Writing for The Guardian, Blake Morrison ponders the eternal question: “does it help writers to drink? Do they drink any more heavily than any other social group – doctors, lawyers, shop assistants or … advertising executives?”
“Does it help writers to drink?”
Love Sonnet
If you haven’t watched it already, you should now. Lin-Manuel Miranda reads a sonnet in honor of his wife and the victims of the Orlando massacre at the Tony Awards. “And love is love is love is love is love is love is love is love cannot be killed or swept aside.”
●
●
Roaches are Red, Violets are Blue
Looking for a last minute Valentine's gift? Well, in the words of The Bronx Zoo, "How better to express your appreciation for that special someone than to name one of the Bronx Zoo's 58,000 Madagascar hissing cockroaches after them?"
●
●
New Critical Flame
Issue three of The Critical Flame has arrived. Richard Nash's review of Ted Striphas' The Late Age of Print is a highlight.
We’ve All Been There
Writing for 300 Reviews, a platform which aims “to find a home for criticism of subjects that are neglected in traditional venues,” Level End author and Tuscaloosa Runs This editor Brian Oliu explains a Southern rite of passage: Taking Someone to Waffle House After the Bars Close.
A Hypothetical Country
You never need an excuse to read new words written by Edwidge Danticat, but in case you did, here's an excerpt from her introduction to the forthcoming edition of James Baldwin's classic, semi-autobiographical novel Go Tell It On A Mountain.
●
●
So lonely
Another Tumblog is being made into a book, this time with a little help from David Shields. Jeff, One Lonely Guy is a collection of recorded conversations and correspondences that were the result of one guy, Jeff Ragsdale , posting a flyer with his phone number all over NYC. Shields is helping Ragsdale arrange the responses he received for publication as an ebook. Ragsdale isn't, according to his Tumblr, all that lonely anymore. Which makes me wonder how Mark Z. Danielewski's fairing on OK Cupid?
●
●