Posts by author
Jake Slovis
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The Human Voice to the Rescue
At the Atlantic, Joe Fassler speaks with author Kevin Barry about the future of fiction. According to Barry, the “best hope” for building interest in fiction in a world “distracted” by technology is through audio storytelling: But one thing can still…
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Writers Versus Censorship and Repression
For the Guardian, Sian Cain reports on recent efforts from high-profile writers to push China to release Nobel Laureate and poet Liu Xiaobo from prison. According to Cain, Xiaobo was detained for “inciting subversion of state power,” and his supporters, including Margaret Atwood…
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The Role of the Critical Writer
For The Awl, Maria Bustillos sits down for lunch with writer Teju Cole in Bali, where Cole recently spoke at the Ubud Writers and Readers Festival. The two discuss art, colonialism, and the role of the critical writer. Regarding the latter, Cole…
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On Pandering—to White Women
For the Guardian, Sian Cain investigates Marlon James’s recent series of criticisms that accuse publishers of “pandering to white women.” James, the 2015 Man Booker prize winner, has been particularly vocal about the subject on social media. In a recent Facebook post,…
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Fanfiction Can Be Literary Too
For Book Riot, Vanessa Willoughby explores the benefits of writing fan fiction, and how notable works are often imitations of timeless stories: Literature that is unforgettable incites a dialogue at the very least, and a conversation at its best. Novels can…
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Subverting Sexism
For Electric Literature, Sigal Samuel suggests that reading sexist male writes is “compulsory for women writers,” as sexist works can “give insight into the history and logic of sexism”: If reading sexist male writers is recommended for women readers, it’s downright…
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A Dark and Stormy Dystopia
For the New Yorker, Kathryn Schulz analyzes “meteorological activity in fiction,” and how recent questions about climate change has led to a reemergence of weather related fiction, particularly in dystopian works: Our earliest stories about the weather concerned beginnings and endings. What…
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To Copyright, or Not to Copyright
For the New York Times, Doreen Carvajal reports that in order to extend the copyright of Anne Frank’s diary to 2050 in Europe, the Swiss foundation that holds the book’s copyright is crediting Anne Frank’s father as a legal co-author for…
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Libraries Aren’t Just About Books
For Slate, Jacob Brogan suggests that despite “shrinking book racks,” libraries play an important political and social role. This is particularly true in low-income areas, as libraries provide computer access for job searchers and entrepreneurs: Libraries are powerful precisely because they’re…
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The “Myth” Of Dead Young Writers
At the New York Times, Dana Stevens and Benjamin Moser debate whether or not we romanticize writers who die young. While Moser argues that we should not remember a writer for his death, Stevens admits that she is attracted to the “mythic…
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Mary Gaitskill Procrastinates Too
For The Millions, Chelsea Voulgares talks to Mary Gaitskill about her new novel The Mare and how to establish productive writing habits: I’m not consistent like some people seem to be. Sometimes I don’t write at all. If I’m not really working on…
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Lydia Davis Not a Love Junkie
Over at Electric Literature, John Freeman shares his experiences working as an editor with Lydia Davis and investigates what makes Davis “such a tremendous writer on love”: Her stories tighten and tighten around the narrator’s assumptions and build a kind of…