Ever have one of those days when you just need like a half-dose of Lothlorien™ (street name=Mirkwood) to get to sleep? Well friend, you’re not alone—I, too, could occasionally benefit from a little over-the-counter Tolkien at bedtime, to ease my Read more >
An Alaska school board is backpedaling after its decision to remove five American classics from its curriculum backfired spectacularly, drawing national press and local protest. The Matanuska-Susitna (Mat-Su) Borough School Board had previously voted to remove The Great Gatsby by F. Read more >
A few years ago, I was in Oxford, MS, home of the University of Mississippi, the great Square Books, and (formerly) William Faulkner. I went to visit Rowan Oak, the Faulkner family home-turned-museum, which was a lovely place to spend Read more >
Bookselling is tricky business: Some months are good, some months are bad, and sometimes, you’re hit with unexpected demand for the novels of an accused murderess and charlatan who became the talk of the town for possibly shooting her husband Read more >
A musician, a socialite, and a sad sociology professor walk into the aftermath of a world in which 99 percent of humanity is wiped out by a man-made virus—let’s call it a “Stephen King joke.” A nine-episode miniseries adaption of Read more >
If you happen to be out near Pasadena, California, you may want to look in at Gallery 30 South, which is putting on a wonderful (socially distant!) art exhibit until the end of the month: Zach Mendosa’s Literary features some remarkable paintings Read more >
For the past 20 years, the AKO Caine Prize for African Writing has encouraged and spotlighted the diversity and power of African writing. Every year, the prize goes to an African writer of a short story published in English. (Why Read more >
The Victorian writer George Eliot, whose true name was Mary Ann Evans, was the subject of much gossip during her lifetime, as well as after her death. She, the daughter of a land agent who rose to literary prominence in Read more >
Sarah Bernhardt was an actress in a category of her own. Mark Twain (quoted in the program for Bernhardt’s 1912-1913 American tour) famously said “There are five kinds of actresses: bad actresses, fair actresses, good actresses, great actresses, and Sarah Read more >
You may already know Te-Ping Chen from her short story “Lulu,” which was published in The New Yorker last year. Now, Chen’s debut collection, Land of Big Numbers, which is coming from HMH in February 2021, has a gorgeous cover, Read more >
On May 18th, 1897, one day before Oscar Wilde would finish a two-year prison sentence for “gross indecency” with men, the author took a cab with two warders from Reading Gaol to wait for a London-bound train. Were it up Read more >
Remember March? You know, a million years ago? During the month in which most places in the US began to shut down and enforce social distancing, book sales, unsurprisingly, suffered, with one notable exception: audiobooks. The Association of American Publishers Read more >
To be young, gifted, and black Oh, what a lovely, precious dream To be young, gifted, and black Open your heart to what I mean –Nina Simone, “To Be Young, Gifted, and Black,” after Lorraine Hansberry Lorraine Hansberry—the iconic playwright Read more >
Stephin Merrit (the primary lyricist of the on again/off again Magnetic Fields) is essentially a master of microfictions, so it’s no surprise that the band’s new album, Quickies, is inspired by the stories of Lydia Davis (who is, in fact, Read more >
The temptation to start hanging out with real live people is strong. Despite being the epicenter of the worst global pandemic in a century even New York state is starting to reopen. I’m not going to get into the terrifying Read more >
For the past 20 years, the New York Public Library has been celebrating the work of young writers with the Young Lions Fiction Award, which is given annually to an American writer age 35 and younger. Past winners include Amelia Read more >
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