Agent Advice: Jody Kahn of Brandt & Hochman
A literary agent answers questions from writers about genre, age, costs, and client lists.
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Genre: Fiction
Source Booksellers
Source Booksellers is an independent bookstore in Detroit’s Midtown district that specializes in nonfiction books. They also host literary readings, book talks, and conversations with local and national authors; mind, body, and spirit classes and workshops; and other community events.
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Pages Bookshop
Pages Bookshop carries a highly curated selection of literary fiction, nonfiction, and children’s literature. The store also features a children’s area and a section dedicated to past and present-day Detroit, and hosts frequent literary events.
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Melville House Bookstore
Melville House Bookstore is located behind the Melville House Publishing office in the Dumbo neighborhood of Brooklyn. The bookstore is open Monday to Friday from 10:00 PM to 6:00 PM and has regular (and free) evening events that start at 7:00 PM.
Cafe con Libros
Cafe con Libros is an intersectional feminist bookstore welcoming of all who stand with and on behalf of the full human rights of womxn and girls. Located in the Crown Heights neighborhood of Brooklyn, this bookstore and café hosts a regular reading series and community book clubs.
Claire Adam
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“When I was writing, I was trying hard not to sensationalize it,” Claire Adam says of Trinidad, where she grew up and set her debut novel, Golden Child (SJP for Hogarth, 2019). On Late Night With Seth Meyers, Adam also talks about the important role education played in her life and why she wouldn’t let her siblings read the book until it was completed.
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Tolkien: Maker of Middle-earth
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“Manuscript drafts and maps in Tolkien’s own hand show how the characters and the narrative developed,” says John McQuillen, associate curator at the Morgan Library & Museum, about the “Tolkien: Maker of Middle-earth” exhibit. This is the largest collection ever assembled of J. R. R. Tolkien’s original manuscripts, drawings, and illustrated maps, which inspired and were created alongside many of his most famous works.
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Kristen Roupenian
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“I’ve always wanted to meet Stephen King—he’s like the author of all my nightmares.” In this video, Kristen Roupenian reveals some of her favorite things, dreams, secrets, and excuses. Her debut short story collection, You Know You Want This (Gallery/Scout Press, 2019), includes “Cat Person,” which was published by the New Yorker in 2017 and went viral on the Internet.
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Unuseless Tools
Chindogu, a Japanese term that literally translated means “weird tool,” was coined by Kenji Kawakami, former editor of a monthly magazine called Mail Order Life. As a prank, Kawakami published prototypes for his own bizarre inventions, that were intentionally useless and could not actually be purchased, in the magazine and later in a book titled 101 Unuseless Japanese Inventions: The Art of Chindogu (Norton, 1995). Some of his popular inventions include the Eye Drop Funnel Glasses, the Dumbbell Telephone, and Duster Slippers for Cats. For this week’s fiction prompt, write a short story that envisions the backstory for one of these good-natured but impractical contraptions, or invent one yourself following one of the tenets of Chindogu: “You have to be able to hold it in your hand and think, ‘I can actually imagine someone using this. Almost.’”
His Dark Materials
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His Dark Materials is a television series adaptation of Philip Pullman’s award-winning fantasy adventure trilogy of the same name, comprising of the novels The Golden Compass, The Subtle Knife, and The Amber Spyglass. Directed by Tom Hooper, the series stars Tyler Howitt, Dafne Keen, James McAvoy, Lin-Manuel Miranda, and Ruth Wilson, and follows the coming-of-age story of two children discovering their identities and destinies while journeying through parallel universes.
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Pages
