Spork Press!

M.S.

So happy to have three new poems published at Spork Press!

And for the literary obsolescence of forks and spoons…

And to appear alongside Amy King & David Tomas Martinez

Thanks, Richard Siken!

http://sporkpress.com/sporklet/04_15/studdard.htm

Melissa Studdard is on Facebook and Twitter. She writes on Johntext Texas. Visit her personal homepage www.melissastuddard.com and find out about events and her books and contact her on http://melissastuddard.com/contact/ More information is available on Wikipedia.

The Food Truck

Um die deutsche Version dieses Artikels zu lesen, wechseln Sie bitte auf Johntext Switzerland. Vielen Dank.

Ömer’s Imbiss

The last months I made new friends and strengthened existing friendships. One who is close to my heart is Ömer. Since I met Ömer five months passed. We are friends now. A friend in need is a friend indeed. Whenever I have time I visit him.

Since decades his food truck is located in Aarau / Switzerland – diagonally opposite the public library in a street called “Graben”. Ömer has a heart of gold. He never trashes someone. We speak about all the world and his brother.

Sandmeier in Kölliken

The fried sausages he sells taste perfectly. He is modest. To receive a great deal of praise is not his business. “I always got very good meat and sausages from my supplier, the butchery Sandmeier in Kölliken.”

To find out his age is hardly possible. I have a guess: around 50 or 60 years. He smiles and shakes his head. “I am 80 years old. Being busy, keeps you young!”

Ömer's Imbiss Aarau

A couple of steps away is a board which is embedded in the ground. It says that Ömer and his family gave two trees as a donation to the city of Aarau

Ömer's Imbiss Baumspende

Ömer is a local celebrity. Different newspapers reported on several occasions about him. Even the website of Swiss Radio and Television cannot ignore him. Both in pleasant images and recognising texts he is perpetuated in the media.
His statements and the articles about him – more of them are posted in his food truck – show me that I am right in my judgement. There seems to be more “Swissness” in him than in many other inhabitants who were born in Switzerland. Well, obviously there exist human beings who behave good to you as long as they have personal profit from it and others seem to be born with humanity.

Here a few links to articles he is mentioned in.

Schweizer Fernsehen: Auf den Spuren des «Bestatters» in Aarau

Aargauer Zeitung: Zu diesen Schweizern sagte damals niemand Nein

Oltner Tagblatt: Ömer schenkt «seiner» Stadt Aarau zwei Platanen

But how did I met Ömer?

Well, at the beginning of this year my personal situation was really worse. While ponderung on how to make money those who are checking the waste baskets on train stations came to my mind.

Obviously they were looking for aluminium cans. To make money with valuable scrap? Why not? I checked the worth of aluminium in the world wide web. One kilo was good enough for 1.70 CHF. How many cans were necessary to have one kilo? Well there are small ones and bigger ones. The 0.5 litre cans had about 16 grams. To have one kilo I needed about 60 cans. Well, but I had to consider that most of the cans I found near the highways and the stations were small ones. And where to sell them? No, there had to be another way to gain money.

Second try with books

I took my travelling bag with me and went to Safenwil on foot. I rang at the doors and all the persons I met were really kind. I asked for books they no longer needed and shortly after I started 13 books were in my travelling bag.

It was afternoon and a strong wind played with the powder snow. I walked to Aarau. Near the shop called “Interdiscount” I occupied a square metre on the sidewalk. I placed the sheet of paper I had prepared at home in front of me on the ground. It said in big letters: 1 BOOK 1 CHF.

Soon it became dark. Busses stopped and left, people got off them and walked by me and my books without noticing. A young woman asked some questions about my situation. She mentioned her name. I forgot it. Perhaps I could remember it if she would have bought one of the books.

Shortly after her a older person came from the right hand side. He pointed to the food truck there and asked me if I would like to eat something. I denied. Later I found out that his name was Ömer. But I decided to go and meet him and buy some of his food as soon as I had made some money. This day I sold not one book. Sad I took the bag with the 13 books and went back to Kölliken.

What I found out this evening: There are people who help you. Nobody buys a book for 1 CHF.

My dear readers. I hope that the day you are in trouble you meet a person like Ömer.

Kind Regards

Hans-Jürgen John

Next Book Release

The next release is in June : “Chief Minister’s Mistress”.

