Finalists for the Center For Fiction’s First Novel Prize—including Sophie McManus, Ben Metcalf, Lori Ostlund, Viet Thanh Nguyen, Chigozie Obioma, Tanwi Nandini Islam, and Angela Flournoy—discuss the books that made them the writers they are today. Pair with our own Nick Ripatrazone’s recent article on authors’ favorite childhood books.
Reading the Past
DFW’s postcard to Don DeLillo
In addition to our own annotation of David Foster Wallace‘s work today, Electric Literature‘s blog has a great little piece of literary history up in the form of a postcard he wrote to Don DeLillo.
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Let’s Get 1,000 Feet on War And Peace
Jason Novak, brilliant penman behind last month’s brilliant Panorama of Middlemarch, has followed up that effort with an equally impressive Panorama of “Bartleby, the Scrivener.”
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Are You Feeling Lucky?
Hobart’s got a “Wish List” for submissions to its next issue, and with any luck they might just pull it off.
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Scent of a Woman
What happens when a grown woman wears a ton of Axe body spray? The question is nightmare fuel, but Slate’s Dahlia Lithwick — in what can only be described as a heroic act of journalism — doused herself in America’s most notorious fragrance for a week to see how it felt.
A Poem From Us
“A Poem From Us” features regular people reading their favorite poems. According to the project’s founder, Felix Jung, its goal is to “use technology to help folks share their love of poetry with others.” That’s something we can all get behind, isn’t it? You can participate in two ways: record a video of yourself recording your favorite poem, or request a set of free promotional stickers for the project.
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