New Absinthe

The new issue of Absinthe arrived the other day and looks like another solid issue. According to Dwayne D. Hayes’s editor’s note, this issue could be considered the “humor” issue, with stories such as Jens Blendstrup’s “The New Deceased Member of the Mikkelsen Family.”

Wilhelm Genazino’s piece on Kafka (“The Unpredictability of Words”) stands out to me, as does Mathilde Walter Clark’s story about a Writer trying to write the Great Danish Novel.

There are a lot of Danish pieces in this issue, which isn’t all that surprising considering that Thomas Kennedy, one of the magazine’s editorial advisors, has been writing about his time in Copenhagen for Absinthe’s recently established blog.

And speaking of new Absinthe activities, they recently put together a festival of European film and writing with Oakland University that took place in Rochester, Michigan. Some of the participants included Belarusian poet Valzhyna Mort, Irish poet Eamonn Wall, and translator Bill Martin. Sounds like this will be an annual event, which would be fantastic.

By the way, if you get a copy of this issue, be sure to check out the Open Letter ad in the back—it contains the hidden message “I Do Absinthe,” which I really think should be Absinthe‘s new slogan . . .