To commemorate the book’s 75th anniversary, WNYC and WQXR Radio will present a live radio play of Zora Neale Hurston’s Their Eyes Were Watching God. New Yorkers will be able to catch the broadcast on February 29th and March 1st, and then the rest of the nation can hear it in September.
Janie Crawford and Tea Cake on Air
N.Y.C. vs. M.F.A. vs. R.I.P.
"I’m sure the ghost is fascinated by the N.Y.C. vs. M.F.A. debate, and would add that there’s a literary-world bias... toward writing done by the living." The New Yorker interviews Rebecca Curtis about ghost stories and her latest piece of short fiction, "The Pink House." For more about Curtis, check out our review of her debut collection Twenty Grand: And Other Tales of Love and Money.
Business v. Literature
Have the literati really framed the way we think about capitalism by disparaging business practices? If so, Forbes' Bruce Upbin is asking readers for examples of books (other than Mildred Pierce) in which business is portrayed nicely.
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The gun goes off in the end
"Maybe this is a writer thing, having pages and pages of stuff written that has not yet cohered into a completed arc, which, when you finish it, would be a laurel on which you could rest." A writer considers Chekhov's dictum.
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On Rejection
A few weeks back, Indiana Review editor Joe Hiland shared his list of stories he most often rejects. Now, Michael Mlekoday, the publication’s poetry editor, does likewise with his list of “Five Marks of Oft-Rejected Poems.” Meanwhile, Missouri Review editor Michael Nye has some qualms about this type of post.
Coming Out of the Woodwork
“Suddenly, it seems like gay characters are everywhere in Y.A. literature. Or, if not everywhere, certainly in far more places and in a greater variety than ever before.”
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To Translate or Not to Translate
"A good translation, Han’s subconscious seems to suggest, is a living, breathing thing, which must be understood on its own terms, discovered from beneath the great white sheet." The New Yorker explores Han Kang's novels and the complex nature of translation. From our archives: The Millions review of Kang's The Vegetarian and an essay on what gets lost (and transformed) in translation.
A Conceit with No Conscience
"[L]ike many, many other rules in the English language, it turns out this one is built on a foundation of lies." That whole 'i before e, except after c rule? Bunk. Which you would already know, if you were a true spelling bee hopeful.
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