Jump to navigation Skip to content
Gary Shteyngart on “one of the most unexpected and crushing lines in fiction”; Whiting Foundation expands its annual literary magazine prizes; Ron Charles takes down James Frey’s Katerina; and other news.
“I grew up reading a gigantic compendium of all the Grimm’s fairy tales, and also fairy tales originating from other parts of the world....” Singaporean author Sharlene Teo talks with Manchester Literature Festival’s Naomi Frisby about the inspiration behind her debut novel, Ponti (Simon & Schuster, 2018), the work of writers Guy Gunaratne and Nikesh Shukla, and her fascination with ideas of beauty, superficiality, and artifice.
The technique of thematic threading, which can “provide a backdrop or a second story of resonance that runs parallel to the main story,” is a powerful tool for guiding readers through challenging stories as Tracy Strauss notes in “#MeToo: Crafting Our Most Difficult True Stories” in the September/October issue of Poets & Writers Magazine. By intertwining multiple themes, an author can imbue a story with additional nuance and allow for a narrative with more emotional balance. Write a short story that braids two story lines together, perhaps using one thread to explore an extended sequence of flashbacks or to focus more on sensory details.
Saint Rita’s Traveling Bookstore; the ultimate round-up of Fall 2018 books; books everyone lies about having read; and other news.
In this humorous video, Gary Shteyngart receives dubious feedback on his fourth novel, Lake Success (Random House, 2018), from “Sean, the World’s Worst Editor,” which includes inserting a laugh track into the book, holding book signings in an actual lake, and changing Shteyngart’s last name. Lake Success is featured in Page One in the September/October issue of Poets & Writers Magazine.
“I can multitask the hell out of a holiday meal preparation, but when I’m working on a novel it’s all or nothing.” —Melanie Hobson, author of Summer Cannibals
Memoir by John Steinbeck’s second wife to be published; Teju Cole on the meaning of resistance; poet Dorothea Lasky on poetry and obsessions; and other news.
“Everybody feels ashamed when they write. It’s a shameful practice.” In this 2018 interview with Louisiana Channel, Zadie Smith, author most recently of Swing Time (Penguin Press, 2016), discusses the positive aspects of shame and how it can be productive for the writing process.
Neil Gaiman and Chris Riddell’s illustrated essay on the importance of reading; Eileen Myles talks politics and poetry; Jonathan Lethem’s Trump-inspired detective story; and other news.
“It was sad. I would rather talk to my idea of a person, a fantasy ghost-person that existed only in my imagination, than talk with my own parents.” Patty Yumi Cottrell, author of Sorry to Disrupt the Peace (McSweeney’s, 2017) and a recipient of a 2018 Whiting Award in fiction, reads from her essay “My Abyss.”
