The Guardian
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Between the World and Ta-Nehisi Coates
Over at the Guardian, Ta-Nehisi Coates talks to Tim Adams about the success of Between the World and Me, racism, and drawing inspiration from James Baldwin: It’s more Baldwin understood that if you are going to say something important about the world it…
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Getting Personal
In response to Slate’s viral article about the rise of the “harrowing personal essay,” prominent editors from different publications weigh in on the importance of confessional writing, reasons for its gender divide, and the publishing process behind it.
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How “Good Stories” Make Sense of Crisis
For the Guardian, author Gillian Cross explains how fiction might help people to better understand and empathize with the experience of Syrian refugees: It might seem frivolous to be talking about stories at a time like this. Shouldn’t we be concentrating…
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A Fitting Honor
According to the Guardian, the late Terry Pratchett’s final novel, The Shepherd’s Crown, has soared to the top of UK’s book charts: The chart-topping performance marks Pratchett’s 10th British No 1, said his publisher, and is “a fitting tribute to…
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Awkward Feminist
The Guardian’s Anna Schachner has a run-down of the awkwardness that ensued between Roxane Gay and Erica Jong at the keynote address of the Decatur Book Festival on September 4th. While some audience members clapped, others shifted uncomfortably at the…
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What to Call the Penis?
Kim Devereux outlines some rules for writing good sex. (But never bad sex.) Do go for the etymological dictionary for epithets that feel historical: like, membrum virile, arbor vitae (from the late 18th century, for a type of evergreen shrub), wrinkly…
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British Library Rejects Taliban Archive
Fear of terrorism has frightened the British Library into rejecting a cache of digital archives and other documents relating to the Taliban, reports the Guardian. The archive includes more than 2 million translated words, but accepting the documents might violate…
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Books That Save Lives
For the Guardian, Erwin James reflects on his experience reading while in prison, and how books like David Levering’s Prisoners of Honor reshaped his life: I was without skills or abilities, but I could read. I’m sure the six books a week I was…
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The Guardian Asks for Help
After the Guardian released a list of the 100 best books written in English, readers and writers railed against it for being too male and too white. The newspaper is listening to its readers and asking for more diverse suggestions to…
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Ishiguro’s Indiscriminate Archive
The University of Texas purchased Kazuo Ishiguro’s archive for just over $1m, which consists of early drafts and notes that the novelist threw “indiscriminately” into a cardboard box under his desk during his drafting process. In addition, the collection includes…
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The New Science Fiction
The stories we tell ourselves can help us understand, and maybe even adapt, to this new world. But the dour dystopias and escapist fantasies of our current science fiction diet just won’t do. We need something new: a form of…
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Survivor Literature
YA authors now find themselves walking the fine line between fiction and reality. They have a duty to portray illness accurately, as they must avoid harmfully romanticising dying…they must also be careful not to cross into territory which is too…