Alison Baverstock takes a wide eye look at ten ways self-publishing has changed the book world. One item of note? “The copy editor, a traditionally marginalised figure, is now in strong demand.”
Good News, Grammarians!
The Center of Things
“I never thought of myself as an outsider. Because outside of what? You would have to give advantage to this space where you’re not, to think of it as sovereign because you’re not there. I was always in the center of where I needed to be.” Aleksander Hemon on writing his new book.
“A man who kept to himself”
Recommended reading: one essay on George Orwell‘s stomping grounds on the Scottish island where he wrote 1984 in the throes of a tubercular fever, and another on the tiny Indian town of Motihari where he was born.
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The Modern Memoir
Recommended Reading: On the memoir, “the offspring of the slave narrative,” as a literary form from the Black tradition. Recent examples range from Ta-Nehisi Coates and Margo Jefferson to Clifford Thompson and Rosemarie Freeney.
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Show Me (Don’t Tell Me) State
Tired of the writerly hustle and bustle of New York City? Give Kansas City a try: “People stay here, or move here, because they have the cultural and financial freedom to try shit; if it doesn’t work, they try again.”
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SF’s Thriving Libraries
Book lovers say it’s nothing to keep quiet about: San Francisco’s libraries are thriving.
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Single-Serving Atwood
Ebook purveyor Byliner continues its foray into fiction with a new story by Margaret Atwood: “I’m Starved for You” (Here’s an excerpt)
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