Posts by author
Ian MacAllen
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Are YA Dystopian Novels Breeding Conservatives?
The Harry Potter series might have been helping make young kids more open and accepting of diversity, but a new crop of young adult novels might be push kids in the opposite direction of the political spectrum. Heroines like Katniss…
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Divedapper Focuses on Poet Interviews
Former Rumpus contributor Kaveh Akbar has launched a “collaborative poetry phenomenon,” Divedapper, a web based literary concern featuring interviews with contemporary poets. The site has launched with interviews with Dorianne Laux, Austin Straus, Rae Armantrout, and others. Divedapper is also available on…
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Secret Locker Library Distributes Banned Books
A student at a Catholic high school has been running a secret library out of her locker distributing banned books to fellow students. The student, identified by online handle Nekochan, was incensed when The Catcher in the Rye appeared on…
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An Author’s Economics
How much does it cost to write a book? Kevin Sampsell, author of This is Between Us and A Common Pornography, opens up to The Portland Mercury about how much he actually earned from his books — or rather, how…
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Sometimes Judge A Book By Its Cover
Cover designer Peter Mendelsund has released two new books about cover design. Cover collects many of the images Mendelsund has designed over his career and What We See When We Read explores the relationship between cover art and the books…
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Can Poptimism Save Literary Culture?
Literary criticism suffers from elitism, claims Elisabeth Donnelly over at Flavorwire, and the solution is introducing a poptimism revolution. The term poptimism originated in the music world as a reaction to stodgy music reviewers’ love of Bob Dylan and “argues…
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Making Art and Being an Artist
When does an artist get to be called an artist? Anne Truitt explored the labels in her diary seven years in the making, Daybook: The Journal of an Artist. Maria Popova over at Brain Pickings looks at Truitt’s work and…
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Examining the Ordinary
Stephan Eirik Clark, author of a new novel about artificial sweeteners, Sweetness #9, discusses his fascination with Don DeLillo’s White Noise over at The Atlantic: White Noise, though—it was something more. It was getting at what I’d always wanted to…
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Picture Books for the Visually Impaired
Braille-like picture books for visually impaired children may soon be a reality using 3D printing technology to create physical impressions of books’ images. The Tactile Picture Books Project has been experimenting with classic picture books like Goodnight Moon, explains New…
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Collecting John Updike’s Trash
Paul Moran began collecting John Updike’s trash in 2006, three years before the writer’s death. He found discarded photos, story drafts, and honorary degrees. The acquisition of curbside trash seems perfectly legal in Massachusetts, even if Updike and his wife…
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Notable NYC: 8/30–9/5
Monday 9/1: Todd Colby and Adam Fitzgerald read poetry. Fitzgerald’s The Late Parade explores phantom memories. BookCourt, 7 p.m., free. Tuesday 9/2: Adam Wilson and Justin Taylor, literary best friends, talk about their story collections. Flings (August 2014) is Taylor’s…
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Win Or Lose, Amazon War Means Change
No matter how the dispute between publisher Hachette and online mage-retailer Amazon resolves itself, the one thing that can be assured is that the publishing industry is changing. Amazon might hope to accelerate and seize control of the changes through…