Posts by author
Mary Allen
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Annie Dillard and the Art of the Essay
“Writers serve as the memory of a people. They chew over our public past.” Read an essay on Annie Dillard’s philosophy of the essay and its writer over at Brain Pickings.
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We Can Rebuild Ourselves by Reading
Libraries without Borders unveiled its latest project at the New York Public Library. They’re shipping a “library in a box,” or Idea Boxes, to refugee camps. The idea is that food, water and shelter aren’t enough, said Patrick Weil, the…
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Life is Short, Read Good Books
The Millions interviews Little, Brown editor Allie Sommer on the ins-and-outs of being an editor. She talks about her pet peeves, editing style, pleasure reading, and how the process of editing a book differs with every new project: “Nobody tells you,…
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Stage Diving and Snap Decisions with Beth Lisick
Back in December we interviewed the talented author, performer, and storyteller Beth Lisick. Read her new interview in Poets & Writers about the art of giving a reading. Here’s what she has to say about pleasing a crowd: I don’t…
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The Gift of Understanding
Author and illustrator Wendy MacNaughton is featured on Brain Pickings for her new book, Meanwhile in San Francisco: A City in its Own Words. MacNaughton’s beautiful illustrations remind us of the importance of community, and an essential message: [T]here is…
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A Map for Book Lovers
If you love San Francisco and its literary scene as much as we do, you will be smitten with this interactive map of the Literary City. Find booksellers, places, and even settings from some of your favorite books! Perfect for…
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You’re Jonathan Franzen or You’re Nobody
“I write because I’ve always wanted to know what bankruptcy feels like.” John Winters gives his sobering reaction to the hotly debated “MFA vs. NYC: The Two Cultures of American Fiction,” in his essay, “Why I Write: 2014 Edition.” He details…
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Forgetting Myself
If you loved Jerry Stahl’s essay “Bad Moments in Parenting” as much as we did, be sure to check out the beautiful, devastating account of of one woman’s experience with dementia by Gerda Saunders. Her deeply personal essay gives insight…
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Gender, literature, and criticism
Women’s work has always been awesome, just as the work written by people of color, minorities, and other classes of people who aren’t white men has been. The work of white men has been awesome, too, but it has benefitted…
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Trending Now: The Internet Knows Your Secrets
Last week, Ryan Pittington talked about the new trend among aspiring and established authors alike to use Twitter as a means of staying connected, not only to other writers, but to potential readers. What should one tweet? Where do we…
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My Book Failed
Emily Gould is broke. Writing her first book got her into debt, which leaves her to wonder, now what? She muses, “How could someone who had been so mistaken about the narrative structure of her own life hope to write…