Instapoets, Translating Paul Celan, and More
World Fantasy Award to drop H. P. Lovecraft as trophy’s model; on having one’s book banned from a school curriculum; the endurance of the short story; and other news.
The Art of the Publisher, Open Access Debate, and More
Arundhati Roy joins protest of Indian government; “binge-watch” named Collins Dictionary word of the year; Chilean government acknowledges potential role in Neruda’s death; and other news.
Trumbo
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"We do what everyone says we can't. We write." Trumbo tells the story of legendary screenwriter and novelist Dalton Trumbo, played by Bryan Cranston, who was blacklisted by Hollywood in the 1940s after he was accused of being a Communist. The film is directed by Jay Roach with a screenplay by John McNamara.
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Orwell’s Average Poetry, Revisiting John Williams’s Stoner, and More
Roxane Gay awarded PEN’s Freedom to Write prize; on publishing Lydia Davis; His Dark Materials trilogy adapted for television; and other news.
Jonathan Franzen's Bedtime Story
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"Once upon a time, there was a girl named Little Red Reading Hood who loved her grandmother's local independent bookstore." On The Late Show With Stephen Colbert, Jonathan Franzen, author of Purity (Farrar, Straus and Giroux, 2015), reads a modern bedtime story about consumerism for the show's host.
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Sad Songs Say So Much
Think of a song that you would consider a lifelong favorite, even if your love for it now is attributed more to a strong sense of nostalgia than to your current musical tastes. Does hearing the song unexpectedly on the car radio or in a restaurant suddenly transport you to a different time or instantly change your mood? Write a personal essay about the memories you have associated with the song, and how the lyrics might have resonated with a certain significance in your past. How has your understanding and appreciation of the song evolved?
The User Agreement Graphic Novel, Legitimate Satire, and More
Mary Gaitskill on Anna Karenina; booksellers react to Amazon’s first physical bookstore; popular 19th-century women writers you may not have heard of; and other news.
Always Apprentices: The Believer Presents Twenty-Two Conversations Between Writers
This volume collects twenty-two conversations from five years of interviews originally published in the Believer. The often irreverent exchanges between authors such as Don DeLillo with Bret Easton Ellis, Mary Gaitskill with Sheila Heti, and Joan Didion with Vendela Vida reveal insights into their personalities and experiences—both writing-related and not.
Memoranda
Development team Bit Byterz is currently in the process of completing creation of Memoranda, a video game inspired by twenty of Haruki Murakami's short stories. The game employs Murakami's trademarks of bizarre surrealism and characters who are in search of something they’ve lost. Continue this chain of inspiration by writing a short story revolving around an object or person—or even something more conceptual—that has been lost. Allow your scenes to unfold as a series of puzzles and problems to solve, as your main character journeys to locate the lost item.
Amazon Opens Seattle Bookstore, PEN Calls for Release of Iranian Poets, and More
#NaGrafWriMo; Karl Ove Knausgaard on Michel Houellebecq; Cheryl Strayed answers your questions; and other news.
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