2011 marks the 100th anniversary of the birth of the great American playwright, Tennessee Williams (1911-1983.)

If you've come to this site from Poets & Writers and would like to link to, repost or reprint my Williams-themed poem, "A Memory Play," you are welcome to do so as long as you include my byline. The poem, and others both unpublished and published, can be found here.

This website also contains informal essays, literary essays and book reviews, DVD reviews, marketing articles, and information about my novel, Cherry Whip (ENC Press, 2004), about a Japanese jazz musician and his travails in America.

Some sample reviews:
Man in the Dark by Paul Auster
The Maytrees by Annie Dillard
My Father's Tears by John Updike
The Original of Laura by Vladimir Nabokov
America America by Ethan Canin*

If you're interested in finding out more about me, please see the brief bio on this page, or read the opening chapters of my as-yet unpublished memoir, Searching For the Seagull Motel, represented by Writers House. It's a classic all-American story about door-to-door Bible salesmen, bar brawlers, suicides, strippers, sailors, Christian Scientists, hustlers, whores, hermits, pimps, pool-cue peddlers, poets, vengeful professors, larcenous preachers, great but neglected painters, the pirate Jean Lafitte, a beached whale, and a brilliant entrepreneur who built a city based on messages delivered to him by brownies and faeries.

You can also read my informal autobiographical sketches, "Nighthawks," "Poetry, Patience, and Rage," and "My Father in the Days Before His Death" and, for insight into my aesthetic, my article on the American realist painter Linden Frederick.

A blog posting, "Tennessee's Tragic Muse," explaining some of the circumstances behind my writing of "A Memory Play," can be found here.

My regular column, "Read Only Memory," is an examination of the art of the memoir, personal narrative and autobiography.

Samples here:
"A Cambodian Odyssey"
"Looking For the Lost: Memoirs of a Vanishing Japan"

*I also from time to time post reconsiderations of neglected books and authors, as featured recently on the website neglectedbooks.com

I'd be interested to hear what you think of "A Memory Play," and of this site. Please contact me at michael@mcsweeneyantman.com -- I answer all emails and would be happy to hear from you..

Thank you for visiting!

Michael Antman is the author of the novel Cherry Whip (ENC Press, 2004), described by reviewers as “a terrific and fascinating character study,” “moving and sexy and funny in fresh ways,” “humane and warm,” “a great tragicomedy,” and “a marvelous novel.”

He is a staff writer and book reviewer for the leading online arts and culture magazine, PopMatters, and also has written book reviews for the Chicago Sun-Times. He is a member of the National Book Critics Circle and was a finalist for the National Book Critics Circle’s Balakian Award for Excellence in Reviewing in 2008 and in 2009.

In addition to his reviews, he writes a regular column on the art of the memoir and non-fiction narrative called Read Only Memory, and also writes on DVDs, music, digital culture and the future of the book, and other topics.

His non-fiction book, Searching for the Seagull Motel is represented by Michele Rubin at Writers House. He also is a widely published poet whose work has appeared in literary magazines and anthologies.

As a long-time marketing consultant and president of the consulting firm McSweeney & Antman, he conducted branding, positioning and marketing analyses; and created print, Internet, radio and television advertising campaigns; print and electronic collateral; and video productions on behalf of many of America’s leading corporations.

One of his film projects, Coming Through the Storm, a documentary he researched and wrote on behalf of the National Association of Independent Insurers, covered the same geographic area and some of the same subject matter as Seagull Motel. The film won many awards, including the Silver Trumpet Award, Chicago Publicity Club; the Silver Star Award, IASC; Second Place, Houston International Film Festival; and Second Place, New York Film Festival.

He is a former vice-president of Arkidata Corporation, and also spent two and a half years in Japan, where he conducted cross-cultural training and wrote a monthly column on business English in the form of a fictionalized serial for a major Japanese business publication.

He currently is Vice President of Global Marketing for a Fortune 500 corporation.

He is a graduate of Northern Illinois University and also attended Oxford University.

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