James Salter reviews Paul Hendrickson‘s Hemingway’s Boat for The New York Review of Books. Relatedly, Helena Price has been using 1000memories to compile “memory pages” to “explore the life of Ernest Hemingway as well as his friends and family.” Of particular note is this poster imploring us to “Live the HemingWAY.” Also related, The Paris Review shares a letter from Papa to his sister Ursala Hemingway.
The HemingWAY
Rule No. 8: Is secret.
Colson Whitehead offers eleven simple writing rules. Also check out our review of Whitehead's most recent novel, Zone One.
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St. Crispin’s Day is Here Again
Today is St. Crispin’s Day, a day immortalized in Shakespeare’s Henry V when the title character rallied his British “band of brothers” to face their French adversaries. And according to Guy Patrick Cunningham, “there are lots of ways we can celebrate it.”
Carpet Reading
Poet and antiwar activist David Shook is raising money on Kickstarter. What for, you ask? He wants to rain poetry on a city with the help of a drone. (h/t Poetry Foundation)
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Colson Whitehead Heads to London
Remember when Colson Whitehead wrote about his experiences at the World Series of Poker? Well, the Zone One author is back at it again, but this time with dispatches from London’s Olympic Village. I wonder if he'll share any gossip about Vince Vaughn and the US Women's Soccer team...
In Defense of Distraction
“Utter devotion to the principle that distraction is Satan and writing is paramount can be just as poisonous as an excess of diversion,” writes Benjamin Nugent.
A Cure for Writer’s Block
"Don’t discount the two greatest cures for [writer's] Block: plagiarism and suicide." Joshua Cohen dispenses some curious advice to writers at Ask the Paris Review.