How does a writer keep their work fresh? What’s the goal of a successful artist? What is it like to adapt someone else’s writing for the screen? The Atlantic interviews Nick Hornby about his latest book, Funny Girl, and these are some of the questions that come up. Pair with this Millions review of Hornby’s A Long Way Down.
Keeping it Fresh
Ever Read a Posthumous Interview?
"I certainly didn’t want to do something that felt as if I was having a séance. I started with her most personal papers. I wanted her interior voice; I didn’t want the formal writing. I went immediately to her diaries and letters and to the commonplace books. From there I started looking at the marginalia because I was getting a sense of wanting to know what was on her mind while she was writing in her journals." Lynell George conducted a posthumous interview with Octavia Butler, Bomb magazine talked to her about the process. Pair it with this essay on slavery in fiction from our own Edan Lepucki.
Gigantic’s Giants
The latest issue of Gigantic--featuring interviews with Lynne Tillman and Gordon Lish, and fiction by Diane Williams, John Haskell, and Kim Chinquee--lives up to its name in content in spite of its portable (i.e. subway-friendly) size.
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Literature for the Phone
"In 2007, five out of the 10 best selling novels in Japan were originally mobile phone novels," reports Olivia Solon. (In 2008, we published a translated excerpt of one.) Now Movellas has emerged as a new platform for Keitai Shousetu, or literature designed for mobile devices.
Himself
Recommended Reading: Richard Kreitner on the legacy of Walt Whitman.