At Slate, Katy Waldman asks a simple question: what the heck is the point of the National Book Awards, anyway?
And the Pulitzer, What’s Up with That?
“Twenty feet above sea level”
In his recent collection of poetry, The Americans, David Roderick examines the spaces in which Americans make their homes, calling on his readers to view them in the context of American history. At The Rumpus, Brian Simoneau reviews the collection, which he says illuminates some of his own odd feelings about moving from Boston to Connecticut.
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The Best Prison Literature
With Guardian reporting that the “Tome Raider,” a Cambridge graduate turned antique book thief, was sentenced for thefts worth £40,000, AbeBooks has put together this list of the best prison literature.
“The internet breeze”
To celebrate National Poetry Month, McSweeney’s is publishing daily haikus by the poet Dan Chelotti.
Tote Bags Everywhere
“There is also a particularly awkward and dispiriting form of loneliness that settles in the shoulders when faced with a room filled with social media connections, those digital acquaintances who remain strangers in the flesh.” Life amongst the introverts, and other dispatches from AWP 2013.
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In the Frame
Photographers who are tired of weddings should start shooting book covers. When New Directions asked to use one of Allen Frame’s photos for the cover of Robert Bolaño’s Last Evenings on Earth, he gave them access to his archive instead. Today, nine Frame photos have been used on Bolaño book covers. You can view them here or at New York City’s Gitterman Gallery.
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Texas Book Festival
The Texas Book Festival lineup has been announced. If you’re in Austin this October, stop by the check out Chad Harbach, Erin Morgenstern, Lev Grossman, and Amy Waldman among others.
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