Hurricane Literature, James Frey Says He's Done Writing Books, and More
Six shorts to read during a hurricane; James Frey says, "I'm done writing books"; Stephen King's "Pretty Good Cake"; and other news.
Booktrack
Now available in the App Store for the iPhone, iPod Touch, and iPad, Booktrack provides a soundtrack for e-books, including songs, ambient music, and sound effects, that is automatically paced to an individual's reading speed.
Steve Jobs's Literary Legacy, Murakami Banned in New Jersey, and More
Steve Jobs, the enigmatic leader of Apple, has stepped down; Haruki Murakami's novel Norwegian Wood has been banned from a high school reading list in New Jersey; surrounded by Jack Kerouac; and other news.
The Secret Miracle: The Novelist's Handbook
Drawing back the curtain on the process of writing novels, The Secret Miracle brings together well-known practitioners of the craft to discuss how they write. Paul Auster, Mario Vargas Llosa, Susan Minot, Rick Moody, Haruki Murakami, George Pelecanos, Gary Shteyngart, and others take readers step by step through the alchemy of writing fiction, answering everything from nuts-and-bolts queries—“Do you outline?”—to questions posed by writers and readers alike: “What makes a character compelling?”
Poetry of Resilience
Directed by Katja Esson, Poetry of Resilience is a documentary about six international poets who individually survived Hiroshima, the Holocaust, China's Cultural Revolution, the Kurdish Genocide in Iraq, the Rwandan Genocide, and the Iranian Revolution. For more information, visit www.poetryofresilience.com.
Martin Luther King, Jr. Memorial; Synchronized Soundtracks for E-Books; and More
The Martin Luther King, Jr. Memorial is Sunday and Washington's libraries offer a supporting reading list; Jorge Luis Borges's 112th birthday; e-books with synchronized music soundtracks; and other news.
Center for Fiction Announces First Novel Finalists
New York City's Center for Fiction, formerly the Mercantile Library, has announced the seven-strong shortlist for its Flaherty-Dunnan First Novel Prize. The ten-thousand-dollar award will be given at the Center's annual benefit on December 6, where the organization will also honor Scribner editor in chief Nan Graham with the Maxwell E. Perkins Award for Distinguished Achievement in the Field of Fiction.
The shortlisted debut novels are The Free World by David Bezmozgis (Farrar, Straus and Giroux), The Sweet Relief of Missing Children by Sarah Braunstein (Norton), Daughters of the Revolution by Carolyn Cooke (Knopf), The History of History by Ida Hattemer-Higgins (Knopf), Lamb by Bonnie Nadzam (Other Press), Shards by Ismet Prcic (Black Cat), and Touch by Alexi Zentner (Norton).
The award, formerly the John Sargent Sr. First Novel Prize, has gone in previous years to Karl Marlantes, John Pipkin, Hannah Tinti, Junot Díaz, and Marisha Pessl.
In the video below, shortlisted author Sarah Braunstein discusses her debut, which was seven years in the making.
Samuel Menashe
Samuel Menashe, the first poet to receieve the Neglected Masters Award from the Poetry Foundation, in 2004, died Monday night in his sleep. He was eighty-five years old. In this clip, from the WNYC series "Know Your Neighbor," Menashe is seen in his New York City apartment, where he lived for fifty years.
Gaddafi's Literature, Joseph Brodsky's Ukraine, and More
Moammar Gaddafi's influence on his country's literature; the e-book market is struggling to take hold in Japan; Keith Gessen answers criticism from Joseph Brodsky's literary executor; and other news.
An Unquenchable Thirst
Mary Johnson, a former nun in Mother Teresa's order, the Missionaries of Charity, talks about her new memoir, An Unquenchable Thirst: Following Mother Teresa in Search of Love, Service, and an Authentic Life (Spiegel & Grau). Watch the video then read Eryn Loeb's article about Johnson in the current issue of the magazine.
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