Katherine Min at the Writers Center Sunday December 3rd @ 2 pm

The world is a handkerchief, as they say in Mexico. About 500 years ago, Katherine Min and I spent some weeks at the New York State Sumer Writers Institute at Skidmore College. Curiously, we had the same blue batik dress. I was just starting to write, or, I should say, finish, my own my own short stories, and Katherine, with her numerous litmag publications was an enormous inspiration to me-- her talent and her persistence were, and are, extraordinary. I am so delighted that she will be reading from her new novel, Secondhand World, (Alfred Knopf), at the Bethesda MD Writers Center, 4508 Walsh Street, Bethesda, MD, Sunday December 3rd at 2 p.m. Click here for more about the event and visit her website, www.katherinemin.com, to read more about her work.

Wars Within War by Irving W. Levinson

A most fascinating and original book I've been meaning to write a proper review of: Irving W. Levinson's Wars within War: Mexican Guerrillas, Domestic Elites, and the United States of America (TCU Press, 2005). From the jacket text: "Traditional characterizations of the 1846-1848 war between the United States and Mexico emphasize the conventional battles waged between two sovereign nations. However... [this work] examines two little-known guerrilla wars that took place at the same time and that proved critical to the outcome of the conflict. Utilizing information gleaned from twenty-four archives, including the normally closed files of Mexico's National Defense Archives, Wars With War breaks new ground by arguing that these other conflicts proved crucial to the course of events." My current research, for a novel about Maximilian, among other characters, focuses on the French intervention of the 1860s-- and the French, as one might imagine, faced similar issues. What I found especially interesting was the difficulty the U.S. Army had in securing the Veracruz to Mexico City corridor--- very similar to difficulties the French faced. (Shades of Iraq's highway from the airport into Baghdad.) The neighorborhood of Rio Frio, a stagecoach stop on the highway in the mountains between Puebla and Mexico City, was long and famously infested with bandits. I recently posted a note about the new translation of Manuel Payno's classic The Bandits from Rio Frio here.

Madam Mayo's Top 10 Blog Title Picks (In No Particular order)

For my amiga M in Mexico: how 'bout them titles? I'm not commenting on the content here, just the titles. I say, a good blog title is easy to remember, easy to type into "google" and it piques one's curiosity.
By Neddie Jingo!
The Duck of Minerva
Evil Bobby
How to Learn Swedish in 1000 Difficult Lessons
Max Speak, You Listen
Nuclear Mangos
The Raving Atheist
Super Frenchie
Whirled View
Wilbrod the Gnome

UPDATE:
-->Click here for Madam Mayo's Top 10 Writers' Blogs
-->And here for the archive of posts on blogging.

Maribeth Fischer and "Writers at the Beach: Pure Sea Glass" '07

News from literary dynamo Maribeth Fischer: her novel, The Life You Longed For, is coming out this spring 07, and she's finalizing the schedule for Writers at the Beach, the big bash of a writers conference to be held this year March 16-18 in Rehoboth Beach at the Altantic Sands Hotel. Yours truly will be there--- I'll be giving a workshop, participating on a panel discussion, and reading and signing my books. Check out the line up from last year here. Note: Not only is Writers at the Beach a great conference, it's for a great cause: 100% of net profits go to the United Mitochondrial Disease Foundation.

At the Corcoran: Princess Marie d'Orleans' Joan of Arc in Prayer

Working on a chapter of my novel set in Paris 1866, which includes a section from the point of view of Carlota, Empress of Mexico, I felt drawn--- not sure why--- to go see the Joan of Arc exhibit at Washington DC's Corcoran. So that was this afternoon. It's a fascinating exhibit that features some truly extraordinary illustrations from the late 19th century. What arrested me, however, was the bronze statue after the marble by Princess Marie d'Orleans (1813-1839), an amateur sculptor who was the daughter of France's King Louis-Philippe-- and aunt of Carlota, Empress of Mexico. (Carlota's mother was Princess Louise, daughter of King Louis-Philippe.) Here's the accompanying text:

