Talk Literary to Me
The artist statement is not just a representation of what you are working on, but an intervention in what you are working on. If you start saying, I aim to…
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Lincoln Michel
56 posts
Writing = Work = Job
Settling the debate about whether “writer” is job that arose with Merritt Tierce’s Marie Claire essay about going broke post-debut novel, and a response piece by Ester Bloom at The Billfold calling…
Writing Gives Me No Happiness
A novel wants to befriend you, a short story almost never. Over at VICE, Lincoln Michel nabbed the elusive and brilliant Joy Williams for an interview about her newest short story…
Everything You Ever Wanted to Know about Publishing
At Electric Literature, Lincoln Michel talks about the “taboo” topic of book sales, and offers some advice for writers: Writers should absolutely write with an eye toward art, not markets.…
Fairytales Still Make Our Skin Crawl
Fairytales can be seen as formulaic, but these formulas provide the bones for modern writers to fill in as they please; adaptations of classic fairytales are still making bestseller lists…
Notable NYC: 4/23–4/29
Saturday 4/23: Latasha N. Nevada Diggs, Jadele McPherson, t’ai freedom ford, and Val Jeanty read poems of surrealism and politics. High Line Park at 23rd Street, 3 p.m., free. Tonya…
Tech Companies Profit While Writers Starve
Digital media companies are suddenly worried about declining ad revenue, and the venture capitalists funding these companies have also turned off the faucet of cash as they realize that success…
Books Without Authors
At Electric Literature, Lincoln Michel wonders why readers care so much about Elena Ferrante’s “real” identity, particularly when the anonymous author has made it clear that she believes books “have…
Agents and Editors and Readers! Oh My!
At Electric Literature, Lincoln Michel offers a sharp response to a recent Atlantic article that explores how MFA programs have influenced contemporary literature: The MFA is only two to three years out of…
Art Is Not A Formula
Electric Literature’s Lincoln Michel writes a rebuttal to a recent Atlantic article “All Stories Are The Same,” which attempts to reduce stories to basic formulas. Michel argues: These self-congratulatory attempts to reduce art to…
A Rumpus Book Club Subscription Makes a Great Gift
We’re at that point in the holiday shopping season where if you don’t already have a gift for someone, you either have to deal with the other last-minute shoppers in stores,…
Notable NYC: 12/12–12/18
Saturday 12/12: Diana Hamilton and Steve McCaffery join the Segue series. Zinc Bar, 4:30 p.m., $5. Many people read Charles Dickens A Christmas Carol. Housing Works, 1 p.m., free. Brian…