Public Republic

Martha Gehringer

Photo: Tony the Misfit

(Isaiah 58:5)

The trees
              scrub
the winter sky—
              scour away
the grey—
                            and I,
I bow
my head
                       like
              a reed.

Photo: Albena Popova

” The Hoosiers- Fantastic New Edit / Video for Choices”

Selected by Mega Dance FM Radio

Julie Barbour

Photo: ciadefoto

I long for you, the sad heat of your skin,
the flakes of skin in your hair,
your shallow breath when you sleep,
your sour breath haunting the room.
I long for your voice, grouchy, uncertain,
Read on →

Interview with Sue Nichol by Galya Mladenova

Sue Nichol is a British artist who paints places with which she has strong associations and knows very well. She’s attracted to the ‘edges of the land’ – fabulous and varied coastlines or the rocky edges found throughout the British landscape. She paints using oils, acrylics and ink and revels in the flexibility of these medias. She also uses brushes, fingers, sticks, knives, pens or anything else at hand to mark the canvas and various materials, such as sand, paste, and even sea-coal to create texture. Her paintings are a mixture of bold strokes and impasto effects with more subtle areas, created through the use of glazes and fine brush work.

Since working as a professional artist she has had the opportunity to participate in mixed National and International shows as well as a number of solo exhibitions. She is a featured artist in three galleries in the UK and her paintings are held in private collections around the world.

When did you start painting? Have you always dreamed of becoming an artist?

I started painting as a young child. My father was a keen painter and very good at drawing. He saw that I showed some aptitude and encouraged me to develop my emerging skills by arranging for me to attend an adult’s art night class. So, from an early age I dreamt of becoming an artist.

Read on →

David Chorlton

Photo: Matt From London

Before we know it, the subject changes. Nobody
intended to bring this up, but suicide slips
into the room as an uninvited visitor
so we let it happen, make a place, and sit back
as it dominates the conversation. We all
have a story. There was the performance artist
who was always so funny until Read on →

Photo: Albena Popova

” FENECH-SOLER – Stop and Stare “

Selected by Mega Dance FM Radio

Shae Davidson

Photo: Joi

“There was a river in Ohio that caught fire,” Gordon said as he poured sugar into his coffee. “Near Cleveland, I think. So many chemicals dumped in year after year—one day it just went.”
Gordon was a reliable source for obscure information whether useful, disturbing, or just puzzling. His family had moved here from Chicago when he was in middle school. On his first day in pre-algebra, Gordon told the class about the guy who’d found a rat tail in the fries at a fast food restaurant. He had been very knowledgeable for a seventh-grader.
Read on →

Julia Spirirdonova

Photo:pinksherbet

Life sucks. If someone tries to tell you otherwise, don’t buy it. One has to be a complete idiot to be an optimist.

I feel like dying when they tell me “Your life is yet to begin.” Couldn’t they come up with something better?

Hellooo, not my life is yet to begin; my problems are. Not that I lack problems even now.

“What kind of problems do you have?!” my parents often ask me. They don’t have the slightest idea how difficult it is to be me since they are feeling fine. Isn’t that right, what do they know after all? From time to time there is a little problem with their jobs, that’s all. Boring. But me… I’m in deep…

Uh, I’m not saying in what, it’s nasty.
Read on →

CONTESTS

#1. Contests announced within the framework of the Elizabeth Kostova Foundation

The following three competitions are in line with the EKF’s efforts in
supporting the popularization of the contemporary Bulgarian literature
abroad and the art of translation itself.
They are realized with the generous support of the America for
Bulgaria Foundation (http://www.americaforbulgaria.org/page/home).

KRUSTAN DYANKOV TRANSLATION AWARD

Krustan Dyankov Translation Award is a prize given annually (beginning
2007) for outstanding translation of a work of contemporary literary
fiction from English to Bulgarian.
Every literary translator who meets the Award criteria can apply
regardless of her/his citizenship.
*Deadline for nominations is: 15 September 2010
Full details on the current Call in Bulgarian language are available
here: http://ekf.bg/bg/index.php?option=com_content&task=view&id=47&Itemid=62
Read on →

Photo: Albena Popova

” The Wanted – All Time Low (Official) “

Selected by Mega Dance FM Radio

Charlotte Pence

Photo: Clearly Ambiguous

Nothing lasts, we know, so why do I lift
The box turtle from the middle of the road
To the side where crab grass pocks asphalt crumbs?
Picking it up, I feel the tight-fisted weight
Of some creature shrunken inside, desperate
To be set down. I hold it away from my chest
As if I don’t want to touch it, trace Read on →

Photo: Albena Popova

” Yolanda Be Cool & DCUP – We No Speak Americano “

Selected by Mega Dance FM Radio