here in a minute. If someone told me this time last year that I'd be a newly minted member of PEN, and that my book would be nominated for an LA Times Book Prize, Story Prize, in a second printing, and be on the physical shelves of Barnes & Noble - actual brick & mortar stores ! - throughout NYC and Brooklyn, I'd say you've been drinking way too much crazy. (And pass me a swig.) It's been a ridiculous year, and I am bowled over with gratitude for friends who have been wonderful and kind and generous with their time and also for my family, for all of their patience and support. Thank you, dear ones.

Honored and thrilled my little book landed on Flavorwire's list of 25 Books You've Missed in 2014. In truly terrific company.

Had a lot of fun doing this twitterview with Matt Coleman, author of the forthcoming novel, Juggling Kittens.

Had a grand ol' time last week at the Renegade Reading Series hosted by dynamic duo, Rich Moy and Erika Anderson with talented readers Stacy Parker Le Melle, Shamar Hill, Jacob Appel, and Amy Carlberg.

Had an otherworldly time on Saturday at a private party/reading/benefit for the Sunday Salon from which I'm still reeling and don't anticipate I'll be able to process into words any time soon. Heart swells.

Looking forward to upcoming events:

This Sunday 12/21 Amy Shearn's Lit at Lark Series with Elizabeth Kadetsky and David Gordon.

Monday 1/12 Penina Roth's Franklin Park Series with Kevin Fortuna and Phil Klay.

YIKES.

NOVEMBER 29, 2014

Hello, Philly. I am home. I've been to WaWa, eaten my pretzels, I will be heading over to Main Point Books in Bryn Mawr today for Indies First/Small Business Saturday to push select beloved recent reads including Dylan Landis' Rainey Royal, Pamela Erens' The Virgins and Rachel Sherman's Living Room. And to break out the free wine.

At the Story Prize blog, I revisited my painful days as Sawa Wippmann and share a few thoughts on giving public readings.

At PANK, I reviewed Meg Tuite's brutal and beautiful collection, Bound by Blue.

Kim Winterherimer calls me "unpredictable and exciting" over at The Masters Review.

Paragraph shorts is featuring my story The Second Act in their 100th issue.

My name has 2 ps, 2 ns, no h.

NOVEMBER 21, 2014

A full week and only Wednesday. I took a quick trip to Baltimore to participate in Jen Michalski's wonderful Starts Here Reading Series. It was cold, dark, rainy - but the crowd was warm. Hosted a great group at the Sunday Salon. I'm now taking a break for a few months so it was good to fill up on the talents of Mel Bosworth, Christy Crutchfield, Timothy Gager, Mike Harvkey and Johanna Lane.

I've been BUSTLED! Many thanks to Laura Creste for taking the time to talk with me, and for sharing these kind words about Doll Palace: "Lippmann’s stories are well-crafted and tight, some so short they might qualify as micro-fiction. Lippmann’s voice is distinctive for her sparse and straightforward style, which ties together a collection with a roving cast of characters. She accesses the teenage voice, marked by an ambivalent internal climate contrasted with a (sometimes reckless) surety of action. All of the stories are propelled by a forward momentum, and the stories are more likely to end on an action, rather than a image, or a moment of contemplation. " The full interview is here.

At The Good Book Corner, Preeti Singh says "The stories haunt you long after you are done with them."

Doll Palace also gets a spot (alongside my two-time college roommate!) in the Fresh Ink column of Brown Alumni Magazine. "The narratives here are vividly framed and spiked with surprising moments of wisdom. "

NOVEMBER 3, 2014

Here we go, November.

At David Abrams' The Quivering Pen, I wrote about my writerly "first time" and spoiler alert - it's embarrasing.

Jen Michalski generously recorded for my origin stories for The Nervous Breakdown.

I reviewed Shelly Oria's wonderful debut collection, NEW YORK 1, TEL AVIV 0 for Trop.

Also, received a pair of kind reviews:

JMWW calls Doll Palace "an urgent wake up call, pestering us like a mosquito in the ear, until we have to stop and ask ourselves-what the hell are we doing?"

PANK says "Every story in Sara Lippmann’s debut collection, Doll Palace, is a finely crafted, stark distillation of a different kind of loss, loneliness, or alienation." I think I depressed the hell out of the poor reviewer. I can relate, because darkness at 4 p.m. sure depresses the hell out of me.

