Painting over the Rot: Why Today’s Fiction about Work Whitewashes Reality: Diana Sheets's New Novel, The Cusp of Dreams
Arguing that the death of realism has killed the novel, writer Diana Sheets releases a new work of fiction that dares to examine how the loss of the manufacturing industry has contributed to the toxic job market.

Artificial Christmas Trees - Be Responsible to Preserve the Forest
Artificial Christmas Trees:Christmas trees are an ineradicable subscribe of the holiday season With the descending of Christmas, the family collects close to the tree to decorate and to light it to become the family's symbol of the love that is spread-out in the house

Do you Want to be a Literary Critic?
Is the literary critic like the poet, responding creatively, intuitively, subjectively to the written word as the poet responds to human experience? Or is the critic more like a scientist, following a series of demonstrable, verifiable steps, using an objective method of analysis?

Mediabistro Launches Book Reviews on Publishing Blog GalleyCat
New book review site on mediabistro.com is welcome destination for book lovers.

"Up In The Air" Novelist Walter Kirn Talks About Technology, Careers, Modern Life
Literary Kicks blogger Levi Asher interviews Walter Kirn, author of the novel "Up In The Air", now a successful film directed by Jason Reitman starring George Clooney. Asher and Kirn discuss transformations between book and film versions, the meaning of modern invasive consumer marketing, the character of Ryan Bingham ("Ryan's greatest love is not a person but a world, a milieu, a feeling he gets while traveling," says Kirn) in a short but far-ranging interview.

Announcing a Multi-Disciplinary Academic Conference on the Iconography of Judith and Holofernes
Announcing a call for papers for the spring 2008 multi-disciplinary academic conference The Sword of Judith: Female Agency and the Aesthetics of Terror for art historians, literary critics and italian renaissance and biblical scholars. A conference on the iconography and sacred traditions of the Biblical heroine Judith funded by the Brine Family Charitable Trust.

Creating an Emotions Driven Brand isn’t Just a Marketing Job. Your Brand Story Must be Integral to Organization-Wide Strategies and Tactics
It’s been shown again and again, the stronger the brand, the stronger the business. Managing your brand today requires an orchestration of filling every part of your organization with the qualities of your brand Story; not just your traditional marketing communications channels. In other words, brand – and business – management today is about 360° Brand Story Building™.

2007 Children's Poetry and Book Illustration Contest Offered by The Macaroon Moon for National Poetry Month
For National Poetry Month in April 2007, the publisher of The Macaroon Moon: A Book of Poems and Rhymes for Children is offering its second annual poetry and cut paper book illustration contest. The contest is open to American and Canadian children in kindergarten, first, second and third grades, ages 4, 5, 6, 7, 8 and 9 years old. Contest rules require the entrant to submit a poem and a cut paper illustration for that poem. Poetry by children draws on two natural tendencies of childhood: imagination and play. It's also a good tool to use to teach reading.

Do Americans Really Understand Irony?
Let me start by saying that 'I am an American' Ok, there I have admitted it. But let me go on to make myself slightly more unpopular by suggesting that our American society does present us with a range of valuable and positive aspects.