Montana MFA Program Under Threat, Randa Jarrar Controversy, and More
Curtis Sittenfeld on writing political fiction; America’s hundred favorite novels; summer reading picks; and other news.
Genre: Creative Nonfiction
Gregory Pardlo on Air Traffic
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Gregory Pardlo talks about the difference between writing poetry and creative nonfiction, and the universality of storytelling in this interview with Rich Fahle at the 2018 AWP Annual Conference & Book Fair in Tampa. Pardlo’s debut memoir, Air Traffic: A Memoir of Ambition and Manhood in America (Knopf, 2018), is featured in Page One in the May/June issue of Poets & Writers Magazine.
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Barnes & Noble: Arboretum
This Barnes & Noble is located in the Arboretum Shopping Center, at the Southwest Corner of 183 and Great Hills Trail. Events include author readings, talks, and book signings.
Bank of Books
Bank of Books is an independent, family-owned bookstore that supports the local arts community, including writers, historians, artists, and musicians. They host readings, talks and discussions, storytime, author signings, book groups, music performances, and other literary events throughout the year.
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University Press of New England to dissolve; a case for getting a graduate degree in creative writing; Jake Tapper’s fiction debut; and other news.
Harper’s Fires Editor, Jacqueline Woodson and Tracy K. Smith in Conversation, and More
Maine high school student and asylum-seeker sues NEA over right to compete in Poetry Out Loud; Jhumpa Lahiri on translating Italian novelist Domenico Starnone; girdle books; and other news.
Getting Better
“Is it possible to tell a story about getting better that is as compelling as a story of falling apart?” asks Leslie Jamison, speaking about her new memoir, The Recovering: Intoxication and Its Aftermath (Little, Brown, 2018), in “The Infinite World” by Michele Filgate in the May/June issue of Poets & Writers Magazine. Write a personal essay on a topic or event in your life related to dysfunction or a low point in which you experienced a recovery. Use inspiration from Jamison’s own challenge of narrative structure and focus on a way to use “rigorous, specific, fresh language” to write about recovery.
In Praise of Comic Novels, Juan Felipe Herrera on Play in Poetry, and More
James Comey on his new political memoir; U.K. author goes undercover at an Amazon warehouse; Scott Rudin countersues Harper Lee estate over Broadway play; and other news.
Which Story Will You Tell? A Q&A With Alexander Chee
The novelist talks about his first essay collection, How to Write An Autobiographical Novel; how to keep working during bouts of self-doubt; and more.
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Frank Bidart and Andrew Sean Greer Win 2018 Pulitzer Prizes
Today at Columbia University in New York City, the winners of the 102nd annual Pulitzer Prizes were announced. Seven prizes in letters are awarded annually for works of literature published in the previous year. Each winner receives $15,000.
Frank Bidart won the prize in poetry for Half-Light: Collected Poems 1965–2016 (Farrar, Straus and Giroux). The finalists were Evie Shockley’s semiautomatic (Wesleyan University Press) and Patricia Smith’s Incendiary Art (TriQuarterly Books).
Andrew Sean Greer won the prize in fiction for his novel Less (Lee Boudreaux Books). The finalists were Elif Baufman’s The Idiot (Penguin Press) and Hernan Diaz’s In the Distance (Coffee House Press).
Caroline Fraser won the prize in biography for Prairie Fires: The American Dreams of Laura Ingalls Wilder (Metropolitan Books). The finalists were John A. Farrell’s Richard Nixon: The Life (Doubleday) and the Kay Redfield Jamison’s Robert Lowell, Setting the River on Fire: A Study of Genius, Mania, and Character (Knopf)
Visit the Pulitzer Prize website for a complete list of winners and finalists in each of the twenty-one categories, including general nonfiction, journalism, history, drama, and music.
Hungarian-American newspaper publisher and journalist Joseph Pulitzer established the Pulitzer Prizes in 1911, and the first prize was awarded in 1917. The 2017 winners included poet Tyehimba Jess and fiction writer Colson Whitehead.
Read an interview with Frank Bidart from the May/June 2013 issue of Poets & Writers Magazine, and listen to an excerpt of Andrew Sean Greer’s third novel, The Story of a Marriage.
(Photo: Frank Bidart; Credit: Webb Chappell)
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