For Garden and Gun, poet Jericho Brown discusses how the push and pull of the South fuel his powerful work. The Louisiana-born writer looks back on his career, focusing on the ways the South repeatedly influences his poetry. “I’m interested in—what is that word? Posterity,” Brown says. “I’m almost ashamed to say it, but when I die, I want to die in the South and I want people to think of me, if anybody ever thinks of me, to think of me in contrast to and in context of this place. That’s important to me.”
Jericho Brown and the South
An Unquenchable Thirst
In An Unquenchable Thirst by Mary Johnson, the former nun, who served alongside Mother Teresa, details her disenchantment with the religious life she once found so appealing.
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Michael Lewis Goes to the Movies (Again)
Michael Lewis has been tapped by Warner Brothers to adapt his first book Liar’s Poker for the big screen. This will be the third movie based on one of Lewis’ books.
New Open Letters Monthly
In the new issue of Open Letters, “Sam Sacks tours the city with E.L. Doctorow, Colm Tóibín, and Colum McCann.”
Is It Now.
With texting and instant messaging perpetually on the rise, the world’s punctuation is starting to evolve. At The New Republic, Ben Crair identifies an odd new consequence of this change: the period is now a sign of anger.
The Orange Eats Creeps Mixtape
Christopher Higgs was teaching Grace Krilanovich’s The Orange Eats Creeps, and one of his students was inspired to make a mixtape featuring “the twisted, crusty, and often sublime characters found within the novel.” (The book, by the way, was one of my selections for Year in Reading last year.)
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