Welcome
to the MySpace page for
FRESH
YARN:
the Online Salon for Personal Essays
Part literary publication, part virtual spoken-word, all
personal essays.
Every
four weeks, FRESH YARN presents six new personal essays
written by a diverse lineup of all-star writers, directors,
producers, authors, performers and personalities.
You'll read stories from this emerging genre that are hilarious,
provocative, dramatic, simple, sweet, raunchy, poignant,
intimate, bold -- and all true.
When Hillary Carlip launched FRESH YARN in April 2004, the idea was to create a virtual gathering place for recognized and unrecognized writers, and for people who love to read what Hillary calls the "mini-memoir."
On its viral success alone, USA Today has touted FreshYarn.com as a "HOT SITE." It was chosen as a Yahoo Pick, while critical praise for the site's literary content has made headlines in the Los Angeles Times Sunday Calendar, Los Angeles Magazine, and was covered in a full-length NPR story -- on WBEZ, home of "This American Life" -- which included readings by several contributors.
Hillary's mission is to elevate the art form of the personal essay, and to promote the voices currently kicking it into higher gear. It is also to continue to build the community of listeners and readers who are the real reason this genre is coming to the fore.
Exposure on FRESH YARN has led to many success stories for contributors -- from selling serial reprints, to being signed with agents, and getting book deals.
In January 2007, the Christian Science Monitor featured an article on "Confessional Culture," which led off with this pic and caption:
Tell all: The number of outlets for confessional stories has grown. Individuals like Hillary Carlip, who runs an online magazine of personal essays called Fresh Yarn, are in the forefront of this 'sincerity movement.'
Since
Hillary is so busy doing everything for FRESH YARN, as well
as spreading the word about her own memoir, Queen
of the Oddballs: And Other True Stories from a Life Unaccording
to Plan , she doesn't have time to personally
respond to comments and messages
here (although she does on her other MySpace page www.myspace.com/queenoftheoddballs
GO ADD HER AS A FRIEND!) But she "sincerely" (!)
hopes you'll check out FRESH
YARN , and ENJOY!