Lots of writers have stories about creative writing classes that changed their lives. The remembrance of the pivotal class is a mini-genre in itself. At The Rumpus, Warren Adler writes about his own life-changing experience, looking back on a class he took at the New School all the way back in 1949.
Teachable Moments
How Did I Get Here?
It looks like Rowan Ricardo Phillips is the new basketball columnist for The Paris Review. His first piece is a bit of an introduction into his own basketball life. We’ve brought you a couple roundball-related pieces in the past.
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The Hype Cycle
Elif Batuman entertainingly muses on "hype" and resolves to "write five 5-star Amazon reviews this month of books I love by living authors."
Beginner’s Luck
“Our great poet forever has one foot on Mount Parnassus and the other in the rue Quincampoix,” the Wall Street of eighteenth-century Paris. On how Voltaire outsmarted one of the earliest lotteries and made a fortune. Also check out how Goethe became an amateur auction theorist.
On Adaptation
Recommended Reading: Alice Walker and Colm Tóibín discuss adaptations of their work for film and stage. Pair with our article on breaking down the Oscar for adapted screenplay.
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Boy, Girl, Book?
Is the practice of using writing as a metaphor for birth, or birth as a metaphor for writing, in need of an overhaul? Stephanie Feldman for Electric Literature has some strong opinions on the subject. Motherhood on the brain, now? Check out this moving essay for The Millions on mothers and sons by Rachel Basch.
Uncovering Amazon
Book publishers will tell you how many titles they are publishing this fall. Apple at least reveals how many iPads it sells. But Amazon is taking a different tack, shrouding much of the plans for its publishing venture in secrecy.
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