Kim Gek Lin Short, Eric D. Goodman, The Rag and more

An Evening of Literature with Alex Kudera: Starring Kim Gek Lin Short, Featuring Eric D. Goodman, and Introducing The Rag.

Please join us at Moonstone Arts Center on Wednesday evening March 21 at 7 p.m. for readings of original fiction and poetry from the Mid-Atlantic Region. Wine and snacks will be served, and signed copies of recent titles will be available from various authors.

Kim Gek Lin Short was born in Singapore and spent her childhood in places like Manila, Jakarta, and Calgary. She moved to the States during the wonderful terrible 80s and lived in Denver, San Francisco, and Brooklyn before settling in Philly where she co-curates the reading series General Idea, and is an editor at Coconut. Kim’s work has been nominated for a Pushcart Prize and has appeared in numerous publications such as Absent, Caketrain, and No Tell Motel, and in anthologies like Narrative (Dis)Continuties: Prose Experiments by Younger American Writers. Her books include The Bugging Watch & Other Exhibits and the lyric novel China Cowboy, both from Tarpaulin Sky Press, and the chapbooks The Residents (dancing girl press) and Run (Rope-a-Dope), a 2010 Golden Gloves winner.

Eric D. Goodman is a full-time writer and editor. His novel in stories, Tracks, was published by Atticus Books summer 2011. He’s also the author of the childrens' book, Flightless Goose. Eric's work has appeared in The Baltimore Review, Pedestal Magazine, Writers Weekly, The Potomac, Barrelhouse, JMWW, Scribble, Slow Trains, and New Lines from the Old Line State: An Anthology of Maryland Writers, among others. His second novel, Womb, is currently with his agent. Visit Eric on Facebook, Twitter, and at his literary blog, Writeful. Learn about his latest work, Tracks, at www.TracksNovel.com.

Alex Kudera’s debut novel, Fight for Your Long Day, won the 2011 Independent Publisher’s Gold Medal for Best Fiction from the Mid-Atlantic Region. It is an original academic tragicomedy told consistently from the perspective of the adjunct instructor, and reviews and interviews can be found online at Inside Higher Ed, Academe, The Chronicle of Higher Education, The Philadelphia Inquirer, and other locations. In 2012, Atticus Review is running Nathan Holic's graphic-novel interpretation of Fight for Your Long Day in monthly installments. Many of Kudera’s stories survive in slush piles across the continent or huddled together in unheated North Philly storage space, but The Betrayal of Times of Peace and Prosperity is available as a 99-cent single wherever e-books are downloaded. Alex received his masters in creative writing from Temple University and currently teaches writing and literature at Clemson University in South Carolina.

The Rag seeks the true grit of the literary world. Our writers never pull their punches; the results are unfiltered and sometimes disquieting, but this is contemporary literature--always fresh, always relevant. The way people are reading literature is changing. E-readers are rapidly replacing the demand for print, and some fear that a sinking print market will ultimately drown the future of contemporary literature in its undertow. We disagree. We see electronic publishing as an opportunity; it allows us to turn back time to an era of affordable distribution and open competition, one we believe will aid in putting the literary magazine back into the entertainment market. We view the changing market as a challenge, and we’re rising to the demands of literary consumers by bringing a print aesthetic to the digital world. Our readers are enjoying some of the best writing on the market, but on the screens of their Kindles, iPads, Smart Phones, and PCs. We invite you to join in experiencing the future of contemporary literature. We invite you to join The Rag.