"Princess Marie d'Orleans, the second daughter of King Louis-Philippe, was a gifted amateur artist with a passion for medieval art and culture. After a life-size marble copy of her Joan of Arc in Prayer was installed at Versailles in 1837, the princess's sculpture became one of the most popular and widely emulated images of Joan ever made. In the mid-19th century, Joan of Arc in Prayer was replicated and could be found in varying sizes and materials in churches, museums, public squares, and private collections throughout France. Joan of Arc in Prayer is one of the first historical treatments in sculpture of the Maid's appearance. Joan appears here with a short, boyish haircut, wearing late medieval armor, including a cuirass (joined back and breastplates), condieres (elbow guards with shell-like flanges) and in full-scale reproduction, a bascinet (an open-faced helmet) resting with a pair of gauntlets on a tree stump."

The exhibit continues through January 21st 2007. Click here for the Corcoran Gallery's press release on the exhition.

The Bandits from Rio Frio: A Naturalistic and Humorous Novel of Customs, Crimes, and Horrors

Manuel Payno's 19th century classic, The Bandits from Rio Frio: A Naturalistic and Humorous novel of Customs, Crimes and Horrors, has been translated for the first time into English by Alan Flukey (Heliographica Press, 2005). It would be fair to call Payno Mexico's Dickens. The Bandits from Rio Frio is a major work-- and the translation is superb. Read a review over at River Walk Journal Blog, and another at Eco Latino. This translation should have gotten a lot more attention than it has.

Madam Mayo Says Caio 'Til After the Chow

Happy Thanksgiving.

Oakland CA's Libreria Coyoacan

Via David Peattie at Whereabouts Press, an interesting article by Duanes Moles about Oakland CA's new Spanish language bookstore:

When Hurtado opened Libreria Coyoacan, he chose to name store after the neighborhood in Mexico City where he grew up. Once home to Frida Kahlo, Diego Rivera and Leon Trotsky, Coyoacan has remained a neighborhood where the arts and political action meet. Beyond the name, Liberia Coyoacan keeps Hurtado connected to his roots. When Hurtado has trouble tracking down a hard to find book, he sometimes calls old friends back in Mexico City.... read more

Friday Night Faculty Potluck @ The Writers Center

The House on Q St, Ann McLaughlin's delightful WW II -era novel set in Washington DC, was one subject of conversation tonight at the Writers Center's faculty potluck. Madam Mayo dropped her jaw at the news that McLaughlin has started writing her seventh novel (!) Most of the other discussions, it seemed to Madam Mayo, were about the on-line world-- what the heck is a blog? How does an on-line workshop work? Writers Center Director Gregory Robison talked about the new on-line tools now available to instructors on www.writer.org. Blogging guru Chris Abraham, (who helped Madam Mayo get that RSS feed stuff up there), had plenty to say about the nature and power of blogs. Basil White, who gives the comedy writing workshop, talked about combining on-line discussions, or what he called "webisodes," with face-to-face meetings. Doreen Baingana talked about her experience giving an on-line fiction writing workshop, in part, from Uganda. Also in attentance: Sunil Freeman, Leslie Pietrzyk, Ginnie Hartman, Ellen Braaf, Margaret Blair, and poets Judith McCombs, Miles David Moore, and many others. Excellent to see all. Write on!

Eduardo Jiménez Mayo's New Website

Translator, writer and professor Eduardo Jiménez Mayo (no relation?) has just launched his new website--- check it out at www.eduardojimenezmayo.com. His fine translation of Bruno Estañol's "Fata Morgana" appears in my anthology Mexico: A Traveler's Literary Companion. He has also recently published Bruno Estañol: Collected Fiction (1989-2003) with Floricanto Press. Here's what's coming down the pike: The Lost Empire: Literature and Society in Austria (1880-1938), Jiménez’s English translation of the nonfiction title by Mexican intellectual José María Pérez Gay about some of the great Jewish Viennese writers of the Holocaust.