By Deb A.

The Nobel Prize for Literature is embroiled in a sexual abuse scandal. Bring back the pussy bow! (New York Times, Refinery29)

Women, how would a male author describe you? Katy Waldman at the New Yorker follows the trend started by Whit Reynolds and eagerly embraced by thousands of women. (Electric Lit offers a handy guide for women who are stumped.)

Ronaldo Schemidt's haunting photo from the Venezuelan protests has won this year's World Press Photo Contest. (World Press Photo)

Somaliland poet Nacima Qorane is the latest artist to receive a jail sentence for promoting reunification between Somaliland and Somalia. (BBC)

"We have assumed that a thing by him has to look like his late works, and that he therefore had no beginnings. That, of course, is totally implausible.": Laurence Kanter from the Yale University Art Gallery explains why Leonardo da Vinci is only now being credited for his work on an altarpiece panel. (The Observer)

From an unknown da Vinci to perhaps the best known--Mona Lisa's only smiling if you are. (artnet)

By Deb A.

Here's a roundup of just a few examples of beauty in the world this week.

Yinka Shonibare's Wind Sculpture has arrived in Central Park.

'They want to read books that engage with their everyday experiences, featuring characters who look like them." Denene Millner wrote in the New York Times about finding books for black children that celebrate daily life rather than extraordinary 'firsts.'

Hot on the heels of his own attempt to show that things just keep getting better, Steven Pinker recommended books to make you an optimist in The Guardian.

March 8th was International Women's Day, and the CBC celebrated with a list of 30 incredible women to inspire you with art...

...while Bloomberg highlighted female photographers around the world.

A book of lost poetry by Lou Reed is set to be published.

Canada's new Heritage Minute is for everyone who grew up with Anne of Green Gables.

By Deb A.

Chris Ofili is arguably best known for creating art with elephant dung. Andres Serrano's Piss Christ was made with the artist's urine. Tracy Emin's My Bed hosted a range of bodily fluids, including one that has recently made headlines again in the art world: menses.

The first major movement in the West of using or depicting menstrual blood in art started in the 1970s, along with second wave feminism. And so it is no surprise that recent efforts to address the period taboo coincide with a reaction to the rise of high-profile misogyny.

In 2015 Rupi Kaur's photo showing the artist with a bloodstain at her crotch was removed (and subsequently reinstated following public backlash) from Instagram, leading Ms. Kaur to object to a world that "will have my body in an underwear but not be okay with a small leak."

Six months later, American artist and activist Sarah Levy used her period blood to create a portrait of a presidential candidate who reacted to tough questions at a debate by claiming the female moderator had "blood coming out of her wherever". He is now president, and the painting was purchased this year by the Museum of Military History in Dresden, Germany. It's hard to say which fact is stranger.

The latest controversial attempt to normalise a regular function of the bodies of half of the earth's human population can be found in an equally surprising place: the Stockholm subway. Its new exhibit by Liv Strömquist is a series of black-and white felt pen drawings that feature the occasional blotch of bright red between women's legs. Some have hailed it as a coup for womankind, while others have recoiled in disgust, angry at their newly uncomfortable commute.

For those who prefer to decide when they will be confronted with the reality of women's reproductive cycles--a luxury most women do not have--there's Period Piece in London, which "seeks to provoke critical dialogue about shifts in contraceptive technologies and constructions of the 'natural' around women's bodies." With music composed from ovulation cycles and poetry based on reactions to the Catholic church's rejection of birth control in 1968, the exhibit finds new, less confrontational ways of talking about periods. It is a pop-up event by the Science Gallery London, which opens officially in 2018.


For a brief overview of period art, this piece by Kristen Cochrane is a good place to start.

There are 7000 human languages in the world. Over half are endangered; one dies every two weeks. What happens to cultures as languages disappear?

The Southbank Centre's Endangered Poetry Project was created to preserve the unique poetic traditions of languages on the brink of extinction.

By reflecting a way of understanding the world, poetry gives us a glimpse into a culture: the ideas people have, what they care about, and how they interpret their surroundings. Documenting poems not only offers us insight into how others live, but also provides us with a novel way of seeing the world around us.

"I'm Iranian and I grew up in Germany--when I came to the U.S., it was very strange to me to learn that the colour blue stands for sadness," Dr. Mandana Seyfeddinipur, the head of the Endangered Languages Archive at SOAS University of London, explained to the BBC. "To me, blue is hope--the sea and the sky."

The intricacies of poetic language are windows into worldviews that can inform our own perspectives, or keep our cultural memories alive. According to Dr. Seyfeddinipur, reading poetry from other cultures "makes you more agile in thinking, because you have to be flexible," incorporating foreign concepts that may not appear in your own culture into your way of thinking.

Members of the public are invited to submit well known poems in an endangered language to the Centre to preserve them for future generations. The call is open until the end of this year.

By Deb A.

He was Canada's unofficial poet laureate, documenting the nation's past and present and guiding Canadians to a clearer understanding of their own cultural identity. Gord Downie, lead singer of The Tragically Hip, solo artist, and activist, died of brain cancer on October 17th. And while he held that his writing could only be completed through performance, his lyrics are still powerful in black and white.

