Do poets make great novelists? Naja Marie Aidt, a phenomenal poet-novelist herself, picks her favorite novels by poets, featuring Anne Carson’s Autobiography of Red, Ben Lerner’s Leaving the Atocha Station, and more.
The Poet’s Novel
A Reading and Conversation with Four Great Writers
For writers, and readers, who aren’t making the annual pilgrimage to AWP, The Millions and Big Other join forces this weekend to offer a NYC alternative, A Reading and Conversation with Four Great Writers: Vijay Seshardi, Rachel B. Glaser, Alexandra Chasin, and (our very own) Sonya Chung. At Unnameable Books in Brooklyn on Saturday, starting at 5pm. Drinks will be served. Please Join Us!
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James Hannaham Takes on the Many Faces of Fernando Pessoa
James Hannaham recounts his experience reading the poetry of Fernando Pessoa, a Portuguese poet who wrote under 75 different names throughout his career.
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First Lines of the New Tom McCarthy
Here are the first lines of the new Tom McCarthy novel, C, forthcoming in September: “Dr. Learmont, newly appointed general practitioner for the districts of West Masedown and New Eliry, rocks and jolts on the front seat of a trap as it descends the lightly sloping path of Versoie House. He has sore buttocks: the seat’s hard and uncushioned.”
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Following Oscar
“To translate the power of Tish and Fonny’s love to the screen in Baldwin’s image is a dream I’ve long held dear. Working alongside the Baldwin Estate, I’m excited to finally make that dream come true.” Oscar-winning Moonlight director Barry Jenkins is adapting James Baldwin‘s 1974 novel If Beale Street Could Talk for the screen, says The Hollywood Reporter. (He’s also bringing Colson Whitehead‘s The Underground Railroad to visual life as well.)
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Bowie is Among Us
Graywolf Press’s Poem of the Week is “Don’t You Wonder, Sometimes?” by David Bowie-fan Tracy K. Smith. She writes, “Bowie will never die. Nothing will come for him in his sleep / Or charging through his veins.” Pair with Sophia Nguyen’s Millions review of Smith’s new memoir, Ordinary Light.
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Get Educated on SOPA
Tomorrow (January 18th), sites like Wikipedia and Reddit will go dark to protest SOPA. Anyone who’s been online over the past few weeks probably has a vague sense of why this proposed legislation is bad news for the internet as we know it, but Reddit has put up a blog post delving into the language and illustrating the frankly alarming ramifications of its passage.
Gatsby That Almost Were
From Letters of Note, the correspondence between Fitzgerald and his editor upon the former’s completion of The Great Gatsby (including Fitzgerald’s suggestion for an alternative title: Gold-hatted Gatsby). In response to the many endings of A Farewell to Arms, Slate cooks up 48 canned, alternative endings for Fitzgerald’s masterpiece.