Recommended Reading: Peter Fulham on William Styron’s Darkness Visible.
No Light Before
Mind the Label
“By casting my book as personal rather than professional—by marketing me as a woman on a journey of self-discovery, rather than a reporter on a groundbreaking assignment—I was effectively being stripped of my expertise on the subject I knew best.” Suki Kim on writing a work of investigative journalism that was miscategorized as memoir. Pair with this Millions piece in defense of memoirs.
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The Rooster Crows!
Tournament of Books fans: The official Tournament of Books bracket has been posted. Along with an introduction to this year’s literary throwdown, readers can get a gorgeous bracket poster, sure to become the decorative centerpiece of any library wall.
“My life work decided”
“The most important year of life. Every emotion and my life work decided. Miserable and ecstatic but a great success.” What F. Scott Fitzgerald wrote in his financial ledgers the year he married Zelda Sayre and sold This Side of Paradise.
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Where Emily Writes
Our own Emily St. John Mandel makes an appearance in Brooklyn Magazine’s feature on “Nine Brooklyn Writers and How They Work.” Come for the interview, but stay for the photograph of Emily actually using her stand-up desk (which she’s shown us before).
Polish Book Covers
An eerie collection of Polish book cover art from the 1970s and 80s.
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Coming Soon From Some Small Presses Near You
Kyle Minor previews five soon-to-press books that you probably haven’t heard about, but might want to check out.
Unheralded Greats
Taylor Antrim takes a page out of Roxane Gay’s book and “goes in search of great 2011 fiction unjustly ignored by The New York Times.”