Get Lit, Help Haiti: Updated
There are a few cool things coming together in the literary community in support of relief efforts in Haiti, in case you haven't see them. Please leave any more resources in the comments!
Here in San Francisco Chronicle Books held a bake sale and raised over $3000. And, as if that wasn't enough, now through January 31st they are donating 20% of all sales to the Red Cross. They have lots of great titles and you'll be supporting an independent publishing company as well.
PANK Magazine is donating 100% of their direct sales between two great charities working in Haiti. I bought Aaron Burch’s HOW TO TAKE YOURSELF APART, HOW TO MAKE YOURSELF ANEW and Pank 4. Go here to do the same.
Author Michelle Richmond gave away free signed copies of her latest novel to folks who donated to Doctors Without Borders and is encouraging other writers to do the same.
It feels sad and shamfeul to have this post just above the one about the minor earthquake I felt last week. It was a moment of excitement, the tiny California experience, a little bit of novelty in a mundane day. But there is nothing exciting, tiny or mundane about the tragedy in Haiti. I hope that my small donations, both through the links above and through small donations by text and online to Doctors Without Borders makes just a small difference for someone in Haiti.
(Originally posted Friday, January 15th.)
margosita
I read a lot of terrific blogs on the internet. One of them is by the talented Roxane Gay and though I'd probably put it in my RSS feeder for the name alone, it certainly helps that Roxane is a great writer and every post she writes makes me feel like I'm sitting down for a chat with a friend.
Roxane has family and close family friends in Haiti and last week reading her blog was like sitting down with a friend who is facing impossibly awful things and feeling at once heartsick and touched by her honesty and tender vulnerable bits. You can read her posts about her family and friends in Haiti here, here and here. And if you'd like to give to Hans and Edna directly, Roxane is taking donations, 100% of which will go to them.
(Although, perhaps you don't technically get lit with this donation, plenty of Roxane's work is available for free online, so there is still plenty to read. My personal favorite is from the June 2009 Foundling Review. Read it here.)
Sunday, January 24, 2010 at 8:13PM
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Reader Comments (2)
the whole tragedy in Haiti has me all out of sorts. I know there isn't much I can do but give a few dollars, but I always wish there was more I could do than just give a few dollars :(
Good roundup of what some of the lit people are doing.
http://naugatuckriverreview.wordpress.com/2010/01/05/winter-2010-issue-of-naugatuck-river-review/ is also giving donations when people subscribe :)
I know what you mean, Jessie. Which is why I think it's great that there are so many different ways people can give. But don't underestimate what even a small donation can do! The Micro text based giving that the Red Cross set up generated millions in a really short period of time. So everything counts.
Thanks for the Nantuckut Review info!