It Was a Joke
In an essay on author authenticity for The Millions, Alcy Levy examines Percival Everett’s satirical novel Erasure—about a black author whose own satirical novel is taken seriously—in light of recent literary identity…
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Kelly Lynn Thomas
173 posts
Kelly Lynn Thomas reads, writes, and sometimes sews in Pittsburgh, PA. Her creative work has appeared in Sou’wester, Thin Air Magazine, Heavy Feather Review, metazen, and others, and she received her MFA in Creative Writing from Chatham University. She is hopelessly obsessed with Star Wars and can always be found with a large mug of tea. She also runs the very small Wild Age Press. Read more at kellylynnthomas.com.
A Safe Harbor
Book clubs have long been a mainstay in literary and bookish circles. Claire Kirch, writing for Publisher’s Weekly, takes a look at how some indie bookstores have leveraged this to increase…
Riding the Underground
The Underground Railroad has always fascinated Americans, and recently it has exploded in popularity, with books, TV shows, and even representation on United States currency. But does the mythologized version of the Underground…
Stable Decline
According to an article by Alison Flood in the Guardian, library use in England has fallen almost 31 percent over the past decade, with one notable exception: Adults in the least…
History as Structure
In a Q & A with debut novelist Yaa Gyasi on the ZYZZYVA blog, Ismail Muhammad asks Gyasi to expound on narrative structure and the far-reaching effects of the international slave trade: I…
Read More, Live Longer
In a recent study, researchers found that people over fifty who read more—books in particular—lived an average of two years longer than those who didn’t read at all: The researchers discovered…
Wealth and the American Dream
Two recent novels, The Nest by Cynthia D’Aprix Sweeney and Sons and Daughters of Ease and Plenty by Ramona Ausubel, explore privilege and entitlement, and what happens when wealth disappears. It…
Virgil for All
As part of its ongoing project to digitize its library of more than 80,000 manuscripts, the Vatican has recently digitized a 1,600-year-old edition of Virgil’s Aeneid. Only 76 pages survive what…
A No-Hitter
Not even James Patterson or Stephen King have reached a top-twenty spot with a new book on the New York Times‘s Bestseller list this year. Publishers are blaming mediocre sales of adult…
The Rumpus Interview with Ranbir Singh Sidhu
Ranbir Singh Sidhu discusses his new novel, Deep Singh Blue, growing up in rural California, and the privileged, problematic world of publishing.
A Perfect Likeness
As part of the Hemingway Days festival on Key West each year, the Hemingway Look-Alike Society hosts the Hemingway Look-Alike contest. This year, and for the first time ever, someone with…
No Need for Defense
What did I learn from falling in love with a trans person? That spark plugs are on sale this week at Fleet Farm. How to feed a chicken. How to…