Book Tour Ticketgate
Lena Dunham launched her collection of personal essays, Not that Kind of Girl, yesterday. At NPR, the filmmaker, actress, and author discusses oversharing, sexual assault, and pornography. Dunham did not get through the…
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Ian MacAllen
1314 posts
Ian MacAllen is the author of Red Sauce: How Italian Food Became American (Rowman & Littlefield, April 2022). His writing has appeared in Chicago Review of Books, Southern Review of Books, The Offing, 45th Parallel Magazine, Little Fiction, Vol 1. Brooklyn, and elsewhere. He tweets @IanMacAllen and is online at IanMacAllen.com.
Sherlock Holmes and the Case of the Missing Manuscript
Sir Arthur Conan Doyle left an original manuscript of a Sherlock Holmes story to his daughter, who in turn left it to the Nation of Scotland. Then the manuscript sat…
The 24 Amtrak Residents
Earlier this year, Alexander Chee tweeted about his enjoyment of writing on trains. Amtrak jumped aboard and decided to launch an Amtrak residency program granting writers free, multi-day train rides…
For Whom Amazon Tolls
As the Amazon versus Hachette dispute drags on into its fifth month, Alex Shepard, over at Melville House, examines the conflict, and what it means for publishers and authors: Traditional publishers…
Notable NYC: 9/27–10/3
Saturday 9/27: Dylan Landis reads Rainey Royal (September 2014). BookCourt, 7 p.m., free. Anselm Berrigan, Sapphire, and Katrin Tschirgi celebrate the release of the latest issue of Washington Square. NYU Creative…
Poetic Side-Effects
A 76-year-old woman suffering from epileptic seizures was placed on medication with an unusual side-effect: the compulsion to write poetry. The condition, known as hypergraphia, led the woman to write…
Banned Books Week: A Rumpus Roundup
Sunday marked the start of Banned Books Week, a celebration of freedom, and a recognition of the threat of censorship. Libraries around the US are hosting events. Books are banned for…
Speed Reading the Man-Booker Shortlist
To test reading software Spritz, an app that helps readers achieve high words-per-minute rates, Rob Boffard decided to start with the Man-Booker shortlist. He used the program to read Joshua…
YA Lit Tackles Modern Concerns
Plenty of critics have lamented the rise of Young Adult literature, but its popularity isn’t accidental. The genre is focusing on contemporary problems and, more importantly, manifesting them in easily…
Classic Literature Or Social Construct?
Classic literature is neither timeless nor fundamental. Writing is bound by its place in history, both as we read it and as it was written, and the idea of a…
Crouching Tiger, Hidden Hamlet
Shakespeare is invading China. The first complete Chinese translation of the works of Shakespeare wasn’t released until 1967, but Britain’s number one dramatist is now starting to catch the attention…
Notable NYC: 9/20–9/26
Saturday 9/20: Amber Atiya, Keegan Lester, Emily Present, Cecily Iddings, Katie Fowley, Liz Clark Wessel, Lucia Stacey, Anna Marschalk-Burns, Alexis Pope, Amy Lawless, and Bridget Talone celebrate the latest issue…