“Please shred all documents up to and including this one.” – From Ben Greenman’s “Paper Trail” for McSweeney’s.
Paper Trail
Truthiness and the Realish
Now that NPR has begun fact checking his work, it’s come to light that David Sedaris is a liar. Or, he sort of embellishes. His work is ‘realish.’ So basically, he tells stories. On NPR. Which is feeling pretty sensitive abut the line between truth and truthiness after the Mike Daisey upset.
Beverly Cleary and the Beauty of Bad Moods
Kathryn VanArendonk reflects on the life and work of Beverly Cleary, who portrayed children with all their complexities, tantrums, and anger included.
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Literary Translators are Winners
The American Literary Translators Association has announced this year’s recipients of the National Translation Award. Prose honors went to William M. Hutchins’s translation from the Arabic of Ibrahim al-Koni’s The New Waw: Saharan Oasis, and the poetry winner was Pierre Joris’s translation from the German of Paul Celan’s Collected Later Poetry.
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Democrats and the Written Word
Jill Lepore brings a critical eye to the memoirs of 2020's Democratic presidential candidates, including Pete Buttigieg and Elizabeth Warren.
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