Garth Greenwell on Opera, Hurston/Wright Legacy Awards, and More
Kazim Ali on the purpose and place of pop poetry; never-before-seen photos of Joan Didion; John McCain to publish memoir in April; and other news.
Genre: Creative Nonfiction
Marilynne Robinson on the Importance of Humanities, Neruda’s Cause of Death, and More
Tracy K. Smith visits China as U.S. poet laureate; Xerox releases free story anthology about the workplace; women share experiences of sexual harassment in the publishing industry; and other news.
A Heat-Sensitive Edition of Fahrenheit 451, T. S. Eliot Prize Shortlist, and More
Gabrielle Calvocoressi interviewed at the Los Angeles Review of Books; Amazon expands to Australia; Jonathan Karp’s ten rules for book editors; and other news.
Sam Shepard’s Last Novel, Emma Cline on Sexual Harassment, and More
Stefan Kiesbye describes losing his home in the California wildfires; the history behind the Booker Prize; Philip Pullman to launch book at midnight; and other news.
Personal Effects
A bar napkin on display at the Smithsonian’s National Museum of American History in Washington, D.C. shows the now famous Laffer Curve, a mathematical curve economist Arthur Laffer sketched that convinced President Ford to cut tax rates in 1974. Recently it was revealed that it is not the original bar napkin, but a copy Laffer later recreated as a keepsake. The Smithsonian put the napkin on display in 2015, but at the time of the meeting more than forty years ago, Laffer was a young professor and nobody suspected anything especially momentous was occurring. Imagine that decades into the future, the Smithsonian will be acquiring a relic or souvenir from your own life that has taken on historical importance. What would the object be? Write an essay exploring mementos you’ve kept over the years in hopes that these objects might be of importance in the future.
George Saunders Wins Booker Prize, 2016 Vida Count Released, and More
Black poets on their inspirations; Asian American women writers roundtable; China’s largest digital publishing house to go public; and other news.
Ali Smith on the Novel, Amy Tan’s Memoir, and More
Dave Eggers interviews Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie; Mississippi school district pulls To Kill a Mockingbird from curriculum; remembering poet Richard Wilbur; and other news.
A Public Space Launches Book Imprint, Richard Wilbur Has Died, and More
Emma Cline on the wildfires in California; the developmental benefits of reading at a young age; predictions for the 2017 Man Booker Prize; and other news.
Frankfurt Announcements, Weinstein Imprint Shutters, and More
NEA’s Big Read program adds new books to its library; Attica Locke on understanding the psyche; life lessons from Russian literature; and other news.
Where the Past Begins: An Interview With Amy Tan
Novelist Amy Tan talks about her approach to memoir and how this shift in process changed the way she views her fiction writing.
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