My-books

As I work on the edits of my next book release, my mind takes a pleasant walk down memory lane…..

book-events

Joygopal Podder is joygopal.podder on Facebook and writes on www.newdelhi.johntext.de.
Contact him on joygopalpodder@yahoo.co.in and read latest news about him and his books on
http://marathonauthormasterofcrime.in/
http://deceiversbyjoygopalpodder.blogspot.com
http://theinheritancebyjoygopalpodder.blogspot.com
http://mysteriesaroundus.blogspot.com
http://compiledbyjoygopalpodder.blogspot.com
http://storiesbyjoygopalpodder.blogspot.com

Motionpoem Film Debut

Amy King wrote:

My woman’s Motionpoem film will debut Thursday night & then we will dance until the roof is on fire! The film is an interpretation of Melissa Studdard ‘s “I Ate the Cosmos for Breakfast” – will you tap dance with us?

2015 VIDA AWARDS

Melissa Studdard is on Facebook and Twitter. She writes on Johntext Texas. Visit her personal homepage www.melissastuddard.com and find out about events and her books and contact her on http://melissastuddard.com/contact/ More information is available on Wikipedia.

“Six Weeks to Yehida” – A Novel By Melissa Studdard

Six Weeks To Yehidah

Elmore Leonard advised writers not to open with the weather. However, Melissa Studdard, author of Six Weeks to Yehida goes and does just that. However, in her novel, not only does the opening work for her and her story, but it also gives the reader the feeling that here’s a talent that can do much more. This is an instance in which opening with the weather has helped the author bring a fairy tale quality to the writing.

It’s the story of Annalisa who is wafted into another world on an ordinary day with her two sheeps. The novel has several snatches of verse which adds to the book’s charm. The characters and their personalities grow on the reader and the wonderful vulnerability of the protagonist makes one sympathetic to her. Her adventures take her to bizarre worlds, lending the novel an Alice in Wonderland kind of charm. Bob the guides impresses, so does Kana.

It all ends when she realises that the magical world she has traversed was a dream and that for six weeks she was in a coma. This twist in the tale impressed me as a reader, and would impress any reader of this engaging book.

All through the book I could detect an Indian connection in words such as: Bharat Ratna, Sari, etc. Could it be that the author is a lover of India? In that case she should write a novel on India.

New Issue of Ygdrasil

The April issue of Ygdrasil, containing work by Carolyn Gregory, Allison Grayhurst, Scott Thomas Outlar, Donal Mahoney, Michael Ceraolo, Danielle Hope, Taylor Bond, John Grey and a translation by Khaloud Al-Muttalibi, is now available at http://users.synapse.net/kgerken/

YgdrasilKlausJGerken

Klaus J. Gerken is on Facebook. Contact him on kgerken@rogers.com and read latest poems in Ygdrasil – a Journal of the poetic Arts.

Literature Art Music Festival Mumbai

Chief Guest, Guest of Honour, Panelist, Speaker, Role Model, High Achiever, Judge and all those tags!

Mumbai1With Anjali Kirpalani and Rouble Nagi.
Mumbai2With Bhawana Somaaya, Meghna Pant, Anand Neelakantan and Radhakrishnan Pillai.
Mumbai3With Anjali Kirpalani, Rouble Nagi and Smita Glk Parikh.

Faraaz Kazi is on Facebook, Twitter, Wikipedia and Johntext. You can write him here: contact@faraazkazi.com or on the “contact” – part of his website www.faraazkazi.com.

Johntext Subscribers

Johntext

Yesterday I checked the number of subscribers on Johntext. We can be very satisfied. The total amount of all subscribers on Johntext is a five-digit number!!!

The first authors on Johntext – John P. Matthew from Mumbai (Johntext India) and Laura Lamarca from United Kingdom (Johntext United Kingdom) have a lot of subscribers because they had the most time and because they set value on good articles.

But numbers are not everything. What I want and wish most for 2015 and the coming years is that the real background of Johntext – to create literature with purpose to help – will lead to texts or books which help others…

Hans-Jürgen John ist Hans John (@rafaelofirst) auf Twitter und Hans.John.16 auf Facebook. Hans bloggt auf www.johntext.de und www.tage-bau.de

Youtube Reading From LOVE

Reading out from the book at the Mumbai launch.

