Comma Queen
Mary Norris, New Yorker copy editor and author of Between You and Me: Confessions of a Comma Queen (Norton, 2015), talks about commas in this episode of a new video series from the New Yorker.
Two Poets, One Poem
This week, encourage someone close to you to collaborate on writing a poem. Together, choose a subject—it can be a shared experience, a mutual friend or loved one, or a place familiar to you both—and then separately, write a short poem on the chosen subject from the first-person perspective. Finally, work together on the editing process, combining the two poems by interweaving lines and stanzas, and formulating a collective rhythm. For inspiration, read "Two Fathers" by Lois Baer Barr and Ellen Birkett Morris.
Murakami Onstage, Novelist Steph Cha on Writing Feminist Noir, and More
England marks thirtieth anniversary of Philip Larkin’s death; Lidia Yuknavitch on storytelling and violence; Astrid Lindgren’s WWII diaries to be released in U.S. next year; and other news.
Laila Lalami
"There is a particular contract that gets established between reader and writer." Laila Lalami, whose novel The Moor's Account (Pantheon, 2014) is longlisted for the 2015 Man Booker Prize, discusses the intricacies and differences in writing fiction and nonfiction.
Marc Kelly Smith: Chicago 2015
Marc Kelly Smith, founder of the poetry slam movement, performs as part of the Chicago Icons segment of Poets & Writers Live in Chicago on June 20, 2015.
Stuart Dybek: Chicago 2015
Stuart Dybek reads an excerpt of his story "Tosca," from Paper Lantern: Love Stories (FSG, 2014), as part of the Chicago Icons segment of Poets & Writers Live in Chicago on June 20, 2015.
The Science of Literature, Novels by Poets, and More
Finding meaning in the nonsensical; a farewell to a speakeasy bookstore; George Braziller’s memoir-in-vignettes; and other news.
Sunjeev Sahota
"I used to read a lot in terms of just the backs of toothpaste. I spent a lot of time reading ingredients and things like that, so there was probably also a fascination with words." Sunjeev Sahota talks about reading as a child and working on his second novel, The Year of the Runaways (Picador, 2015), which is longlisted for the 2015 Man Booker Prize for Fiction.
Jon Stewart’s Book Bump, Immigrant Writing Prize Aims to Squash Stereotypes, and More
Bill Clegg on being an agent and an author; Ursula K. LeGuin shares her current literary preferences; author-hosted podcasts for your morning commute; and other news.
Benjamin Moser
"The reason she's legendary is that she has this work that is extremely weird... she wrote like nobody else." Benjamin Moser, editor of The Complete Stories by Clarice Lispector, published by New Directions this month, talks with Open Letter Books publisher Chad Post about the appeal of Lispector's writing.
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