Black Hawk Down and Killing Pablo author Mark Bowden explains the “hardest job in football” in this Atlantic article from 2009.
Something To Think About This Sunday
Greater and Greater
The passing of Muhammad Ali was sad for fans of both sports and greatness alike. One little known Ali fact is that he once composed a line-for-line sonnet with another one of “the greatest,” the poet Marianne Moore. Let none other than George Plimpton explain it to you.
●
●
A Mixed Media Analysis
Espen Terjesen, a Norwegian graphic artist, teacher, and writer, has put together a striking piece, equal parts graphic novel and academic essay, on Thomas Bernhard.
●
●
Dispatch From Last Week’s Episode
What better way to warm up for Leigh Stein’s forthcoming Dispatch From the Future than by reading her ongoing series of reality-TV-inspired poetry, such as this installment for The Bachelorette, Season 8, Episode 2?
●
●
Fame and Adoration
No less a duo than George R.R. Martin and John Hodgman think their fans are wonderful “ninety percent of the time.” As if to bolster their case, the Tin House blog asked T.C. Boyle and company to recount their best experiences as fans.
●
●
Elizabeth Gilbert’s Ex-Husband Can also Write a Memoir
The former Mrs. Elizabeth Gilbert–that is, Michael Cooper, the husband Gilbert left at the opening of Eat Pray Love, has apparently written a book about his life after their divorce. Will it ever be published?
●
●
Writing Isn’t For Everyone
“I hate to break it to you but everyone does not, in fact, have a book in them.” For The Outline, literary agent Kate McKean writes about the difference between good stories and good books—and what it takes to write the latter. Pair with: an essay on the books that fight back