Page One: Where New and Noteworthy Books Begin

The first lines of a dozen noteworthy books, including Orwell’s Roses by Rebecca Solnit and Such Color: New and Selected Poems by Tracy K. Smith.
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The first lines of a dozen noteworthy books, including Orwell’s Roses by Rebecca Solnit and Such Color: New and Selected Poems by Tracy K. Smith.
The author reflects on finding a mentor in fellow literary outsider Lucia Berlin, long before Berlin’s fame.
Three new anthologies, including The FSG Poetry Anthology.
Curious about the pleasures and sounds of nonliterary language, author Rita Bullwinkel has created Oral Florist, an online sound library in which artists and writers read recipes, user manuals, and other encountered texts.
Literary nonprofit Slice to close down; Casey Plett reflects on the appeal of writing story collections; Amitava Kumar makes the case for including visual elements in literary books; and other stories.
Longtime literary agent Philip Spitzer has died; Pyae Moe Thet War writes about the many stages of writing a book; Elizabeth Bruenig weighs in on “Who Is the Bad Art Friend?”; and other stories.
Publishers Weekly recaps the Brooklyn Book Festival; the New York Public Library will no longer charge late fees; Jocelyn Nicole Johnson shares her path to writing; and other stories.
Larissa Pham reviews Afterparties by the late Anthony Veasna So; Beth Gilstrap searches for beauty and hope on and off the page; new prize seeks to support diverse independent publishers; and other stories.
“I wanted to articulate and be honest to the emotion of grief.” —Eugene Lim, author of Search History
Merve Emre interviews Jonathan Franzen for Vulture; memoirist and musician Michelle Zauner discusses claiming her Koreanness; Myriam J. A Chancy celebrates fellow Caribbean writers; and other stories.