“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.
In Defense of Distraction
Sorkin Takes on the News
Fans of West Wing, will no doubt be excited to hear that a new Aaron Sorkin series is on its way. The Newsroom will follow the action at a cable news network and is set to air on HBO this summer.
The Formative Years
Over at the Literary Hub, twelve writers reflect on the high school English teachers who changed their lives. Also check out Nick Ripatrazone’s piece of advice for English teachers.
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Enigmatic, Disturbing Sirens
Marina Warner reviews the "enigmatic and brief" and somewhat disturbing “The Professor and the Siren” for The Paris Review. As luck would have it, our own Sonya Chung reviewed the same story for The Millions.
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Fin
How would you feel if your novels all fell apart at the end? The writer Ann Bauer knows this feeling, and it’s painful -- she says that her readers inevitably tell her the endings of her novels are all wrong. (You could also read our own Sonya Chung's essay on literary endings.)
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You’ve Probably Never Heard of Him
Is Mark SaFranko the greatest American writer you’ve never heard of? We don’t know, but 3:AM Magazine makes a strong case in this interview with the author who they call an heir to Charles Bukowski and John Fante. Now you’ve heard of him, at least.
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Kool As the Other Side of the Pillow
"If you lack a competent distributor down here, then consider me at your service. Nothing would make me happier than to drive Salems off the market for good and ever. It’s without a doubt the foulest cigarette in the history of tobacco-addicted man—a tasteless mish-mash of paper and dry weeds." Boy, Hunter S. Thompson really hated Salems.
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