Recommended Reading: this interview with poet Lucie Brock-Broido, whose new book Stay, Illusion is a finalist for the National Book Award.
“Give things away”
A Single Sentence
“Sometimes you come across sentences that are like cairns, evidence the trail continues, and you are so grateful to have found them.” For the Tin House blog Jacob Rubin considers one such sentence from Charles D’Ambrosio‘s Loitering, which our own Hannah Gersen reviewed for the Millions.
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In the Dark (of Space)
Originally, the film 2001: A Space Odyssey included more narration by co-writer Arthur C. Clarke, whose short story “The Sentinel” was the basis for Stanley Kubrick’s script. At the last minute, Kubrick decided to cut them out, which led to Clarke leaving the US premiere halfway through. In a piece for The New Statesman an old friend of Clarke’s explores his side of the story. You could also read Ted Gioia on a weirdly predictive ’60s sci-fi novel.
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How Chris McCandless Died
For those of you who won’t rest until you find out the truth about how Chris McCandless died, know that neither will Jon Krakauer. His recent discoveries appear in the afterword to a new edition of Into the Wild, released in 2015. Also check out this Millions essay on extreme survival books.
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Decolonizing Our Shelves
“… Stop talking about diversity and start decolonizing our shelves.”At the Winter Institute 2018 (Wi13), keynote speaker Junot Diaz lambasted the publishing industry for talking — but doing little else — about diversity in literature, and implored librarians and booksellers to fill their shelves with diverse books. From our archives: an essay on race, gender, and Diaz’s writing.
The Spy Who Wrote a Memoir
The Guardian has a beautiful multimedia feature in celebration of John le Carré‘s new memoir, The Pigeon Tunnel, including an exclusive excerpt, original notes from the author’s archives, and readings of his novels by Rachel Weisz, Tom Hiddleston, Damien Lewis et al. Read also: our own Emily St. John Mandel on using le Carré for literary cover.
Truest Forms
As a literary technique, imitation is usually thought of as an amateur move, despite the number of classic works that began as overt acts of mimicry. At the Ploughshares blog, Anca Szilagyi comes up with several prompts for writers who want to imitate thoughtfully.