Self-published novelist Kemble Scott debuts at no. 5 on the San Francisco Chronicle’s bestseller list with The Sower, following a limited hard-cover release to Bay Area independent booksellers by Numina Press, who acquired the book after Scott’s initial e-book upload to scribd.com in May. According to Publisher’s Weekly, “The Sower has had one of the most unorthodox publishing trajectories in these changing publishing times.”
Another Self-Publishing Triumph
NPR Commentator to Swim from Cuba to Key West
“More than 30 years after her last big swim, Diana Nyad is back in the water,” writes NPR’s Greg Allen. “Nyad, a former commentator for NPR’s Morning Edition, became well-known in the 1970s for her swim around Manhattan Island and, a few years later, for swimming from the Bahamas to Florida. Now, at age 61, she’ll soon be attempting a 103-mile swim from Cuba to Key West.” Unfortunately she’s already missed Key West’s Hemingway Days.
●
●
Literary Playlists (Again)
A. A. Knopf and Doubleday publishers have gathered Spotify playlists by such notables as Colson Whitehead, Jennifer Egan, Erin Morgenstern, and a selection of songs and artists mentioned in Haruki Murakami‘s 1Q84.
This Is Not Confessional Poetry
Over at the Bennington Review, Michael Dumanis interviews Year in Reading alumna Dorothea Lasky about persona poetry, the first-person “I,” and creativity. Pair with Gila Lyons’s Millions essay on creativity and madness.
●
●
Connected by “And” and “And”
New books of poetry from names like Linda Gregerson and James Tate are always a cause for celebration. Over at the New Yorker, Dan Chiasson takes a look at Gregerson’s Prodigal: New and Selected Poems and Tate’s Dome of the Hidden Pavilion in one extremely thorough essay.
●
●
Cohen on Joyce
On Bloomsday, Joshua Cohen highlights Joyce’s heirs around the world.
●
●
A Poor Man’s Jaron Lanier?
I recently sat down for a long and wide-ranging interview with The Faster Times. Topics covered include technology, Taco Bell, technology, Richard Yates, technology, Friday Night Lights, and…er…Internet self-promotion.
Checking Out And Renting
Kindle users can start borrowing e-books from their local libraries. This seems innocuous enough. But what about the proliferation of textbook rentals (e.g. the type on Chegg)? Some believe it may put us on the road to serfdom.
●
●