Liao Yiwu has just published a brief account of his escape from China to Germany. “For a writer,” he says, “especially one who aspires to bear witness to what is happening in China, freedom of speech and publication mean more than life itself.”

My review of “Patterns and Prototypes,” an exhibition of Robert Gordy and Tina Girouard at the Contemporary Art Center, is now up at Pelican Bomb. It’s a wonderful show — only two weeks left before it comes down, so anyone who’s interested should head on down. It’s unlikely many of these works will be displayed elsewhere for a good while.

The Oxford American has just posted new content from its Education issue, released this week. I have a brief review of Andre Perry’s new book on school reform in New Orleans, but that’s not nearly so exciting as the other articles, such as profiles of some of the most innovative educators at work in the South today, and contributions from leading thinkers across the country about how to improve schools on a completely cost-free basis. Fascinating reading. The best news is, the issue will be accompanied by a symposium at Tulane University in October — I’ll post more information as it becomes available.

There’s little point in trying to nail down when festival season begins and ends in New Orleans; it doesn’t. It takes place all year round. To wit, a few of the upcoming literary and book festival-related events worth mentioning (even as Uncivilisation gears up in the UK next weekend — oh, to be in two places at once):

August 18: the deadline for the Tennessee Williams Festival poetry contest. (The deadlines for fiction and poetry are in November, competitions open now.)

September 1: the fall season of 17 Poets! begins at the Gold Mine Saloon.

October 13-20: The New Orleans Film Festival (program TBA).

November 1-5: The Festival of Words, in Grand Coteau.

November 9-13: Words & Music: A Literary Feast, in New Orleans.

An embarrassment of riches, to be sure.

A longer profile of Liao Yiwu’s escape from China and arrival in Germany is in today’s New York Times. “Mr. Liao said that since he reached Germany, he has been too overwhelmed and excited to eat or sleep much. Having arrived with no money, he is relying on the generosity of friends, his German publisher and, he hopes, royalties from his forthcoming books. ” All the more reason to support him now: with The Corpse Walker or his two upcoming books, God is Red and The Witness of the 4th of June (details TBC).