Faraaz Kazi is on Facebook, Twitter, Wikipedia and Johntext. You can write him here: contact@faraazkazi.com or on the “contact” – part of his website www.faraazkazi.com.

Interview in Absolute India

“My stories are as true as you want them to be!”
Interviewed by Absolute India on my latest title, LOVE.

Real-Life-Faraaz-Kazi

Faraaz Kazi is on Facebook, Twitter, Wikipedia and Johntext. You can write him here: contact@faraazkazi.com or on the “contact” – part of his website www.faraazkazi.com.

Reading in San Antonio

I’m so excited to be reading Saturday in San Antonio with Amy King, Jen Knox, Joani Reese, Nan Cuba, Gary L. Hardaway, Bill Yarrow, Jane Hammons, Rachel Jennings, JR Helton, Lynn Beighley, Steve Adams, and Cynthia Bechhold. Great people, great writers! (This is for you, Ann-Marie Madden Irwin)

http://saindielit.blogspot.com

Melissa Studdard_edited

Melissa Studdard is on Facebook and Twitter. She writes on Johntext. Visit her personal homepage www.melissastuddard.com and find out about events and her books and contact her on http://www.melissastuddard.com/#!connect More information is available on Wikipedia.

The Poison Pen Reading

Happy times with my good friend and all-around great guy, Greg Oaks, after the February Poison Pen reading. Thanks to Udo Hintze for the picture!

Melissa Studdard February Poison Pen Reading

Melissa Studdard is on Facebook and Twitter. She writes on Johntext. Visit her personal homepage www.melissastuddard.com and find out about events and her books and contact her on http://www.melissastuddard.com/#!connect More information is available on Wikipedia.

Fingerprint Publishing

Fingerprint Publishing 2015 Catalogue……

Fingerprint Publishing

https://www.facebook.com/fingerprintpublishing

Joygopal Podder is joygopal.podder on Facebook and writes on www.newdelhi.johntext.de.
Contact him on joygopalpodder@yahoo.co.in and read latest news about him and his books on
http://marathonauthormasterofcrime.in/
http://deceiversbyjoygopalpodder.blogspot.com
http://theinheritancebyjoygopalpodder.blogspot.com
http://mysteriesaroundus.blogspot.com
http://compiledbyjoygopalpodder.blogspot.com
http://storiesbyjoygopalpodder.blogspot.com

Lit-O-Fest in Mumbai

In today’s Mid-Day. Meet us this weekend at Lit-O-Fest.

Mumbai Lit Fest

Mumbai, block your dates the coming weekend. LitOFest is here.

Lit Fest

Faraaz Kazi is on Facebook, Twitter, Wikipedia and Johntext. You can write him here: contact@faraazkazi.com or on the “contact” – part of his website www.faraazkazi.com.

Interview with Faraaz Kazi

Faraaz Kazi in interview with infibeam

Faraaz Kazi, the Writer Who Put Indian Romance Fiction on World Map, Talks about His New Book, Love and More

“With Truly, Madly, Deeply, esteemed writer Faaraz Kazi, made a stunning début and how! Kazi went on to win the 2013 National Début Youth Fiction Award and received the YCOF National Excellence award in Creative Writing. He is also first Indian author to have won coveted ‘Best Début (Romance)’ title at the international Goodreads choice awards.

His book Truly, Madly, Deeply, won him the tag of being called the ‘Nicholas Sparks of India.’ So far, it is the only Indian book to have been nominated in 7 categories at the Goodreads choice awards. It is also the only Indian book to feature in the ‘Top 100 YA Global Fiction’ list.

Kazi is a fellow member of the prominent ‘Film Writers Association of India.’ He is a three-time post graduate and also a certified soft-skills trainer. In addition, Kazi is the founder and CEO of DigiImprint Solutions, India’s first exclusive promotional agency for authors and artists. He is a well-known personality in literary fraternity and on social media.”

Read the whole interview here:
http://blog.infibeam.com/2015/02/faraaz-kazi-author-interview

Faraaz Kazi is on Facebook, Twitter, Wikipedia and Johntext. You can write him here: contact@faraazkazi.com or on the “contact” – part of his website www.faraazkazi.com.

Johntext World