brandon r. schrand

My first post is up at www.przman.com recommending some books from 2011 that I think men (and, okay, everyone (duh)) should check out. Get there and then spend some time on the site. You won’t regret it. Seriously.

I will be contributing book-related pieces to the badass  www.przman.com, a mens’ lifestyle website. My first piece–5 books from 2011 that must be on your radar–will appear in two weeks. Stay tuned. My contributor’s note us up, and my new fancy-schmancy author photo will be up soon. In the meantime, check out PRZman. It’s awesome.

Nice coverage of the 20th Anniversary issue of FUGUE over at The Quivering Pen. My essay, “Why I Stay,” gets a generous shout-out. Check it out. Then head over to FUGUE and order a copy. You know you want to.

I have been invited to read at the “Word Jam” Festival in Kooskia, Idaho on April 9, 2011. I will be reading from some of my older stuff in addition to previewing some new stuff. Should you just happen to be in Kooskia, Idaho on April 9th, swing by. Details TBA. Stay tuned.

My essay, “Growing Up Superfund,” which appeared in Columbia: A Journal of Art & Literature, has been given the Special Mention nod in the most recent Pushcart Prize anthology. This is my fourth special mention, and in 2009, I was lucky enough to win the Pushcart Prize. This year is especially gratifying as a number of my Idaho writer friends have also been given special mention. It’s nice to share this little bit of light with Joe Wilkins, Jeff P. Jones, Jerry Mathes, Daniel Orozco, Mary Clearman Blew, Annie Lampman, and Kelly Blikre. Go Idaho!

I was asked by Fugue to contribute a piece to their regional issue, which is a very handsome and impressive issue by any measure. You can read my essay, “Why I Stay,” online. Or better yet, subscribe to the journal and get the latest issue (their 20th Anniversary editon) and read works by Kim Barnes, Rick Bass, Anthony Doerr, Benjamin Percy, Susanna Sonnenberg, Pete Fromm, Jess Walter, Robert Wrigley, Kim Stafford and others.

For all of you nonfiction junkies and students of the craft, you might want to check out Now Write! Nonfiction: Memoir, Journalism, and Creative Nonfiction Exercises from Today’s Best Writers and Teachers (Tarcher/Penguin 2009). I’ve got a piece in there called, “Portrait of the Past as Memory,” alongside some of my favorite nonfictioners. Happy to be in such company.

Edited by Sherry Ellis, the anthology has loads of “get you started” prompts by Gay Talease, Robin Hemley, Madeleine Blais , Jenny Boully, Honor Moore, David Gessner, Rebecca McClanahan, Robert Atwan and more. It’s like a K-Tel Hits Package of nonfiction writers all under one roof. Check it out.  

I’ve got a poem, “Yield,” coming out in issue 11 of High Desert Journal. I’m no poet, to be sure, but I am glad to have a poem in their fine pages. If you haven’t read HDJ, you should, even if you aren’t a resident of the high desert. You should read it because it is one sweet publication of cool art and good words. Now go do it. You know you want to.

My essay, “On Failure,” which appeared in the online literary magazine, Blood Orange Review, has eked out a Special Mention in the 2010 Pushcart Prize anthology. This is my third Special Mention in the prize series with the first two in 2007 & 2008. In 2009, I was lucky enough to actually win the Prize.

This year is especially gratifying because my very close friends and former MFA peers, Bryan Fry and Stephanie Lenox, are two of the three founding masterminds behind Blood Orange Review.  I remember the day Bryan called and asked me to write something for their journal. “We’re doing a special issue on failure,” he said. “And naturally, we thought of you.” I hemmed and hawed, and finally agreed to write something. Glad I did. You can read, “On Falure,” by clicking here.

My essay, “The Bone Road,” winner of the 2008 Thomas Carter Prize for the Essay, has been selected as a Notable Essay in The Best American Essays 2009, guest edited by Mary Oliver. The essay originally appeared in Shenandoah’s spring/summer issue. This is my third essay to have been selected as a Notable. I have had Notables in both 2007 and 2008.