Following the recent violence in the U.S., the editors at n+1 offer resources and articles from the archives. You could also read yesterday’s article asking what political writing is or Michael Bourne’s review of Nancy Isenberg’s White Trash.
Black Lives Matter
Lorrie Moore, Short Stories, and America
Good news, fans of short stories, Lorrie Moore, and America! The author is editing a special edition of the Best American series, 100 Years of The Best American Short Stories, to be released in October.
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Tinkers’ Chain
At Slate, The Pulitzer win for Tinkers continues to shine a light on what’s broken about the publishing industry right now. “Instead of relying on the Great Chain of Publishing… Tinkers’ chain jumped several links to get to the Pulitzer.” (Thanks, Craig)
Tuesday New Release Day: Ringwald, Semple, Rendell, Randall
Former Brat Packer Molly Ringwald makes her literary debut with When It Happens to You: A Novel in Stories this week. Also out this week, Where’d You Go, Bernadette by comedy writer turned novelist Maria Semple, The St. Zita Society by Edgar Award-winner Ruth Rendell, and, in non-fiction, Dreamland: Adventures in the Strange Science of Sleep by David K. Randall.
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I Sanction This
Talk about built-in irony: the class of tricky words known as “contronyms” can mean the opposite of what you think they mean.
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Plea of Innocence
Recommended Reading: On the ethics of self-publishing or: Can a convicted serial killer publish his version of the story?
Temper That Ego. You Need Luck As Well.
A few weeks ago, Benjamin Hale wrote an article for us about the trivialities and happenstance associated with publishing prizes. His point was that legacy was more important than short-lived fame. In a way, his piece is nicely supplemented by Tom Bissell’s essay on the luck and chance necessary to attain literary success.
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Convention for the Bookish
Miss this year’s AWP? The New Yorker has published a brief write-up of the conference, just to make you jealous.
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“How enterprising of you”
A couple weeks ago, I recommended that budding Randians read this self-edifying excerpt, taken from Ayn Rand’s version of Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince. Now, Rand has penned her own version of You’ve Got Mail, again kindly published by Mallory Ortberg.
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