Posts by author
Ian MacAllen
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The Midwest is the Future of American Literature
Flavorwire’s Jason Diamond insists that writers can eschew New York City in favor of greener pastures, offering a comprehensive defense of Franzen country: A closer look at the literary map of the 50 states reveals that even if the publishing industry writ large…
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Fundamentals of Korean Literature
The Airship offers us a quick lesson on Korean literature with this brief introduction to three seminal works, by Heo Gyun, Kim Yujeong, and Kim Sungok, spanning the 16th to 20th centuries.
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Pippi Longstocking Has Best Week Ever
Not only did the beloved redheaded children’s character get a shout-out from Lena Dunham, but Longstocking creator Astrid Lindgren will be immortalized on Sweden’s 20 Krona note.
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Understanding Experimental Writing
Too often new writers expect experimental fiction simply means abnormal page layouts, says Sequoia Nagamatsu, an editor for Psychopomp. Writing in The Review Review, Nagamatsu explores a better definition: In other words, a successful literary experiment (regardless of whether that…
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YA Heroines Don’t Get Fat (Or Tall)
The action heroine archetype is enjoying something of a golden age with blockbuster young adult novels like The Hunger Games and Divergent series starring strong female leads. But Julianne Ross over at The Atlantic has noticed a disturbing trend: all…
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We’d Rather Be Looking at Pictures of Kittens, or How We Learned to Love TL;DR
We’ve probably all found ourselves in the middle of reading a long internet post only to conclude we’d rather spend our time looking at pictures of kittens. Anobium examines the rise of the “Too Long; Didn’t Read” culture pervasive on…
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The Horror, the Horror of Short Form Fiction
Despite the publication this past year of behemoth novels like Donna Tartt’s 750 page The Goldfinch and Eleanor Catton’s 850 page The Luminaries, current trends increasingly embrace truncated fiction. MobyLives took the conclusion of the third annual Twitter Fiction Festival…
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The How and Why of Reading
Writing “in defense of reading” essays is an outmoded literary form. Leo Robson points out in an examination of a slew of new books that reading, unlike other pastimes such as smoking, is generally considered a healthy pursuit. Since nobody…
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Notable NYC: 3/22–3/28
Saturday 3/22: Ariel Gore reads from her new memoir, The End of Eve (February 2014). Bluestockings, 7 p.m., free. Rob Halpern and Ann Lauterbach join the Segue Series. Halpern’s collection Common Place is forthcoming from Ugly Duckling Presse. Segue Series,…
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Notable NYC: 3/15–3/21
Saturday 3/15: Josef Kaplan and Ann Hirsch read poetry. Kaplan’s latest book, All Nightmare: Introductions 2011-2012 collects the prefatory remarks written while curating the Segue Series. Hirsch’s Twelve, censored as “crude and objectionable,” is a collection of instant messenger chat…
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Notable NYC: 3/8–3/14
Saturday 3/8: Ben Marcus talks about his new story collection, Leaving the Sea (January 2014), Rob Spillman, editor of Tin House. Brooklyn Public Library, 4 p.m., free. Craig Morgan Teicher, Wendy Lotterman, Nicole Steinberg, Sarah V. Schweig, Ted Dodson, Krystal…
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Notable NYC: 2/22–2/28
Saturday 2/22: Diane Josefowicz, Justin Boening, Marina Kaganova, and Bianca Stone celebrate the release of the Spring issue of The Saint Ann’s Review. KGB, 7 p.m., free. Chris Chosea will write custom poems. Third Factory, Old American Can Factory, noon,…