In other news, the creative spelling continues. If I said, Drink! each time my name comes out correctly - well, then we'd all be stone cold sober.

OCTOBER 23, 2014

Mole Day. You all get extra credit.

The blah blah book blahs on.

I've been doing some readings with wonderful people like Marie-Helene Bertino and also: Pamela Erens, Jim Ruland, and Roy Kesey down in DC. I also got to meet writers I've long admired online in 3-D, and see dear old friends. I took the train and enjoyed some quiet. I'm reading Erens' exquisite novel, THE VIRGINS, and can't put it down.

I'm also reading tomorrow night at Book Court as part of the Brooklyn Writers Space, which is kind of them to have me even though I'm not a member.

This week I was a guest in Rachel Sherman's workshops at Rutgers. All those eager young faces and their questions (I still can't believe they read my book) made me realize how much I miss teaching, how many years it's been.

Still sorting through the slush from my week-long stint as guest editor at Smokelong.

The mighty Heather Fowler allowed me to rant on soup to sex for the Writer's Craft at Fictionaut.

Bud Smith gave Doll Palace a friendly shout at Robert Vaughan's Two for Tuesday.

And Kathy Fish! The incomparable Kathy Fish said all sorts of crazy things in her review for The Lit Pub - which I'll never ever get over. EVER.

My novel now has a title - and a soundtrack! All that's left is for me to write it.

SEPTEMBER 29, 2014

A New Year.

A new Salon. Such a great time with Dock Street Press authors Kyle Coma-Thompson, Christian Winn, and Dane Bahr. R.A. Villanueva knocked out the crowd with work from his new book, and Karen & The Sorrows, Karen & The Sorrows, they are just so outrageously good. See for yourself: video snippets here

A new review! From Publishers Weekly: "Lippmann's debut is a terrific collection of short stories that mostly take place in or around New York. In "Queen of Hearts," the male narrator feels an affinity for Pam, a babysitter in her thirties, even after she steals the bottle of Xanax that he'd been sharing with her. Lippmann skillfully demonstrates how he relates to Pam in subtle instances; he observes how she surreptitiously feels herself under her shirt ("Anything can be a transitional object") and casts his own wife in an unflattering light: "Things are not moving fast enough for Marcy. She swats me aside and jumps in, barking." "Everyone Has Your Best Interests at Heart," told from the point of view of a teenager working with her best friend on the Jersey Shore, is particularly engaging, as is "Body Scan," which chronicles what a woman learns about her husband after looking through his phone while they're stuck in traffic en route to Westchester. Some are very brief slice-of-life vignettes: the delightful "Houseboy," about a 23-year-old Israeli is rife with funny malapropisms ("At night, everything is awesome and pacifist.") but never makes fun at its narrator. These stories clearly reveal Lippmann's talent, and indicate a bright future ahead. (Sept.)"

HOLY CRAP.

And tomorrow my lil' Texan chicken turns nine.

SEPTEMBER 16, 2014

Book is OUT.

Thanks to everyone who came out for the launch party on Saturday. It was amazing to see family and friends from so many stages of my life. I'm still reeling. And now Doll Palace is a (short-lived) best seller at Brooklyn's Book Court!

I recorded my first podcast: The Virtual Memories Show with Gil Roth. We talked about lots of stuff at lightning speed, including favorite writers and how I managed to lose the Rolex account when I worked at GQ. Gil is a fantastic interviewer and if you want proof of just how nervous I was you can listen to the whole incoherent mess here.

This Sunday after the Brooklyn Book Festival, I'll be hosting and reading at the Sunday Salon with Dock Street Press authors Dane Bahr, Christian Winn and Kyle Coma-Thompson. The award-winning poet, R.A. Villanueva, will read from his new book and my favorite band, Karen & The Sorrows will take the stage.

SEPTEMBER 8, 2014

Getting ready to launch.

Ordering Doll Palace temporary tattoos for my daughter slash who am I kidding?

Feeling big love for this incisive review by Christopher Allen at Necessary Fiction.

SEPTEMBER 1, 2014

SEPTEMBER.

I need a haircut.

Book's out in two weeks. It can be purchased from Dock Street Press, Barnes & Noble, and Amazon (that charming marketplace.)

