Hanif Kureishi Declares Writing Classes Worthless, the Debate Over Audiobooks, and More
Cheryl Strayed visits Wisconsin; Melville House wonders if the author is dead; books to help with midlife crises; and other news.
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Family Roots
Most of us have ancestors born in countries we may have never visited. This week, trace your family’s origins to a foreign city or town. Try to imagine the landscape of this place: the terrain, nature, and customs that characterize it. Find a way to connect it to your current landscape, creating a poem that joins these two places.
Two Dollar Radio
Eric Obenauf and Eliza-Wood Obenauf talk informally about the origin of Two Dollar Radio, the small press they founded in Columbus, Ohio, in 2005. Or was it 2004?
Goodnight Songs, Anne Rice Petitions Against Amazon Cyberbullies, and More
The Tournament of Books ignores author’s wishes; a fourteen-year-old’s poem goes viral; a new beer-battered bookstore opens in Texas; and other news.
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Twenty Facts About Dr. Seuss, Auden's Secret Life of Good Deeds, and More
A six-year-old collects six hundred books for the homeless; Leon Trotsky’s opinion on the Ukraine; a new biography of filmmakers during war; and other news.
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A Dream Within a Dream
"Is all that we see or seem / But a dream within a dream?" Fiona McLaughlin, Lauren Patrick, and Christopher McKenna created this short animation based on Edgard Allan Poe's poem "A Dream Within A Dream."
Hugh Howey
In the latest episode of Self-Publishing Roundtable, Hugh Howey, the author known for his popular series Wool, which he independently published through Amazon's Kindle Direct Publishing, talks about his new website, authorearnings.com.
Author Protests Anti-Gay Ruling, Live-Tweeting a Loved One’s Final Days, and More
McSweeney’s releases a Portlandia-themed activity book; a new biography of Louis Armstrong; novelist Eleanor Catton on the seasons of writing; and other news.
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L.A. Times Book Prize Finalists Announced
The finalists for the thirty-fourth annual Los Angeles Times Book Prizes, which are awarded in ten categories, were announced last week.
The finalists in poetry are Joshua Beckman for The Inside of an Apple (Wave Books), Mei-Mei Berssenbrugge for Hello, the Roses (New Directions), Ron Padgett for Collected Poems (Coffee House Press), Elizabeth Robinson for On Ghosts (Solid Objects), and Lynn Xu for Debts & Lessons (Omnidawn).
The finalists in fiction are Percival Everett for Percival Everett by Virgil Russell (Graywolf Press), Claire Messud for The Woman Upstairs (Knopf), Ruth Ozeki for A Tale for the Time Being (Viking), Susan Steinberg for Spectacle: Stories (Graywolf Press), and Daniel Woodrell for The Maid’s Version: A Novel (Little, Brown).
The finalists for the Art Seidanbaum Award for First Fiction are NoViolet Bulawayo for We Need New Names (Reagan Arthur Books), Jeff Jackson for Mira Corpora (Two Dollar Radio), Fiona McFarlane for The Night Guest (Faber & Faber), Jamie Quatro for I Want to Show You More (Grove Press), and Ethan Rutherford for The Peripatetic Coffin and Other Stories (Ecco).
Fiction writer Susan Straight will receive the Robert Kirsch Award for lifetime achievement. Straight is the author of eight novels, most recently Between Heaven and Here (McSweeney’s, 2012). Straight writes about Rio Seco, a fictional town inspired by Riverside, California, where she currently resides.
The winners will be announced during an award ceremony on April 11 at the University of Southern California. The event is open to the public, and tickets will go on sale for $10 on March 17. For more information on the event, and a list of finalists in the additional categories of biography, current interest, graphic novel/comics, history, mystery/thriller, science and technology, and young adult literature, visit the L.A. Times Book Prizes website.
In the video below from TEDx Redondo Beach, Susan Straight talks about why she became a writer.
Apple Files Second Appeal, John Steinbeck’s Google Doodle, and More
An author faces the threat of arrest after asking to protest; writing fiction helps a start-up; Ralph Ellison’s portrait unveiled in Oklahoma; and other news.
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