Writing a novel together might seem like a recipe for conflict, but Gavin Kovite and Christopher Robinson, who co-wrote War of the Encyclopaedists together, argue the exercise ended up deepening their longtime friendship. At Salon, they explain why.
Together
The Winds of Winter
Recommended Reading: Lit Hub has been sharing excerpts of winter favorites, from James Joyce’s “The Dead” to Mary Shelley’s Frankenstein.
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Natasha Trethewey Wraps Up Her Term as Poet Laureate
Robert Penn Warren was the subject of the lecture given by Natasha Trethewey last week. It was her final presentation as U.S. poet laureate, as her second term wraps up later this year.
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Freedom Controversy, in Comic Form
At The Rumpus, the controversy over Jonathan Franzen’s Freedom is in comic form, featuring Lt. Safran Foer, Jennifer Weiner, Captain Shteyngart, and Emperor Franzen himself.
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The Audible Antipodal
Asymptote, a new international journal of literary translation, is up for free online and comes packed with ear candy. Though all the content is translated into English, an audio recording of the authors reading their work in the original language accompanies many of the pieces.
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Mister Orhanium’s Wonder Emporium
Orhan Pamuk’s Museum of Innocence (named after his most recent novel of the same name) will open this week in Istanbul’s Çukurcuma neighborhood. The museum consists of hundreds of objects “collected” by a fictional character in the eponymous book.
Tuesday New Release Day
Laura Miller of Salon recommends Tana French’s new crime-fiction novel Faithful Place: “makes Philip Marlowe’s L.A. look like a church picnic. French herself doesn’t play by the rules…” Also out recently is a new edition of James Salter’s short story collection Dusk and Other Stories, with a new introduction by former Paris Review editor Philip Gourevitch.