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
The Stalker and the Nightgown
"Because I now know that the man who had come to the door was my mother’s stalker, I’ve injected the memory of his arrival at my childhood home with more detail than I actually possess." From Catapult, the latest installment of "After a Fashion," writer Esmé Weijun Wang’s monthly column examining articles of clothing she owns and the stories behind them. Consider also our review of Women In Clothes, an anthology resulting from the collaboration of authors Sheila Heti and Heidi Julavits.
Out of Nowhere
Nell Zink, whose second novel comes out next week, has one of the lit world’s more unusual origin stories. An expat in Germany, she wrote her first novel in three weeks, after striking up a friendship over email with Jonathan Franzen. In the latest New Yorker, Kathryn Schulz details her story in full. You could also read Emily Gould’s recommendation of her work for Year in Reading.
Atwood Re-tells Shakespeare
Margaret Atwood has signed on to retell Shakespeare’s The Tempest in a new book called Hag-Seed. Check out the cover at The Bookseller. Pair with our interview with Atwood following the release of The Heart Goes Last.
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Top Longreads of 2011
They say you're only as good as the company you keep. If that's the case, we're thrilled to have published Jim Santel's piece on The Moviegoer, which has made The Awl staff's list of "Top Longreads of 2011".
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All Things Interwoven
"Imagination for me has always been about the spaces in between, a sort of filler that completes a picture. If what we know is the jaggedness of the ocean floor, then imagination is the body of water that defines what is hidden and what is seen." This essay on interstices and representing Hawai'i Creole English as a legitimate literary participant is excellent.
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“No one opens the door.”
Recommended Reading: “The Apartment” by Aaron Burch.
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Tuesday New Release Day: Phillips, Tillman, Bender
Probably the biggest literary debut the week is Arthur Phillips' The Tragedy of Arthur, a faux memoir about the surfacing of a long-lost Shakespeare play. Also out this week is the first book from former Soft Skull head Richard Nash's new venture Red Lemonade: Lynne Tillman's Someday This Will Be Funny. And, finally, now out in paperback is Aimee Bender's The Particular Sadness of Lemon Cake. (Our two reviews)
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Plan for American Writers Museum Revealed
The American Writers Museum, until this point nothing more than an idea floating around the mind of its board members, now has a concept plan laid out in a lovely 32-page booklet (pdf).