I could explain to you who Catherine was, or I could let you watch Picador’s book trailer for Ronald Frame’s Havisham and let you find out for yourself. The latter seems like much more fun.
Catherine Havisham. Earlier.
Blind Submissions
The editors of Apogee Journal have reserved themselves the right not to read submissions blindly. As they explain it, “Blind submissions don’t actually protect writers from the existing prejudices of editors, and they alone do not contribute to editors reading inclusively.”
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WTF Amazon?!
Need a good way to start your Monday? Try browsing a repository of the craziest, most confusing things Amazon has on offer.
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Helping Hands
In the late seventies, when Susan Sontag was recovering from cancer, she hired an assistant to help her catch up on correspondence. Her editor recommended Sigrid Nunez, who began working for Sontag and ended up moving in with her. Nunez now recalls the experience with a mixture of gratitude and pain. In Dissent, a look at the economy of creative assistants.
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Jon Cotner’s Island Night
How’s this sound: an eight-mile midnight stroll through Fire Island, replete with Socratic dialogue and references to Sappho, Pythagoras, Diogenes and Hippocrates? Such is exactly what you get from Island Night, the latest project of poet Jon Cotner (previously mentioned for his We’re Floating and Poem Forest projects). As the poet explains to the NY Times, his mission with the walks was to revive “the ancient and endangered practices of walking and talking.”
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Columbia, South Carolina: Papa’s Home Away From Home
Fans of the Papa should head on down to Columbia, South Carolina, the newly anointed home of “the most complete collection of Ernest Hemingway’s published work.” If you’re in town, part of the trove is on display until October 26th.
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Finding Peter Cat
We already knew that Haruki Murakami was a writer and runner but a former jazz club owner, too? Aaron Gilbreath visited Murakami’s 1970s jazz club, Peter Cat, and found “a drab three-story cement building. Outside, a first-floor, a restaurant had set up a sampuru display of plastic foods.” For more Murakami, read our review of 1Q84.
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