Megan Martin interviewed me at Heavy Feather Review. She said, "In her debut collection of short stories, Doll Palace (Dock Street Press, forthcoming), Sara Lippmann unflinchingly and unrelentingly renders the darkness of modern human existence: our isolation, loneliness, and struggle to connect despite our alienation." She asked such thoughtful questions and read the book so closely - in ways I could never even dream - that I feel extremely lucky.

Joyland reprised my story, Swanee, to coincide with the publication of DP - even though the story didn't make it into the collection - because they are awesome and super supportive like that.

AUGUST 12, 2014

Bumpy reentry after a transformative month up at camp, but here we all are: back in Brooklyn. And happy to be home, if only for a little while. After this week's trip to Montana and Yellowstone - it'll be book stuff full steam ahead, and so on, ad nauseum. Thanks in advance for putting up with my slog through self-promotion. It's gonna be awkward, at best. On that note - let's get started! A few things went down while I was busy squandering my paycheck on pig races at the Wayne County State Fair:

Kirkus Reviews said "Lippmann writes well about damaged lives and ambivalent relationships, and she displays a knack for crafting mildly surreal scenarios that reveal the characters’ fragile emotional states." The reviewer also said some less glowing stuff which you can read here. Still: color me KIRKUS. The issue hits newstands August 15.

Am so grateful for the talented Leesa Cross-Smith's review over at Sundog Lit. She calls me "sublime at specifics", which is the nicest. Read her collection EVERY KISS A WAR: her prose is so beautiful I want to slather it all over my body then drink it all up, and you will, too.

In the latest issue of JMWW you can read Reunion, an excerpt from Doll Palace. Many thanks to editor Jen Michalski, whose new collection FROM HERE is out next month. I love her work, and can't wait to read her latest.

Cari Luna, whose exquisite novel, The Revolution of Every Day, I devoured while up in the woods, let me babble on about the way things go - or more often, don't go - as a Writer with Kids. It's a terrific and generous blog full of fantastic guest posts - go get lost it in it! (Update: my daughter has now decided she wants to be a hockey player. Dentristy can wait.)

I have been lining up readings! And a launch party! So far I will be in NYC, Baltimore, Washington, DC, Boston. Details on my events page. Do you want me in your city? Give a shout and I'm there.

Doll Palace is now on Goodreads so, y'know, you can add it, read it, review it, tell your friends, earn my eternal gratitude.

JUNE 18, 2014

Thanks to the incredibly wonderful Kathy Fish for this : http://kathy-fish.com/2014/06/18/reading-books-im-looking-forward-to-reading/

JUNE 16, 2014

Honored and delighted to be the featured writer this month at Connotation Press. You can read "Doll Palace," the title story of the collection as well as an interview with me, here:

JUNE 15, 2014

Verklempt to find my odd little book included on David Abrams' wonderful site, The Quivering Pen. Many thanks to Abrams for putting together this terrific roundup of 2014 story collections that will keep me reading all year.

MAY 29, 2014

I reviewed The Lucky Body, a brilliant debut collection by Kyle Coma-Thompson for PANK.

MAY 22, 2014

Many thanks to Rachel Sherman for interviewing me at About.com. You can read the whole shebang here

MAY 20, 2014

More than you could ever want to know about me and the book now in a Q & A at Dock Street's site here , with nods to inspiring literary heroes Kathy Fish, Julie Innis, Rachel Sherman, Jonathan Papernick and Sweta Srivastava Vikram.

MAY 13, 2014

I have an agent! In what still feels like a dream I've signed with Jenni Ferrari-Adler at Union Literary. Hope I never wake up.

My old story, Foreign Bodies, enjoys a bit of new life this week over at the ASDF.

MARCH 27, 2014

My awesome publisher, Dock Street Press has put up an excerpt of DOLL PALACE. (Have I mentioned how awesome DSP is?) Read the kick-off story, Whipping Post, here: http://dockstreetpress.com/portfolio-item/doll-palace/

MARCH 14, 2014

could have been my high school yearbook quote: "It's only fractured/and just a little nervous from the fall."https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2oy_zZBMf9Q

MARCH 13, 2014

My Writing Process Blog Tour.

I've been passed the potato by Steve Karas, a generous and talented soul writing great stuff. Check out his stories and read his responses to The Four Questions here.