Nautical Disaster (1994, Day for Night)
I had this dream where I relished the fray
And the screaming filled my head all day
It was as though I'd been spit here
Settled in, into the pocket
Of a lighthouse on some rocky socket
Off the coast of France, dear

One afternoon four thousand men died in the water here
And five hundred more were thrashing madly
As parasites might in your blood

Now I was in a lifeboat designed for ten and ten only
Anything that systematic would get you hated
It's not a deal nor a test nor a
Love of something faded

The selection was quick, the crew was picked in order
And those left in the water
Got kicked off our pant leg
And we headed for home

Then the dream ends when the phone rings
"You doing alright?"
He said, "It's out there most days and nights
​But only a fool would complain"
Anyway, Susan, if you like
Our conversation is as faint a sound in my memory
As those fingernails scratching on my hull

By Deb A.

A book of poetry written by Leonard Cohen just before his death will be published next year. (Billboard)

We've talked about the Fearless Girl statue at length, and we wish we could be shocked that the firm behind it has a history of underpaying women and people of colour. (NPR)

Thirty publishers rejected Matt Cain's book on the grounds that it was too gay, but the general public disagrees: it's well on its way to getting published through crowdfunding instead. (The Bookseller)

505 new books were released during the UK's "Super Thursday". Which will you read first? (BBC)

Prize round-up: Kazuo Ishiguro won this year's Nobel Prize for literature. And the five finalists for Canada's Giller Prize have been announced.  (Nobel Prize, Giller Prize)

The Guardian asked the art world about the biggest question currently facing artists. In one way or another, money comes up a lot. (The Guardian)

A school librarian rejected the First Lady's donation of ten Dr. Seuss books. (The Washington Post)

The Yayoi Kusama museum in Tokyo is open for business! (Yayoi Kusama Museum)

Prickly Pear Issue 1: Desert/Water
Agave Press is thrilled to announce our newest quarterly publication, Prickly Pear Kids, debuting in print this winter. Inspired by colours and contrasts, textures and senses, culture and the natural world, Prickly Pear brings an accessible community of learning and creating to children aged 5-12 across the globe.

Calls for submissions are open until November 1st.

Agave Magazine
Agave Magazine is read in over 75 countries, and readership continues to grow thanks to the immensely talented writers, artists and photographers who fill our pages. Vol. 3, Issue 3 is titled Best of Agave--keep your eye out for its release later this year. In the meantime, calls for submissions for the following issue close November 1st.

2018 series
We are looking for manuscripts, artistic portfolios and mixed-genre work to bring to print in our 2018 series. The deadline for submissions is December 1st. Further information can be found here.

Services
Agave Press is pleased to offer a range of services, from book design to editing, writing and even website customisation. Get in touch!

Considering a collaboration with Agave Press? For details about our publications, including reviews, stats, and prices for our integrated support services, please send us a request for our 2017 media kit.

​By Deb A.

If you're in need of some inspiration to begin your week, look no further:
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​Art is good for us: On Wednesday the British Parliament will announce the results of its two-year inquiry into arts, health and wellbeing. In anticipation of the report, Nicci Gerrard offers an eloquent account of the role of arts in helping people with dementia. (The Guardian)

Beware the selfie: A single snapshot was to blame for the domino effect that knocked over a row of plinths holding $200,000 worth of art. Too perfectly awkward to be true? (The New York Times)

Sketching the unknown: How artists and researchers teamed up to find and introduce new species to the rest of the world. (The Atlantic)

Illustrator, cartoonist, trailblazer: Canadian artist Jillian Tamaki's new book of graphic short stories marks her emergence as a "consummate storyteller". (The Walrus)
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Visual activist: Photographer Zanele Muholi highlights racism, homophobia, and hate with Somnyama Ngopnyama, Hail the Dark Lioness, a series of self-portraits she took every day for a year. The Guardian dedicates two spaces to her work, and rightly so: a striking photo gallery and a compelling article.

When is a Modigliani not a Modigliani? Twenty-one artworks have been confiscated from a major exhibition in Genoa after several were confirmed as fakes. (The Telegraph)

The Commuter Pig Keeper? You still have time to vote for the Oddest Book Title of the Year. (The Bookseller)

Agave alumna: Agave Magazine contributor Karla K. Morton's twelfth book, Wooden Lions, is now available.

By Deb A.

As the world's largest library and America's oldest federal cultural institution, the Library of Congress boasts over 164 million items stored on over 1300 kilometres of bookshelves. Its stated mission is to "document the history and further the creativity of the American people" and to ensure that its collections "record and contribute to the advancement of civilization and knowledge throughout the world." And this month the library has been particularly busy.

Welcome Tracy K. Smith, Poet Laureate
Pulitzer Prize winner Tracy K. Smith has been named as the Library of Congress's 22nd poet laureate. She is the author of three books of poetry--The Body's Question, Duende, and Life on Mars--as well as a memoir, Ordinary Light. Her new post does not include any specific duties, but former poets laureate have attempted to popularize poetry beyond current audiences; in keeping with this tradition, Ms. Smith reports that she intends to hold poetry events in smaller towns, "where literary festivals don't always go".

​Welcome to the web
It owns a Gutenberg bible and is now also home to lolcats. This week the Library of Congress launched two digital collections: The Web Cultures Archive and the Web Comics Archive. The former includes memes, GIFs, emojis and more in an effort to "help scholars 25 and 100 years from now have a fuller picture of the culture and life of people today," according to Elizabeth Peterson, director of the American Folklife Center. The Web Comics Archive is a natural extension of the library's comic book collection, which, with 135,000 issues, is the world's largest. It includes longstanding web comic classics such as XKCD alongside works by artists who are part of underrepresented groups, such as women, artists of colour and LGBTQ+ artists.