With the preliminaries out of the way, The Morning News Tournament of books unveils its first head-to-head matchup today, Teddy Wayne’s Kapitoil versus Jonathan Franzen’s Freedom. Don’t miss the commentary that accompanies each judgment (some say it’s the best part of the whole thing.)
Round One of the Rooster
Working Title
Our own Hannah Gersen writes for Catapult on titling her debut novel, Home Field. As she puts it, “The idea that a title could dissuade a reader was not something I had even considered.” Pair with Bill Morris’s Millions interview with the author.
Wednesday Links: Honorary Awards; Scottish Flood; Book Sale
Joan Didion and NPR uber-interviewer Terry Gross will be honored at the National Book Awards ceremony in November. Dideon won a National Book Award in 2005 for her memoir The Year of Magical Thinking.The National Library of Scotland flooded yesterday thanks to a faulty sprinkler system. It was a close call: “Some modern books and manuscripts suffered ‘surface’ water damage, but all of the ‘important, iconic’ books were saved.”Oops! A church in England sold some rare tomes for modest though still substantial sum to a book dealer, only to find, too late, that they are worth much, much more.
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Late American Novel Fans
Word is there have been sightings of the book I co-edited The Late American Novel: Writers on the Future of Books in the wild, though it’s officially due in March. You can keep up on all the news about the book, including events and links to excerpts on the book’s new Facebook page.
The Darkest, Funniest Horse
“As a Pulitzer winner, it’s a unicorn.” For the Washington Post, book critic Ron Charles praised the Pulitzer Prize judges for awarding the Fiction prize to Andrew Sean Greer‘s Less, a comedic, “laugh-till-you-can’t-breathe funny” novel. Pair with: our post with all the 2018 Pulitzer winners.
The Sartorialist
Scott Schuman, also known as The Sartorialist, has published a book of his on-the-street fashion photographs. For a taste of what’s in the book, take a look at his blog, The Sartorialist.
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Jeff Baskin Writers Fellowship
Submissions are open for the Oxford American‘s Jeff Baskin Writers Fellowship, which awards a $10,000 living stipend, housing, and an editorial apprenticeship toward a nine-month residency with the magazine. The goal is to support the writing of a debut work of creative nonfiction, and the application deadline is midnight EST, March 30, 2017.
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Writerly Pets
Famous authors and their dogs, photographed by Jill Krementz. Via The Daily Dish.