Reading Rainbow frontman LeVar Burton plans to launch “an educational iPad app that lets children explore topics of interest.”
Take a Look, It’s In An e-book
Partying with Houellebecq
Nelly Kaprielian parties with Michel Houellebecq after he wins the Goncourt: "'After France, the world!' jokes Beigbeder, and everybody’s quick to raise a glass."
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Oh, you were the best of all my days.
Zadie Smith reading Frank O'Hara's "Animals," by way of the Chicago based ad and design agency, Coudal Partners, and their voice mail based poetry project, Verse by Voice.
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Poetry Can Be Anything
“He taught me that poetry can be anything and with that comes great freedom.” Reminiscences by a former student of the poet John Ashbery upon his death. And for a contemporary take on the question of just what, exactly, poetry is and/or might be, see our recent conversation between Jill Bialosky and Matthew Zapruder.
Vote Knope
The most important news of 2013 so far: Parks and Recreation star Amy Poehler is currently writing a memoir, to be published in fall of 2014.
Long Form Back in Vogue
Is long form nonfiction returning to prominence and popularity? Folks at The LA Times' blog think so. Anna Clark has posted a list of recommended reading for aspiring nonfiction writers, too.
Greil Marcus on The Doors, Pauline Kael, and James Wolcott
In an interview for The Atlantic, Greil Marcus talks about his new book The Doors: A Lifetime of Listening to Five Mean Years. Later on, however, he tosses off his gloves to dismiss the bits about Pauline Kael in James Wolcott's memoir Lucking Out. "I’m not really interested in what Jim has to say about Pauline," Marcus says. "He became an acolyte of Pauline’s in a way that was embarrassing to read, when he was mimicking her and celebrating her in The Village Voice."
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