What am I working on?

A novel. About a Manhattan mother and the eccentric recluse whose property she rents one Catskills summer. Even though the story has been gestating for years, and I’ve started and abandoned it a handful of times, it feels raw and exciting again, so we’ll see where it carries me this go around. I also just completed edits on my story collection, DOLL PALACE (forthcoming in September), and have been gorging on Girl Scout Cookies as sustenance.

How does my work differ from all others of its genre?

This sounds like one for the Seder table. The wonderful writer and teacher Dani Shapiro (my thesis adviser in grad school) once spoke about one's work as “uniquely yours” and it’s a phrase I’ve latched onto because that feels about right. Isn't that what we are all trying to do? Trust your voice, own your shit, don’t overreach, keep it honest. Cross fingers and hope it rings true.

Why do I write what I write?

It gets dark and lonely (and might drafty) in my head all day so connection is critical, makes it worth it, somehow. To put something out there, and have it be received, to strike a chord in another - that's the stuff that makes us. I think all writers are driven by obsession - our own, sure, but also those that aren't ours, what’s in the air and on the ground, in the waters and penetrating the hearts and minds of strangers around us. I think if I wasn’t obsessed, driven to unpack an idea or work through a puzzle, figure out something I don’t know, I would lose interest rather quickly. With DOLL PALACE, I found myself obsessed with displaced desire, boxed and juxtaposed lives, selfhood and stasis, how identity can function as a trap. My novel deals with other obsessions - I’m still trying to wrangle them all, but nostalgia and loss, conventions of narrative, appropriation. Ultimately, it is a sort of creepy offbeat love story that asks the question, Can you love a monster?

How does my writing process work?

I obsess. If only I could be one of those writers who nails it on the first attempt, like an Olympic snowboarder blasting through the half pipe setting down trick after trick. Instead I obsess and agonize over every word a hundred times over. On top of that, I am dreadfully slow. Confidence is part of the problem, neurosis another, but it is hard for me to be done with anything, to stop editing, and to release words into the world. If I didn’t have a deadline, I easily could have spent another five years editing my collection. This ties into another obsession - is anything ever really done? I don’t know. I do know that I work in fits and spurts, with large dry spells in between. (For more on those dry spells, see here.) Notes on my phone while my kids in karate, five minutes on a train. I feel best when I’m generating new material. That process is sloppy and loose and mostly filled with pleasure (I recently rambled on about it here.) Longhand scribbles. I type and type until I can feel out a frame, a body. Next, I print. Then, I read. I dive under the bed. When I finally pull myself out - at that point, I can begin.

Up next, these terrific writers. Visit their sites. Find out what they have to say:

Christopher Allen is the author of Conversations with S. Teri O'Type (a Satire), an episodic adult cartoon about a man struggling with expectations. Allen's award-winning fiction and non-fiction have appeared or are forthcoming in Indiana Review, Quiddity, SmokeLong Quarterly's Best of the First Ten Years anthology, Prime Number Magazine, Camroc Press Review and many others. A finalist at Glimmer Train in 2011, Allen has been nominated for Best of the Net and the Pushcart Prize twice. He is the managing editor of the daily litzine Metazen. Read his post, here.

Sweta Srivastava Vikram is an award-winning writer, Amazon bestselling author, novelist, poet, essayist, columnist, and educator. Born in India, Sweta spent her formative years between India, North Africa, and the United States. She is the author of five chapbooks of poetry, two collaborative collections of poetry, a novel, and a nonfiction book. She also has two upcoming book-length collections of poetry in 2014. Her work has also appeared in several anthologies, literary journals, and online publications across nine countries in three continents. Sweta has won three Pushcart Prize nominations, Queens Council on the Arts Grant for BYOB Program, an International Poetry Award, Best of the Net Nomination, Nomination for Asian American Members’ Choice Awards & Independent Literary Awards, and writing fellowships. A graduate of Columbia University, she lives in New York City with her husband and teaches creative writing across the globe & gives talks on gender studies. You can follow her on Twitter (@ssvik) or Facebook (http://www.facebook.com/Words.By.Sweta) Read her post, here .

