AUGUSTA – Exemplifying artistic excellence, the Maine Arts Commission is honoring seven Maine artists – this year’s recipients of the Commission’s 2021 Fellowship awards.  The Arts Commission is celebrating Dianne Ballon, Gabriel Frey, Sarah Haskell, Jocelyn Lee, Alex Marzano-Lesnevich, Michael O., and Tim Whitten for their artistic achievements. 

The Maine Artist Fellowship awards each recipient $5,000 based on one of the following categories: Belvedere Handcraft, Fine Craft, Literary Arts, Multimedia/Film, Performing Arts, Traditional Arts, and Visual Arts.

“Congratulations to this year’s fellowship winners,” said Julie Richard, Executive Director of the Maine Arts Commission. “This year’s cohort of Fellows is uniquely diverse – reflecting the growing range of demographics across our state. There were many qualified applicants and it is always difficult for our panels to choose just one. Our 2021 Fellows should be especially proud of this accomplishment.”

Sometimes, all it takes is a title.

I usually read and review 60 or so books over the course of a year. And I consider several times that many. A fair amount of the coverage is somewhat predetermined – if certain authors have new work coming or a new book is generating a lot of buzz, attention tends to be paid – but there is a degree of wiggle room, allowing me to occasionally take a chance. These chances don’t always pay off (though I should note that I rarely review the misfires), but when they do, they pay off big time.

With Julian Herbert’s “Bring Me the Head of Quentin Tarantino” (Graywolf Press, $15.99), I hit the jackpot.

This collection of short stories by the noted Mexican writer, translated from the Spanish by Christina MacSweeney, captured my attention with its title. Upon closer investigation, I discovered an assemblage of excellence, 10 short works that captivate and confound. These stories are surreal and absurd even as they uncover certain realities – harsh and otherwise – about the Mexican experience.

As I said, it was the title that caught my eye – no surprise, considering my affinity for the work of Mr. Tarantino – and the description was certainly intriguing, but I didn’t anticipate … this. It’s rare to encounter fiction that functions effectively both as commentary and as pure narrative, but these stories do just that. They are weird and visceral and deliberately difficult to define, but each of them has the power to work its way into your imagination. Funny and poignant, driven by moments of hilarity and sadness and fury, “Bring Me the Head of Quentin Tarantino” is an exceptional reading experience.