The devastating images of Syria shot by Franco Pagetti have been collected into a series entitled Veiled Aleppo. Over at The New Republic, Geoff Dyer writes about one of them. It’s an image, Dyer observes, that features “symbols … of the death throes not of a city but of film.”
Geoff Dyer on Pagetti’s Syria
Orbital Vacations
Looking for a place to burn those vacation days? How about outer space, or one of the other 44 places tapped by The New York Times?
The Keys Speak
"'All of these things happened to me with keys,’ she says. 'It was as if the keys were saying, “Don't talk about us.” It was as if they didn't like it.’" Year in Reading alum Helen Oyeyemi discusses her fascination with keys and What Is Not Yours Is Not Yours at NPR. For writing from the author, check out her piece on Silvina Ocampo’s Thus Were Their Faces.
Fork It Over
It has become increasingly common for publications to charge a fee upon submitting work. According to The Atlantic, this practice spells disaster for the writing community at every level. Quit paying out to big journals and just charge yourself the fee instead–here’s a piece on the efficacy of self-publishing.
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Behind the Screenwriter
Novelists, poets, and playwrights aren't the only people who can call themselves writers. Don't forget the oft begrudged screenwriters. The New York Times highlights 14 of this year's best screenwriters, including Julie Deply and Seth Rogen, and asks them for writing advice and one original line of dialogue for some excellent short films. Our favorite short film is Robert Redford's.
Unfashionable Genius
"There is a unity to all of Robinson’s work, and this is part of what makes her so great. Her writing expresses a consistent and compelling vision of the world—a vision that sees the real as revelatory, the everyday as wondrous, Spokane as leading to Galilee." Anthony Domestico profiles Marilynne Robinson and her new novel Lila, which we've mentioned here and here and here, for Commonweal.
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Writing Without Rain
"We don’t yet know how to make it rain. But increasingly, we may be talking about what to do when the rain doesn’t come." Anna North writes for The New York Times about literature in the age of drought.