Stephen Elliott's website doesn't fool around with Flash animations or other gimmicks, it just features a single column of blistering text. His writing combines the prophetic voice of the best political writers with the craftsmanship of a novelist, producing six books and a couple anthologies.
But don't take my word for it, read him:
"Politics can get you high, and I was getting very high. I had no intention of not getting high. I was addicted; it was 2004 all over again. I wrote a book about that fateful election. I traveled with all the presidential candidates. I spent a month with George Bush. He lied to my face ... I saw anger and hope and hung out one Florida afternoon at the intersection of stupid and evil. Politics is a drug but it's a good drug. It's the drug you should take because it matters. And as a wise editor once told me: Politics is the only game for adults."
Most recently, Elliott founded LitPAC--a political action committee that rallies writers in support of progressive candidates. His project has united a long list of politically-minded writers, including Po Bronson (an inspirational writer from San Francisco), Daniel Alarcon (a hot new short story voice), and Daniel Handler (the guy who wrote those gosh-darn Lemony Snicket books).
Excited about this new writing community, I asked Elliott to participate in my deceptively simple feature: Five Easy Questions. In the spirit of Jack Nicholson’s mad piano player, I run a weekly set of quality interviews with writing pioneers—delivering some practical, unexpected advice about web publishing.
Jason Boog:
You've sponsored four fund-raising events in the Progressive Reading Series so far. How do you use the Internet to put these events together and publicize? How did you find so many writers? How have writers/audiences responded to the readings so far?
Stephen Elliott:
Well, all communication is through email these days. Also, we publicize primarily through mailing lists, our own and others.
People can pay for the events online through ActBlue. So far everybody loves the events. We draw big crowds.
It's easy to get writers involved.
All good literary writers are liberals because to be a good writer of literary fiction, in other words character driven fiction, you need to have empathy. And if you have empathy, chances are you're a liberal.
So it's easy to get authors involved. Just give them an opportunity.
Jason Boog:
I love how your web work bridges two historically separated communities: political and literary bloggers. How do you do it? Do Literary Writers get upset that you taint Literature with politics? How do you respond to the purists?
Stephen Elliott:
Writing and politics are my two loves. So of course politics influences my writing, as it's part of my makeup and what comes out on the page is me.
You know, I don't respond to that kind of criticism.
Everybody needs to be involved in politics. That's what democracy is.
And authors have always been political. Look at Kafka, Tolstoy, Eco, Sartre. It would be weird if authors weren't political.
» Political Blogging Resources from ThePublishingSpot
Visual by www.PDImages.com Following my on-going discussion with Stephen Elliott, I'm exploring some Elliott-approved political and literary blogs for new readers. You like? You don't like? Chime in with more links in the comments section...Go sp... [Read More]
Tracked on: April 10, 2006 11:11 AM | Permalink to Trackback