Book trailers are one thing, but what’s a literary short film? According to Red 14 founders Adam Cushman and Mike Sandow, “it’s not advertising a product; it gives a cinematic glimpse into the book, one which will ideally make the viewer interested in learning more about the author, the author’s current book, and the author’s past and future work.” Together, the pair has launched a Kickstarter campaign to fund four such films about four worthy titles (Matt Bell’s awesome debut novel among them).
What’s a Literary Short Film?
Iceland is so hot right now
Some videos just make you want to write. Joe Capra's stunning timelapse video of Iceland's "midnight sun" is one of them.
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Borges’ Self-Portrait
Maud Newton posts a self-portrait by Jorge Luis Borges: "When he drew this, because Burt Britton asked him to, Borges was blind."
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Fiction or Defamation?
The novel that had Scarlett Johansson filing charges of “fraudulent and illegal exploitation of (her) name” is due out next month in its English-language iteration. The First Thing You See by Grégoire Delacourt is ostensibly about a garage mechanic who ends up falling for a Johansson lookalike. For more on the legality of literature, here’s an essay for The Millions on J.D. Salinger and U.S. copyright.
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Birnbaum and Brooks
Robert Birnbaum sits down with Pulitzer-winning novelist Geraldine Brooks to discuss Australian literature, Harvard’s (neglected) charter to educate American Indians, and those residents of Martha’s Vineyard who say no to Chardonnay.
The Voices Who Confided
Head over to The Literary Hub and take a look at this excerpt from Svetlana Alexievich's newest book, Second-Hand Time, which has been called a "history of emotions" chronicling the demise of Soviet communism. While you're at it, take a look at this Millions profile/interview with Alexievich from earlier this summer.
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Get a Room
From one great publication to another: The Atlantic gushes over the "phenomenal" New York Review of Books.
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