Christian Winn was born in Eugene, Oregon, and grew up in Palo Alto, California and the Seattle area. His forthcoming collection of short stories, NAKED ME, will be published by Dock Street Press in July 2014, and his fiction has appeared in McSweeney's , Gulf Coast, Santa Monica Review, Hayden's Ferry Review, Bat City Review, the Chicago Tribune's Printers Row, Chattahoochee Review, Revolver, Greensboro Review, Every Day Fiction, and The Pinch. He now lives in Boise, Idaho where he writes and teaches in the Creative Writing Department at Boise State University. He is the founder of the Writers Write fiction workshop series, which has been in operation since the summer of 2003. He is a graduate of Seattle Pacific University, and the Boise State University MFA program. Read his post, here.

FEBRUARY 25, 2014

AWP bound.

Reading 2/27 at Peddler Brewing Company with Dock Street Press, Midwestern Gothic, and Atticus Books

2/28 at the Red Velvet Lounge at the Rendezvous.

FEBRUARY 12, 2014

I have a cover!

Pub date:

September 2014.

JANUARY 25, 2014

Flat out giddy to announce my story collection, DOLL PALACE, will be coming out this year from Dock Street Press, a new small publishing house based in Seattle. Thrilled to be working with Dane Bahr and the rest of his team. Check out the beautiful work they do here.

My new story, The Second Act, has been published by Tupelo Quarterly. Many thanks to Elizabeth Eslami and the rest of the editors for including my work in such a terrific issue.

DECEMBER 2, 2013

Pushcart season. My work received two nods this year: "Everyone Has your Best Interests at Heart" (nominated by anonymous, Construction Magazine) and "Last Night in Big Sur" (nominated by ed. Chris Martin, Flycatcher Journal) Honored, humbled, thrilled.

In other news I found the theme song for my newly completed collection, Doll Palace. It's off the 40-year old Free to Be You and Me Album, of all things, which my kids are obsessed with but oh if this doesn't say it all. The song is called Girl Land and it's carnival creepy with music by Mary Rodgers you can listen to it here http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=M85Kqtswwns. Lyrics by Bruce Hart:

Joyland, toyland,

Beautiful girl and boy land...

They're closin' up 'Girl Land,'

Some say it's a shame.

It used to be busy,

Then nobody came.

And other folks tell you

They're glad that it's done,

'Cause 'Girl Land' was never much fun.

Welcome to 'Girl Land,'

My good little girls.

Admission's a wink

And a toss of your curls.

There's fun for all

From eight to eighty

You go in a girl

and you come out a lady.

They're closin' down Girl Land,

Some say it's a crime

To be losin' the trees

You're forbidden to climb.

And other folks say It was always a bore

To wait for the boy who would open

The door to the funhouse.

Wonderful 'Girl Land,'

And island of Joys-

Where good little girls

Pick up after the boys.

So, come on in

And look about.

You go in a girl

And you never get out. ** (this just may be the epigraph, no?)

OCTOBER 5, 2013

I wrote a new short, Once We Were Rabbits, for this good looking arts mag called Lost in Thought. It's not free online, so if anyone would like to see what this mag looks like send me a note and I will happily email you the issue.

SEPTEMBER 30, 2013

My heart swells. Today is my son's birthday. He is 8. How can that be? I do not understand time at all.

At over 7K words, The Best of Us is probably my longest story. It came out last month in The Milo Review. It's not well-formatted, so that may be confusing to the reader, but the truth is, this story still needs a lot of work. I just hacked off 1000 words - which is a start.

Many thanks to Flycatcher journal's editor Christopher Martin for nominating my story, Last Night in Big Sur, for a 2013 Best of the Net award. It is a very old story, one I wrote over a decade ago and all but forgot about until I came across it during the move last summer, so that is kind of nice.

AUGUST 14, 2013

New short, TK, kicks off new season of Wigleaf. Many thanks to editor Scott Garson for taking this one.

Leaving for Israel in two days.

See you in September.

JUNE 12, 2013

Things I can't begin to wrap my head around: My kids finished school yesterday. I now have a first grader and third grader. I finished my story collection, Doll Palace (finally) and haven't a clue what to do with it. In the morning I'll hop a train for a four day writing conference at Wesleyan. Dorm life, meal plan, words I have not entertained since the early 90s (except for those anxiety dreams where I keep flunking Shakespeare because I'm constantly off breastfeeding.) I am feeling my age. Nevertheless, it seems fitting to go away now, to step out of my comfort zone, to become a student again, shower caddy and all - and hopefully, to get some real writing done. But first, tonight: dishes, packing, making sure everyone has clean underwear.

