“Disintegrated Pier,” Manhattan, May 2014. Photograph by Jeffrey F. Barken

Dear Guests,

Welcome, and thanks for visiting. Monologging.org was originally founded in 2012 as a local-global literary magazine that connects writers with artists around the world. The platform encourages collaborative multimedia creation and provides weekly arts-related reporting.

In the spring of 2013, I took Monologging.org on the road with me. After stops in Ireland, Scotland and Germany, I traveled to Israel where I conducted a yearlong book tour promoting my newly published collection of stories, This Year in Jerusalem. The publication, meanwhile, enabled me to report on my adventure and to keep in touch with the growing network of writers and artists I met along the way.

I’ve come to think of Monologging.org as a virtual salon where writers cross paths with artists and share creative ideas. The site showcases beautiful galleries, slideshows and critical writing, uniting a creative cast, and inviting vigorous discussion. By introducing the site and concept to MFA programs, museums, small presses and theatres across the United States, I’ve been able to create opportunities for student artists and writers to experiment and receive feedback. As Chief Editor and the site’s web designer, my role is to make introductions, provide editorial feedback, publish and promote final pieces. Sometimes it’s a long process to bring projects to completion, but patience is always rewarded. Participants communicate via skype and email. I’m very pleased with the energy that the site has attracted and thankful for the support and dedication fellow Monologgers have shown.

My book tour now at a close, it’s time to look forward to new projects. I’ve recently returned to New York City where I will be designing and publishing my first novel, All the Lonely Boys in New York, the book that inspired the website’s title. Stay tuned for previews of this work in progress, and news about the project’s collaborative elements. Monologging.org, likewise, is poised to grow in new directions. The publication is now open to general poetry and short fiction submissions. Prompts for the summer “Monologue Contest,” as well as edgy Twitter feeds express the cutting-edge creativity of the salon community and there are some fantastic interactive multimedia collaborations coming soon…

Thank you for your continued interest, I hope you will visit often,

Sincerely,

-Jeffrey F. Barken

(Editor and Founder of Monologging.org)

Jeffrey F. Barken reading from “This Year in Jerusalem” at the Book Stop Cafe, Kenmare Ireland June 12th 2013

Jeffrey F. Barken, editor and founder of Monologging.org, is a novelist and a reporter. He  is the author of “This Year in Jerusalem,” a collection of fiction stories loosely based on his experiences as a kibbutz volunteer in Israel, 2009-10. In 2013 Jeffrey traveled to Europe and Israel to conduct a promotional book tour for his self-designed and self-published book. He has recently returned to New York City where he is completing work on a new novel.

As a freelance reporter for JNS.org, a Houston-based publication that solicits and distributes Jewish interest news stories to English papers around the world, Jeffrey regularly reports on politics, economics, education, medicine and technology topics, as well as provides critical book and arts reviews, travel and sports stories. Click below for a full list of the author’s past publications:

*Publications*

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