Posts by author
Ian MacAllen
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Future Perceptions
Science fiction author William Gibson has long been predicting the future, and he’s been writing long enough to know that many of the things he has predicted have eventually come true in contemporary society. Now he has a new prediction:…
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You Are What You Read
Not every book is a great work of literature, but that doesn’t mean literary authors don’t have fun reading some pulpy genre books. Over at Electric Literature, Amber Sparks confesses to drawing inspiration from Dean Kuntz and Stephen King before speaking…
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Notable NYC: 10/25–10/31
Saturday 10/25: Natalie Harnett, Anthony Breznican, Helen Wan, and Nicole Kear are the latest Sackett Street Writers. BookCourt, 7 p.m., free. Erica Lewis, Betsy Andrews, Claire Caldwell, and A. H. Jerriod Avant read poetry. Berl’s Poetry Shop, 7 p.m., free.…
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The Vatican Goes Digital
The Vatican Library has been digitizing its 1.6 million books and the first 500 volumes are now available, reports Business Insider. The library was founded in 1451 and the digitization project is expected to take fifteen years. The collection is…
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Art Doesn’t Pay
The arts don’t pay very well, and working as a professional in a creative field like writing, music, or film has grown more precarious. High student debt doesn’t help, but it might explain why almost a quarter of arts graduates…
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High-Speed World
The world is moving faster than ever. Digital technologies have allowed, encouraged, and even required quicker processing of information. The net effect isn’t necessarily a good thing—all that speed has left people struggling to consume information in fragments, and is…
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A Modern-Day Typewriter
The personal computer may have revolutionized the way writers write, but distractions from the Internet and social media may not make it the ideal tool for writing. Designer Adam Leeb has created a hybrid typewriter called a Hemingwrite. Long battery life,…
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Using Language to Combat Violence
Feminism needs stronger language to combat violence against women, argues Jacqueline Rose in the Guardian. Fourth-wave feminism must confront the issue of male-on-female violence globally, crafting new language “that allows women to claim their place in the world.” She points…
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Building Hagrid’s Hut
Killiechassie House, the £1.9 million Scottish estate author J.K. Rowling calls home, will gain a new addition: a circular stone hut similar to the hut that Hagrid resides in at Hogwarts. The summer cottage recently received approval from the local…
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Notable NYC: 10/18–10/24
Saturday 10/18: Poetry Forum 2014. The New School, 10 a.m., $45 daily / $135 full pass. Melissa Buckheit reads poetry along with Corollary Press founder Sueyeun Juliette Lee. Berl’s Poetry Shop. Happy fifth anniversary Greenlight Bookstore. Celebrate all day, party…
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Bringing Literacy to Queens
Only 20% of children in the neighborhood of South Jamaica, Queens, New York, can read at grade level. That number is astoundingly low, but three enterprising young individuals hope to change that through a new non-government organization. They’ve created an…
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The Thomas Pynchon Myth
Thomas Pynchon is a reclusive author—or so we are told. Vice unearths the origins of Pynchon’s famous isolation, attributing the legend to the Paris Review‘s George Plimpton: It all started 51 years ago, in 1963, when George Plimpton in the…