At The Atlantic, Caleb Crain (of Necessary Errors and n+1 fame) writes about the galvanizing effects of memorizing his favorite poem. (If you’re wondering, the poem in question is W.H. Auden’s “In Praise of Limestone.”)
“Rote lessons before the air raid drill”
Point Scoring
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Sound-Word Index: Say What You Really Feel
Emoticons are unbelievably passé, right? And GIFs are just too much work, right? It’s time to better utilize our technological advancements. Behold The Sound-Word Index, a project by Blanche de Lasa, Stina Gromark, and James Godwin that can use “sound, volume and rhythm” to “help to translate our emotions hidden behind our screens.”
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Sweet peas rejoice!
Dear Sugar is back in action after a few months break from her advice column. And thank heavens, because reading this #LitBeat about an event in her honor over and over just wasn’t cutting it anymore.
Just a Tribute
Imagine that someone wrote fan fiction about you. Now imagine this fan fiction is not just about you, but inspired by selfies you posted on Tumblr. This is what happened to Arabelle Sicardi, who talks with Matthew J.X. Malady about the story she received, her fans and the weirdness of Internet fame.
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Prison Prose
What inspired Wally Lamb’s latest novel, We Are Water? Part of it came from his experience teaching writing at a women’s prison in Connecticut for the past 14 years. He spoke to The Missouri Review about what it’s like to teach “the incarcerated wounded” and how they have influenced his work. “With my fiction, I’ve never been afraid to go to the dark places, but I think the women have made me more daring.”
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Saving Civilization Through Stories With Kazuo Ishiguro
Kazuo Ishiguro discusses his latest novel, Klara and the Sun, and affirms the importance of literature and storytelling in society.
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“I wanted to write about the feeling of life. Not life as an intellectual process, or a concept, but as a feeling.”
Tom Murphy, arguably Ireland’s greatest living playwright, joins The Paris Review for an interview about his life, his influences, and his rage.
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