Posts by author
Dinah Fay
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By Any Memes Necessary
The long-awaited release of The Autobiography of Malcolm X in ebook format is on track for May of this year, to commemorate what would have been the activist’s 90th birthday. The print edition has been available from Ballantine, an imprint of…
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Neruda Conspiracy Laid to Rest
The investigatory saga following an accusation of foul play in the death of poet Pablo Neruda appears to be drawing to a close, thanks to a Chilean judge’s ruling. Neruda’s remains were exhumed in 2013, in the hopes of discovering…
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The FBI’s James Baldwin Obsession
Writing for Publishers Weekly, William J. Maxwell examines the 1,884-page FBI file on James Baldwin—the longest on record—as part of his effort to obtain surveillance information on African American authors through the Freedom of Information Act. Along with reports on…
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Who Wants to Be a Writer
A recent poll by YouGuv, intended to determine the most desired professions for Britons, suggests a strong interest in expanding the ranks of authors and academics. Though common conception holds these groups to be prone to an embattled posture, forever…
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The Joys of Reading Jorie
At the New York Times, Dwight Garner reviews Jorie Graham’s new collected, From the New World: 1976-2014. Graham is a giant of American poetry, and the volume follows her career as the margins drift in and out, the trees indicate…
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Serial Commas, Subordinate Clauses, and the New Yorker
Mary Norris has a gift for your favorite grammarian in this week’s New Yorker: a detailed account of comma policy from a veteran copyeditor. The magazine is notorious for its meticulous house style (where else do you still see a…
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Where to Shelve Scripture?
At the New Yorker, Rollo Romig examines the unique position of scripture as literary genre through the lens of history, and with the help of Avi Steinberg’s recent nonfiction title The Lost Book of Mormon. Romig moves through a line of (relatively)…
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Harvard Library’s Deep Storage
A new interactive documentary called Cold Storage invites viewers to peer beyond Harvard’s flagship Widener Library—the tip of the iceberg in terms of the university’s massive collection—and into the vault where more than 9 million books and artifacts are stored.…
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Remembrance: The Protector of Sci-Fi Poetry
Suzette Haden Elgin, the pioneering writer at the intersection of science fiction, linguistics, and activism, is remembered at io9 after her passing last week. Elgin leaves behind a body of work that is both fantastical and practical, escapist and activist; though…
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Book Covers Judge Back
The Guardian reports on a playful man bites dog story from Dutch design firm Moore: a book that judges potential readers by their covers. The prototype uses facial recognition to identify expressions, and will only unlock the book if it…
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Polar Poetry
Jynne Dilling Martin’s new collection of poems, We Mammals in Hospitable Times, was written in large part through a grant from the National Science Foundation, which sent the poet to the far reaches of Antarctica to shadow scientists and soak…
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Why Matilda Got Her Measles Shot
Since much of the rhetoric around recent outbreaks of the measles revolves around concern for the well-being of children, perhaps the strongest advocate to answer our concerns is a beloved author of children’s literature. The Guardian shares an emotional letter…