The Wider Sky: A Profile of Nikky Finney
For Nikky Finney, whose fourth book of poems, Head Off & Split, is out this month, fearlessness isn't just a character trait. It's a responsibility.
Sandra Beasley's Allergy Memoir
In July Random House will publish poet Sandra Beasley's memoir, Don't Kill the Birthday Girl: Tales From an Allergic Life, which describes her experience growing up and coming to terms with a potentially deadly disorder—severe food allergies.
February 10
Newspapers are filled with compelling headlines that often include one or two people and describe the final outcome of an event: Man Jumps Off Bridge After Wedding, Woman Kidnapped as Baby Reunites With Family, Flight Attendant Receives Proposal Mid-flight. Read your local newspaper or peruse local newspapers online, and choose a headline. Use it to write a story about what led up to the final outcome the headline describes.
Malcolm Gladwell Book Generator, Self-Published Author Hits Best-Seller List, and More
Bukowski for lovers; Powell's Books in Oregon announces layoffs; a new version of the iPad; birthdays for William S. Burroughs and Elizabeth Bishop; and other news.
Oft-Shortlisted Bainbridge Given Posthumous Booker
The Man Booker Prize has created another one-off award. Intended to celebrate the life's work of the late Beryl Bainbridge, who had been a finalist for the prestigious British award five times but never won, the Best of Beryl prize will call out the most Booker-worthy of her shortlisted titles, as determined by public vote.
Voters can choose between Bainbridge's novels Master Georgie (1998), Every Man for Himself (1996), An Awfully Big Adventure (1990), the Guardian Fiction Award–winning The Bottle Factory Outing (1974), and The Dressmaker (1973). (Incidentally, her final novel, The Girl in the Polka Dot Dress, forthcoming in June from Little, Brown, is ineligible for a posthumous Booker nomination—only living writers are considered for the honor.) The Best of Beryl title will be announced in April.
"Beryl did want to win the Booker very much despite her protests to the contrary," says Bainbridge's daughter, Jojo Davies. "We are glad she is finally able to become the bride, no longer the bridesmaid."
Meanwhile, the Guardian's Michael Holroyd takes a more skeptical stance on what exactly the award is celebrating.
In the video below, BBC News takes a look back at the life of Bainbridge at the time of her death last July.
Maxine Hong Kingston and Leslie Marmon Silko
Last week Maxine Hong Kingston, whose memoir, I Love a Broad Margin to My Life, was published in January by Knopf, and Leslie Marmon Silko, author of the memoir The Turquoise Ledge (Viking, 2010), read together at the Unterberg Poetry Center of the 92nd Street Y in New York City.
Retelling Tolkien in Russia, Jules Vernes's Birthday, Reading in Bed, and More
Jules Verne gets a Google doodle; unpublished stories by Dashiell Hammett discovered at the Ransom Center; a Russian retelling of Tolkien from Sauron's perspective; the National Book Festival expands to a two-day event; and other news.
The Sound of a Wild Snail Eating
You may want to turn up the volume because this unique clip, the book trailer for Elisabeth Tova Bailey's memoir, The Sound of a Wild Snail Eating (Algonquin Books, 2010), delivers exactly what the title promises. The memoir, which was named one of the best books of 2010 by the Huffington Post, follow's the author's observations of a forest snail that has taken up residence on her nightstand during a long illness.
The Henrietta Lacks Foundation, DIY E-books in Japan, and More
The cost of creating an e-book and a hardcover edition are the same; Borders faces delisting from the New York Stock Exchange; DIY e-book making in Japan; indie bookstores making a comeback in New York City; and other news.
A Writer's Book of Days: A Spirited Companion and Lively Muse for the Writing Life
Judy Reeves’s A Writer’s Book of Days offers varied prompts, exercises, writing tips, web resources, and advice to spark inspiration and help with generating material on a regular basis.
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