Posts by author
Guia Cortassa
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J.K. Rowling’s Literary World
A boozy editor; a powerful though closeted publisher who retreats to the countryside to paint naked youths; a jealous literary agent whose own writing is “deplorably derivative”; a much-revered but pompous and sexist novelist; a writer of “bloody awful erotic…
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Mapping Two Centuries of Literary Cities
Do we really know which North American cities have been most culturally relevant over the last two centuries? Over at The New Inquiry, Nick Danforth and Evan Tachovsky made an interactive map showing the frequency with which the names of…
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I’m Emily Dickinson! Who Are You?
For her “The Poems (We Think) We Know” column at the Los Angeles Review of Books, Alexandra Socarides writes about Emily Dickinson’s celebrated “I’m Nobody! Who are you?,” debunking its commonly held interpretation: There is a seemingly stark private/public dichotomy…
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Pixels vs. Paper
There’s long been debate over e-books vs. paper books. Now, the Financial Times reports on new research that shows that digital devices encourage deep reading while printed books are better for an active learning. But, in the end, “there doesn’t seem to…
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The Funny Side of Writing
Over at the New Yorker, read an excerpt from Mike Sacks’s upcoming Poking a Dead Frog: Conversations with Today’s Top Comedy Writers. The selection features an interview with George Saunders, in which the writer talks about his upbringing, getting inspiration for…
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Bukowski Demystified
Jonathan Smith from Vice UK spoke with John Martin, Charles Bukowski’s longtime publisher, in an enthralling interview during which Martin, surprisingly, confessed never he had seen the writer drunk once in their 30 years of working together.
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Friends Indeed
It turns out that French poet Charles Baudelaire wasn’t very fond of his compatriot Victor Hugo. Despite having the novelist’s support when prosecuted after publishing Les Fleurs du Mal, the poet may have secretly despised (or perhaps just envied) Hugo—in a…
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Crystal Eaters and Red Giants
Rumpus contributor Shane Jones‘s new novel, Crystal Eaters, is out this month from Two Dollar Radio. He’s been exchanging emails with Laura van den Berg about the new book, parenthood, and death, and the resulting interview is now out on the…
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Poetry’s Dirty Secret
The dirty secret of poetry is that it is loved by some, loathed by many, and bought by almost no one. Is poetry still valuable? William Logan thinks so, and tells us why in an essay in last weekend’s New York…
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The Beyoncé of Poetry
She won the Pulitzer in 1923, but when newspapers recounted her public readings, they more often focused on her outfits than her writing. Her glamorous and occasionally scandalous life made her a celebrity, but her celebrity (along with other trends…
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Portrait of the Author as a Debut Novelist
Over at BuzzFeed Books, Lincoln Michel asks Alena Graedon, Scott Cheshire, Julia Fierro, and D. Foy, who all just released their first novel, to talk about their writing influences, literary commitments, and elevator pitching their first books.
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Ishmael’s Hot Line
Step #1. Call Ishmael’s number: 774.325.0503. It goes straight to voicemail. Step #2. Listen to Ishmael’s short answering machine message. It changes weekly. Step #3. Leave a voicemail about a book you love and a story you have lived. Have a…