Posts by author
Ian MacAllen
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Notable NYC: 4/5–4/11
Saturday 4/5: T. Zachary Cotler reads from his novel Ghost at the Loom (2013), the story of a poet remembering his sister as he treks across Europe. BookCourt, 7 p.m., free. Sunday 4/6: Paige Taggart celebrates the release of Want…
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From Writer to Realtor
Famed slam poet Maggie Estep passed away suddenly in February. Over at The Billfold, Rumpus contributor Sari Botton laments the decline of the publishing industry and the need for writers like Estep to enter into real estate: It was a little…
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Internships and the Hegemonic Authority
While the unpaid internship is finally facing scrutiny from courts and government commissions, simply eliminating those positions doesn’t solve the problem of privilege. Further, reliance on a privileged class threatens both the publishing industry and society as a whole: Media organizations, like…
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Do Not Discuss List Draws Attention to Banned Books
Reddit’s Do Not Discuss List was revealed as an April Fools’ Day prank by the forum moderators. They planned the fake ban partly to draw attention to actually-banned books.
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Bookstores and Gentrification
Last week, the New York Times wrote about the end of Manhattan’s bookstore culture as the shops follow the city’s literary scene into the outer boroughs. Now Dustin Kurtz over at MobyLives raises the possibility that bookstores are responsible for…
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There’s No Crying in Writing
Thrice Fiction editor RW Spryszak has some advice for writers: rejection isn’t personal. Sending hate mail to editors is no way to get published. Writers may resent changes that editors request, but it’s all part of the process: Writers need…
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Fool Me Once
April Fools’ Day provides the opportunity for a little bit of old fashioned fun. Jacket Copy has a rundown of some of yesterday’s literary pranks from across the pond.
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The Year of Lynne Tillman
Writing for Flavorwire, critic Jason Diamond has declared 2014 the year of Lynne Tillman: Her fiction is the work of an author who takes meticulous care of every single word, like a painter making sure every brush stroke has meaning.
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UK Prisoners Denied Books
MobyLives reports that British prisons have banned books sent as gifts, a right even allowed in notorious Guantanamo Bay. Many British authors have criticized the new policy—an online petition has collected more than 20,000 signatures. Even prison staff seem to…
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The Incidental Bookseller
In n+1‘s continuing examination of Amazon, Ruth Curry, co-founder of online bookstore Emily Books, looks at the relationship of the online megastore to publishers. Amazon’s entry into the publishing world was an accident: Amazon was only incidentally a bookseller: Bezos…
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Reddit’s Do Not Discuss List
The books subgroup on Reddit, the famously libertarian-leaning message board, has planned a ban on discussion of several popular books. Many of the titles have been banned previously in the real world. Claiming “good discussion is stifled by repetition,” the…
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Notable NYC: 3/29–4/4
Saturday 3/29: Courtney Zoffness, Marin Gazzaniga, Lisa Dierbeck, Marian Fontana read as part of the Brooklyn Writers Space series. BookCourt, 7 p.m., free. Joe Meno, Carl Phillips, and Simone White read at the Washington Square issue launch party. Meno’s Office…