If you’ve pulled an all-nighter, you understand the strange mental space that follows. Carmen Maria Machado brings us into that space at Catapult.
On the All-Nighter
Great Moments in Travel Writing
The Telegraph publishes a piece by Paul Theroux in connection with his new book about travel lit, The Tao of Travel. In the piece, Theroux recounts some of the great feats of the genre.
So Much Drool
Sorry for the mess but we’re still drooling over these photos of A Brief History of Seven Killings author Marlon James‘s Minneapolis loft. Slightly less glamorous but (we think) of equal literary importance, these pictures of our own writing spaces.
The Power of Awwwws
Let’s all take a momentary break from literary coverage so we can watch a wedding proposal so sweet and wonderful, it’ll make you totally forget how much you hate its accompanying song.
The Hand that Feeds Them
Stephen Elliot explains why publishers are shooting themselves in the foot when they gouge authors trying to buy copies of their own books.
Ever Read a Posthumous Interview?
“I certainly didn’t want to do something that felt as if I was having a séance. I started with her most personal papers. I wanted her interior voice; I didn’t want the formal writing. I went immediately to her diaries and letters and to the commonplace books. From there I started looking at the marginalia because I was getting a sense of wanting to know what was on her mind while she was writing in her journals.” Lynell George conducted a posthumous interview with Octavia Butler, Bomb magazine talked to her about the process. Pair it with this essay on slavery in fiction from our own Edan Lepucki.
Don’t Shy Away
Bad news for writers: shyness can’t be cured. Good news for writers: shyness makes us more creative.
Telegraph’s Books of 2011
To get geared up for our own “Year in Reading” series, here is The Telegraph’s best books of 2011.