The August issue of Open Letters is available. Nestled amidst the literary fare are early Oscar nominations from Sarah Hudson and a piece on the video game The Sims by Phillip A. Lobo.
August Open Letters
A Midnight Literary Meal
Looking for a new literary magazine to submit to? Check out Midnight Breakfast. The Rumpus's Rebecca Rubenstein edits the online free literary magazine, which is looking for fiction, nonfiction, interviews, and art that will "spark a conversation." The first issue includes a Jason Diamond coming-of-age essay and a short story by Matthew Salesses.
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“The ringing, defiant poetry of Adrienne Rich.”
The New Yorker has made six poems that Adrienne Rich published in the magazine available online.
Danielle Steel Has Had Enough
Ultra-bestselling author Danielle Steel went off recently about something that’s been bothering her for ages. “I think some people are threatened if one is enterprising or has many/varied interests,” she writes. In particular, “it’s about men who don’t like women getting out there, doing something new or innovative and accomplishing something.”
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A Confession
Cat Marnell and Alana Massey both have new books out, and they are, in their own ways, variants on the genre of "confessional" writing. In an essay for Slate, Katy Waldman unpacks their essential appeal and their arguments, describing how each goes about the task of reinventing the concept of the memoir. You could also read our interview with Massey.
Fiction vs. Fear
In a By Heart piece for The Atlantic, Harriet Lane writes about the "bleak precise nature" of Philip Larkin's poetry (what Stephen Akey called "The Poetry of Mental Unhealth" in a Millions review) and about the power inherent in writing fiction. "In my everyday life I have no control, really: who does? But on paper, I hold all the cards. Fiction provides you with a way to shape a world, to exert the kind of power and agency our real lives so often lack."
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Luck Runs Out
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