Posts by author
Ian MacAllen
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Russia’s Clandestine Censorship
In Soviet-era Russia, publishers had dedicated censors responsible for approving printed material. Many things were prohibited, and the rules were clear. In modern Russia, ostensibly censorship is banned, but complex laws and ambiguous threats have made contemporary publishers far more conservative.…
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Notable NYC: 2/20–2/26
Saturday 2/20: Joey Yearous-Algozin and Myung Mi Kim join the Segue Series. Yearous-Algozin is the author of Holly Melgard’s Friends and Family, transcriptions of Melgard’s voicemails. Zinc Bar, 4:30 p.m., $5. Sunday 2/21: Angel Nafis, Tommy Pico, Anna Meister, and…
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Fight to the Death over Literary Genre
Two Russian men found themselves on the opposite ends of an argument over the merits of poetry versus prose. The two were drunk and arguing over which genre was more literary. Poetry won the day when he stabbed prose to…
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This Week in Indie Bookstores
A bookstore owner in Maine has collected a huge payday after a rare stamp sold for close to $60,000. One of the missing Hong Kong booksellers was a British citizen, and now Britain is saying this citizen was involuntarily removed to…
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Notable NYC: 2/13–2/19
Saturday 2/13: Michael Spears, Joe Gannon, and SJ Rozan join Trumpet Fiction with host Charles Salzberg. KGB, 7 p.m., free. Sandeep Parmar and Cody-Rose Clevidence join the Segue Series. Zinc Bar, 4:30 p.m., $5. Sunday 2/14: Tony Tulathimutte, Alysia Nicole…
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A Good Literary Agent Is Hard to Find
Finding a literary agent isn’t easy. It might just be the worst thing ever. Over at Publisher’s Weekly, Ken Pisani looks at the troubling process he went through until he found an agent—one he went to high school with.
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This Week in Indie Bookstores
New York City’s St. Mark’s Bookshop has twice now been faced with closing over financial issues. But the store has a mysterious, rich benefactor who keeps pouring money into the shop. Despite the two lifelines, the store may close as…
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Book Collecting Thrives
Book collecting of antique and rare books remains big business. For example, Harry Potter and the Philosopher’s Stone, the original British version of the first book in the Harry Potter series, could be worth as much as $40,000—only five hundred…
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Notable NYC: 2/6–2/12
Saturday 2/6: John Wray and Will Sheff celebrate the launch of The Lost Time Accidents, Wray’s new novel. BookCourt, 6 p.m., free. Liz Howard and Lanny Jordan Jackson join the Segue Series. Zinc Bar, 4:30 p.m., $5. Monday 2/8: Robert…
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Collectors Might Be Surprised That Rare Books Are Rare
Rare books are harder to find than many amateur collectors think, and its more probable that buying old books leads to hoarding rather than a big payday. Its highly unlikely, for instance, for a library to accidentally sell off an…
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The Last Private Libraries
Not all libraries are free and open to the public, and for much of modern history, private subscription libraries with paying patrons were the norm. While most libraries in the United States are now public institutions, a few specialty subscription…
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A Writer’s Residency in a Bridge
Seattle plans on paying a writer $10,000 for a residency in the Fremont Bridge. The bridge, listed on the National Register of Historic Places, is the most frequently opened drawbridge in the US. The recipient of the fellowship will have…