The National Book Foundation announces its annual list of 5 under 35 writers.
5 Under 35
Babies Don’t Like Snakes
The Greek gods and goddesses were nothing if not self-serving. From Mallory Ortberg over at The Toast, here is an introduction to Dirtbag Hera. Don’t you worry, Dirtbag Athena got her comeuppance, too.
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Signatory’s Block
“But now that my first book of poems has come out, I’ve become increasingly aware of the challenge of writing a good inscription to a reader. As soon as I’ve got the pen in my hand, I become the most unoriginal message-writer on the planet.” On a little-known gripe about book signings.
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High Expectations
“My sense, though, was that he was a very complicated man. He could enter a room and be the organizer of games and magic tricks and funny stories and a brilliant mimic and holding forth and entertaining and holding the center. But he was also incredibly controlling; he was domineering.” Ralph Fiennes on playing Charles Dickens.
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From Flesh to Wafer to Cash
Here’s everything you’ve ever wanted to know about the communion wafer’s place in free-market capitalism.
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Postcard Lit
In the latest issue of Bookslut, Madeline Monson-Rosen takes a look at A Card from Angela Carter, a biography which tells the story of the writer’s life through her long correspondence with a friend.
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Some doubles adverbial terms
If you happen to be looking for a long essay on peculiar and systematically ambiguous language of contemporary writing on fine art, and it’s strangely anti-local lexicon Triple Canopy’s got just the thing.
Something Cannibalistic
“When it comes to the personal essay, we want so much and there is something cannibalistic about our desire. We want essayists to splay themselves bare. We want to see how much they are willing to bleed for us. This desire introduces an interesting tension for essay writers. How much should they bleed, and how much blood should they save for themselves?” Roxane Gay reviews Meghan Daum‘s The Unspeakable and reflects on the personal essay for The New York Times Book Review. Pair with our own Hannah Gersen‘s Millions review of the same book.
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