Want to get your book published? Move to Iceland. One in ten Icelanders will become published authors, which isn’t a big surprise because the country has a 99 percent literacy rate. Pair with: our essay on Icelandic writer Sjón.
Everyone Has a Book in Their Stomach
Riding and Writing
Recommended reading: Monica McFawn writes for Brevity “On Riding and Writing Boldly.”
“The First Step Into the Wide World”
This is from two years ago, but it’s worth a listen if you missed it the first time: a moving Radiolab podcast on Alzheimer’s, Düsseldorf, and the creative use of bus stops.
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On Walls and Compassion
“You know I would like to talk with you and lessen your fears. Regardless of our differences, we are related.” New short fiction from Dutch novelist Claire Polders over at Electric Literature. Related: some wonderfully weird Trump metafiction.
World Literature Dispatches
Some world literature links: Sign and Sight offers the best introduction to Herta Müller I’ve been able to find…The Complete Review gets the ball rolling on Roberto Bolaño’s (very) early novel Monsieur Pain, forthcoming from New Directions…Ingo Schulze, author of the quietly astonishing New Lives and the forthcoming One More Story, talks to The Toronto Star (via)…The NBCC features Yu Hua‘s Brothers…Claudio Magris is crowned the king of Frankfurt…Maud Newton hails Juan Gabriel Vásquez‘s “inventive and intricately plotted” The Informers…The Brooklyn Rail and Transcript both offer handsome online digests of short stories from around the world.
“I’ve set the bar quite high in terms of storytelling”
Fifty Shades of Grey author E L James has two more books up her sleeve, USA Today reports. One is another erotic novel, but the other is intended for young adults.
Appearing Elsewhere
Over the past week, the work of three Millions staffers has been shown off for other publications: Mark O’Connell talks Lethem, Dyer and Batuman for Slate; Emily St. John Mandel talks noir for Beyond the Margins; and Garth Risk Hallberg names his selection for this year’s Pulitzer-less Pulitzer Prize for Fiction.