Black Country, the debut book of poetry by Liz Berry, won this year’s Forward prize for best first collection. At The Guardian, Ben Wilkinson writes about the ways in which the book “digs deep into the poet’s West Midlands roots, enlivening and reimagining the heritage of that eponymous heartland of iron foundries, coal mines and steel mills, on both personal and public footings.”
Foundry Lit
His Gift for Matching Books to Reviewers Was Uncanny
“He was surely the greatest literary editor there has ever been – brilliant, autocratic, endlessly curious and possessed of an extraordinary fund of knowledge about a vast range of subjects. True, he was not always easy to deal with, but when has the best ever been easy?” John Banville on the late Robert Silvers.
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Crossed Lines
In the latest issue of the LRB, Jenny Diski comes to the defense of Liz Jones, a Daily Mail columnist and spiritual sibling to the far-too-beautiful-to-live Samantha Brick. Her takeaway after reading a column that got Jones into hot water? Diski “couldn’t see” what the pilloried writer had done wrong.
Housing Works OWS Event
On Monday, November 7, at 7PM, n+1 and Housing Works will present the event “Occupy.” Writers and activists will discuss the situation at Zuccotti Park–what it means, how it’s going, and where to go from here. Panelists will include Meaghan Linick, Sarah Resnick, and Astra Taylor, and the conversation will be moderated by Keith Gessen. Free copies of the n+1 OWS-inspired Gazette will be on hand.
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Where’s Ursula?
Recommended Reading: “Ursula’s Curse,” an excerpt from a forthcoming Eugene Lim novel. The piece’s protagonist seems less concerned with the end of his life (and maybe the human race) than he is with remembering an artist who tried to reach “a limit to the art market’s baseness.”
Discarded Hashtags
“Don’t die on the toilet; / it’s really the worst way to go.” Do yourself a favor and go check out this selection of new poems by Elizabeth Scanlon at Electric Literature.
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