On Sunday I'll return to the city for the last Sunday Salon of the year, our 11th anniversary, and my swan song as co-host. It's been a great run and I'll miss this gig, but can't think of a better way to close things out than by hosting these talented, innovative writers, writers I truly admire. Come, listen, say hello and goodbye. Jimmy's43, 7 p.m.

And then it's summer. And whatever comes next .

MAY 22, 2013

My very Jersey story, Everyone Has Your Best Interests at Heart, is up at Construction Magazine. The journal is really pretty and they've even featured a bumbling Q + A with me, and you can check out the whole shebang here.

MAY 6, 2013

I received a Joan Jakobson Scholarship to attend the Wesleyan Writers Conference this June. Of course, still have to pay for childcare on my end, which I'll need to work out. But the conference looks wonderful, and will hopefully fortify me against the long summer months.

Thanks to editor Matthew Salesses, my new short, Foreign Bodies, took the Weekend Fiction slot of The Good Men Project.

All This Happiness came out in Valparaiso Fiction Review. It is a very long story so here is one sentence: "Bob Geldof was on TV cutting himself shaving, and Max didn’t need to pretend to Angie he understood."

MARCH 1, 2013

Huh, March, already.

Over at the Sunday Salon, we are gearing up for the 4th Annual Bread Loaf Writers From the Dark Tower Reading in three weeks, thanks to Ru Freeman, who organized this special event. You won't want to miss it.

Speaking of readings - I'm participating in two short ones off-site at AWP. The other readers in the lineup will be brilliant, and it's always good sport to watch me make a ginormous ass of myself in public. So, come if you are so inclined. I may even spill beer on you. Many thanks to Connotation Press' wonderful editors Ken Robidoux and Meg Tuite for inviting me. Details here:

---Sundress Publication/Connotation Press/Boxcar Poetry Review/Best of the Net Anthology Reading at the Greatest Bar, Boston

---Heat: The Fire Inside Hosted by Meg Tuite, Anna March, and Laura Bogart at Dillon's, Boston

FEBRUARY 25, 2013

My review of Jen Michalski's remarkable pair of novellas, Could You Be With Her Now, is up at PANK. I cannot gush enough about this book.

My story, Caretakers, is up at Spittoon.

FEBRUARY 4, 2013

To mark the one year anniversary of Stripped, A Collection of Anonymous Flash Fiction (PS Books), editor Nicole Monaghan matched up all the writers to their pieces. It was fun to be a part of this project, and I look forward to rereading the other contributors' stories.

JANUARY 30, 2013

My story, Last Night In Big Sur, is up at Flycatcher Journal, a new online annual devoted to the exploration of "what it means—or what it might mean—to be native to this earth and its particular places." I wrote this story in Jhumpa Lahiri's grad workshop a hundred years ago but then all but forgot about it until I came across a hard copy during my move. Let's just say it's, well, it's an old story. Nevertheless, I'm pleased it's found a home. Thanks, editor Chris Martin.

JANUARY 16, 2013

My latest column, Tell Me A Mitzi, is up at Used Furniture Review.

JANUARY 3, 2013

Happy New Year!

I was invited to participate in the collaboration issue of Blue Fifth Review, in which ten writers respond to five works of art through poetry or flash fiction. My short piece is here, but I recommend the whole collective effort; it is truly striking. Thanks Michelle Elvy and Sam Rasnake.

I also have a new story in the Metazen Christmas III ebook, available here. Donations to charity. Thanks Christopher Allen and Frank Hinton. The story wound up being the missing piece to the collection I've been tinkering with, so hip hip yeah.

DECEMBER 6, 2012

My story, Houseboy, has been nominated for a Pushcart by BULL Men's Fiction. Thanks to editor Jarrett Haley et al. The story and a short Q & A are here. The new issue is now on sale.

DECEMBER 3, 2012

My story, Body Scan, has been nominated for a Pushcart Prize by Connotation Press. Many thanks to Meg Tuite, Ken Robidoux, and all the editors for the generous nod. The story and an interview by superwoman Tuite are here.

2015

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