W.S. Merwin, a Hawaii-based poet born in 1927, has been named the 17th Poet Laureate of the United States. A fellow poet writes, “There is something monklike about Merwin … He is trying to achieve a contemplative distance from desire and ambition.”
W.S. Merwin named as 17th Poet Laureate of the USA
The Back of the Face
“A neck cannot be modern. A neck is in time, belongs to time, but is not formed by it. My guess is that even photos of Neanderthal necks would not differ significantly… [They are] in a certain sense, pure nature. Something that grows in a certain place, the way tree trunks grow, or mussels, fungi, moss.” Recommended reading: Karl Ove Knausgaard on the sanctity of bodies, the nature of truth, and the back of the neck. The third volume of Knausgaard’s bestselling My Struggle hit American bookshelves last week. (Check out our own review of Knausgaard’s previous volumes.)
One hundred tons of wisdom and learning
Ryeberg, an online magazine of writers curating YouTube videos, has a handy guide to creating an ebook in 8 easy steps. Step number 2: “Transform the information from the tape into static cosmic energy.”
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St. Mark’s Cash Mob
New Yorkers! At 3:00 today, come join The St. Mark’s Cash Mob and help the iconic bookshop relocate to the East Village. High rollers can even get a prize from The Paris Review.
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