What’s the best part of writing for Sue Monk Kidd? The solitude. What’s the hardest part for her? The solitude. Kidd acknowledged the challenges of writing in a “By the Book” interview with The New York Times. “For me, writing a novel goes on for years, and the solitude goes on, too. It tends to swallow me at times. I know it’s a problem when my husband sends the dog in to retrieve me.” Her latest novel, The Invention of Wings, came out on Tuesday and was part of our 2014 book preview.
The Lonely Writer
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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How Should A Counterpoint Be?
In the LARB, Hannah Tennant-Moore offers up a counterpoint (which our own Emily M. Keeler wrote about on Tumblr) to the raves that greeted How Should A Person Be? when the book came out this year. To hear what the author, Sheila Heti, had to say about the novel, check out our interview from June.
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Byliner Goes Fiction
Byliner, which has made its name with a long-form nonfiction portal and long-form nonfiction ebook originals, is kicking off its Byliner Fiction imprint with Amy Tan’s Rules for Virgins
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Double, double, toil and trouble
The summer issue of Lapham’s Quarterly is here; The latest issue is magic themed and offers a smorgasbord of writing on sorcery, metamorphosis, and visitations. Most magic of all, much of it is available online for free!
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“Freedom is not a tea party, India. Freedom is a war.”
Recently Salman Rushdie spoke at a conference in Delhi. He had been scheduled to appear with the Pakistani politician Imran Khan, who later pulled out of the event citing the “immeasurable hurt” that The Satanic Verses had done to Muslims. Rushdie, who had earlier been prevented from attending the Jaipur literary festival for fear of his presence inciting a riot, dismissed Khan’s claims: “The chilling effect of violence is very real and it is growing in this country.”
Antiquarian Book Fair
This weekend is the last chance to visit the International Antiquarian Book Fair in Boston. Included are a collection of Bonnie and Clyde photos and an illustrated letter from Alexander Graham Bell to his parents describing problems with his phone invention.
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Love Advice from Chaucer
“Ich am Geoffrey Chaucer, and my litel poeme the Parliament of Foweles was the first to combyne the peanut buttir of Februarye the XIVth wyth the milk chocolate of wooing. And so Ich feel responsible to helpe wyth sum advyce on thys daye.” Love advice from Chaucer, via NPR.
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