Recommended Reading: Amy Woolard’s poem “Things Go South” at TriQuarterly. “Here, the apple don’t fall/From the tree. Here, whatever you/Find lying on the ground is yours./A scratch-off waiting to strike.”
Poetry from the Road
Literary Rivalries Revisited
Lulah Ellender reflects on literary rivalries throughout history, including Gertrude Stein and Ernest Hemingway, Gore Vidal and Truman Capote, and more.
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The Ultimate Bestseller
This week in book-related infographics: Waterstones has put together an illustrated formula for the ultimate bestseller, “a thriller tale of crime, bondage and wizardry.”
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¡Viva Martí, que está vivo!
This past week, the O, Miami Poetry Festival brought poet and Cuban national hero José Martí back to life. Here are the photos and video to prove it.
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Parul Sehgal Wins NBCC Award for Excellence in Reviewing
Parul Sehgal, nonfiction editor at Publisher’s Weekly (and sister of The Millions intern Ujala Sehgal), has been awarded the National Books Critics Circle “Nona Balakian Citation for Excellence in Reviewing.” Previous winners include Joan Acocella, Ron Charles, and Sam Anderson. The award was based on her diverse portfolio of work as a reviewer, including a review of Susie Linfield’s The Cruel Radiance, a review of Stacy Schiff’s Cleopatra: A Life, and her piece on David Abram’s Becoming Animal. Congratulations!
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Consider Us Tucked In
“Get yourself cozy, and get ready to go on a fantastic new adventure.” Idris Elba reading bedtime stories for #ProjectLiteracy? Yes please.
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Rejecting Tidy Narratives
For Lenny, Lidia Yuknavitch talks about suffering, art, and her path to writing. “I believe in art the way other people believe in God,” she says. For more of her writing, check out her Millions essay on grief that births art.
Skylight Books Commercial
Is Skylight Books the first independent bookstore with a television commercial? Either way, it’s certainly the only commercial (bookstore or otherwise) featuring two Millions contributors–and their dog!
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Similar-Sounding Names: A Conundrum
For The Atlantic, Nina Martyris examines books that are rife with characters with similar-sounding names, including One Hundred Years of Solitude and Anna Karenina.
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