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The [novel’s] main question would be, How does a man stuck in resentment and anger at others and the world, who lacks a sense of belonging and sense of his usefulness in the world, find his way out of that?
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Tyler Barton discusses his new story collection, ETERNAL NIGHT AT THE NATURE MUSEUM.
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Literary events taking place virtually this week!
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Literary events in and around NYC this week!
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Literary events in and around NYC this week!
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Literary events in and around NYC this week!
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Literary events in and around NYC this week!
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Literary events in and around NYC this week!
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Literary events in and around Philly this week!
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Literary events in and around NYC this week!
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Kristi Coulter discusses her debut essay collection, NOTHING GOOD CAN COME FROM THIS.
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The 2018 Whiting Awards winners share books that have inspired them, plus a giveaway!
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Terese Mailhot discusses her debut memoir, Heart Berries, writing candidly about one’s personal life, and the good that can come from anger.
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I can’t help but wonder what if, in detangling love stories and our relationships to them, Catron is building yet another narrative—an anti-narrative, perhaps—of love.
...moreWe’re halfway through June, and though the first day of summer isn’t technically until June 21, I think we can all agree that we’re well into the sweltering season. This week’s story captures those quintessential staples of summer—swimming pools, soft serve, bike rides, frozen Capri Suns—but it’s no typical poolside read. “We Were the Drowners” by […]
...moreLee Clay Johnson discusses his novel Nitro Mountain, growing up with bluegrass musician parents, and what people are capable of under the right set of circumstances.
...moreI think I always knew this story about the rural road where I grew up needed to be told. At the Believer, Annie DeWitt talks to Brandon Hobson about realism, ambiguity, and how her own childhood folds into her new novel, White Nights in Split Town City, out in August from Tyrant Books. Guiding lights […]
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Rebecca Schiff discusses her debut collection The Bed That Moved, choosing narrators who share similarities with each other and with herself, and whether feminism and fiction-writing conflict.
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It’s like a landscape that you can’t know until you’ve seen it through four seasons, until you’ve seen it on days gray and bright.
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Annie Liontas talks about her debut novel Let Me Explain You, crafting voices, and the benefits—and occasional pitfalls—of returning to get an MFA after years of writing in the dark.
...moreSaturday 7/4: Macy’s celebrates independence from the English King with fireworks. East River, 9 p.m., free. Monday 7/6: Tony Hoagland reads from Twenty Poems That Could Save America. BookCourt, 7 p.m., free. Tuesday 7/7: Julia Fierro celebrates the paperback release of Cutting Teeth, the comedic domestic drama about Brooklyn families on vacation. BookCourt, 7 p.m., […]
...moreI’ll admit that I was so into sentence construction when I started working with Amy that I had zero interest in character development. Hempel subtly persuaded me, partially through introducing me to radical prose stylists who also care about their characters, that pathos in fiction is not an outmoded concept and is not the enemy […]
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I couldn’t wait to read it, but I was also infinitely patient. It’s that delayed gratification thing. I’m a sucker for it, and there are books that are worth the wait.
...moreAmy Hempel started writing fiction in her late twenties when she took a workshop with Gordon Lish at Columbia; she stayed in this workshop as a student for years. In an interview with The Paris Review, Hempel recalls her first class meeting with Lish: students were asked to write their worst secret. By exploring the […]
...moreToday is the brilliant Amy Hempel’s birthday! Check out this interview with her on Café Americain, where she praises Rumpus pals Steve Almond and Sheila Heti, and for means of celebration, read (or reread) her glorious short story The Harvest.
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