…meanwhile, quondam neighbor Jonathan Lethem has packed up for California (to take over the Pomona College position last held by David Foster Wallace). Just in time for Halloween, he raps with New York Magazine about the move…and about his new, book-length treatment of John Carpenter‘s They Live.
Brooklyn Boys II
Houellebecq Wins France’s Top Literary Award
Controversial writer Michel Houellebecq finally wins France’s top literary award, the Goncourt Prize, for The Map and the Territory (published in French last September).
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Edwidge Danticat on Earthquake in Haiti
Video of Haitian American novelist Edwidge Danticat talking about the earthquake in Haiti at Democracy Now.
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Recommended Single Sentence Animation
You may have heard us mention Electric Literature’s Recommended Reading project recently. It’s a great new venture in which short stories are selected by other prominent writers — and it’s recently surpassed its fundraising goal. Now, they’ve even combined the project with one of their most beloved classics: Single Sentence Animation. Check out this little ditty to accompany Ben Marcus’s “Watching Mysteries With My Mother” and, of course, check out their Kickstarter page.
Saunders Story a Bite-Sized Buy
George Saunders’ short story “Fox 8,” which originally appeared in McSweeney’s 33, is available as of today as a $0.99 ebook.
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History of the Cube Farm
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Literary Street Art
Emily Smith discusses the place of zines in contemporary American politics, over at Ploughshares. As she puts it, “Zines, like street art, are allowed critical power through anonymity—a function newsstand periodicals simply can’t perform for the sake of reputation or the sacrifice of advertisers. In this way, zines are small-scale democracies.”
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