Essay John Weir Adapted from a photo by Jake weirick on Unsplash Like a dead pop star, Susan Sontag left behind a lot of fans who claim they knew her. After the release last September of Benjamin Moser’s new biography, Susan Sontag: Her Life and Work, they were all over the internet, sharing stories. Writers, of course. Especially queer writers. Does every queer writer who lived in New York City and published a book sometime between 1960 and 2000 have a Sontag story? I do! Here’s mine: Eighteen years ago, shortly after she won the National Book Award for her fourth novel, In America, some of which she had been accused of plagiarizing, and a few months before she published, in the New Yorker, maybe the only response to the 9/11 attacks, in their immediate aftermath, that was worth considering, she was invited, along with John Updike and Norman Mailer, to read at Queens College CUNY, where I teach creative writing. Surely the most impressive trio of literary bigwigs of a certain era ever to read together in Flushing. Three idols. I had long regarded their work with awe and envy. In my early twenties, in the 1980s, in a studio apartment on the Upper West Side of Manhattan, hot and airless in summer, frigid in winter, I read—eagerly, jealously—everything they wrote. I was an aspiring writer, and they were my workshop instructors and problematic literary parents. Updike’s Couples taught me how to do a party scene. Mailer’s An American... Continue reading at 'World Literature Today'
[ World Literature Today | 2020-01-07 22:09:56 UTC ]
Interviews Veronica Esposito Ottilie Mulzet is the principal English-language translator of Hungarian author László Krasznahorkai, winner of numerous international honors. Together, they received the 2019 National Book Award in Translation for Mulzet’s... Continue reading at World Literature Today
[ World Literature Today | 2020-02-20 14:05:36 UTC ]
More news stories like this
It’s an exciting year for the Los Angeles Times Book Prizes! This will be its 40th year of celebrating the literary community. The Times announced their 2019 Book Prize finalists today; the winners will be announced at a ceremony in Los Angeles on April 17th. Additionally, bestselling crime... Continue reading at Literrary Hub
[ Literrary Hub | 2020-02-19 17:41:26 UTC ]
More news stories like this
“Apeirogon,” the latest novel from the National Book Award winner, delves into the Israeli-Palestinian conflict through the eyes of two grieving fathers. Continue reading at The New York Times
[ The New York Times | 2020-02-17 13:14:09 UTC ]
More news stories like this
“Apeirogon,” the latest novel from the National Book Award winner, will be released next week by Random House. Continue reading at The New York Times
[ The New York Times | 2020-02-17 11:01:40 UTC ]
More news stories like this
DANEZ SMITH’S LATEST poetry collection, Homie, is actually not titled Homie at all. As the National Book Award finalist confirms point-blank in a note on the title: “this book was titled homie because I don’t want non-black people to say my nig out loud. This book is really titled my nig.”... Continue reading at Los Angeles Review of Books
[ Los Angeles Review of Books | 2020-02-13 18:00:06 UTC ]
More news stories like this
Essay John Weir Adapted from a photo by Jake weirick on Unsplash Like a dead pop star, Susan Sontag left behind a lot of fans who claim they knew her. After the release last September of Benjamin Moser’s new biography, Susan Sontag: Her Life and Work,... Continue reading at World Literature Today
[ World Literature Today | 2020-01-07 22:09:56 UTC ]
More news stories like this
From the poet's 10th book of poems, “Sight Lines,” selected as the National Book Award winner for poetry in 2019. Continue reading at The New York Times
[ The New York Times | 2020-01-01 10:00:08 UTC ]
More news stories like this
His “Paco’s Story” was the surprise winner of the National Book Award for fiction in 1987, beating books by Toni Morrison and Philip Roth. Continue reading at The New York Times
[ The New York Times | 2019-12-17 23:53:36 UTC ]
More news stories like this
Cultural Cross Sections Will Hagle Photo courtesy of the author Following decades of British colonial rule to the rapidly tightening grip of mainland China and all the stories told about that chunk of land along the way, Hong Kong has grown accustomed... Continue reading at World Literature Today
[ World Literature Today | 2019-12-17 15:28:20 UTC ]
More news stories like this
Congrats to Susan Choi for ending the year on a high note: her novel Trust Exercise, which won this year’s National Book Award for Fiction, is in development to become a limited television series with FilmNation Entertainment. Choi will write the series for FilmNation Entertainment, which was... Continue reading at Literrary Hub
[ Literrary Hub | 2019-12-12 21:43:30 UTC ]
More news stories like this
Is your attention span ravaged by living in our hellscape of a modern era? Good news: 2019 brought us plenty of brilliant short fiction. We polled current and former Electric Lit staff and contributors about their favorite collections of the year, and their picks include debuts, National Book... Continue reading at Electric Literature
[ Electric Literature | 2019-12-11 12:00:00 UTC ]
More news stories like this
News and Events Michelle Johnson In 2019 WLT continued publishing fiction, poems, interviews, and essays in translation—publishing more than 50 pieces from languages ranging from Albanian to Zoque—along with pieces by translators about their work. In... Continue reading at World Literature Today
[ World Literature Today | 2019-12-10 14:32:34 UTC ]
More news stories like this
On November 12, at the Pen Parentis Literary Salon in Lower Manhattan, I hear author Jimin Han say something I’ve never heard a writer admit before. “I didn’t really commit to being a writer until I had children,” Han says to a room of 20 or so writers, all of whom are parents. There is […] Continue reading at Literrary Hub
[ Literrary Hub | 2019-12-06 09:47:14 UTC ]
More news stories like this
The 2019 National Book Award winners have been announced! Hosted by LeVar Burton, the 70th National Book Award ceremony was a night of storytelling! Continue reading at Book Riot
[ Book Riot | 2019-11-21 12:22:37 UTC ]
More news stories like this
Last night’s 70th National Book Awards in New York saw Susan Choi, Sarah M Broom, Arthur Sze, Laszlo Krasnahorkai and Martin W Sandler annnounced as winners, respectively, in fiction, non-fiction, poetry, translated literature, and young people’s literature. Continue reading at The Bookseller
[ The Bookseller | 2019-11-21 10:45:49 UTC ]
More news stories like this
Sarah M. Broom won the nonfiction prize for “The Yellow House,” one of several memoirs in the category. Arthur Sze won in poetry for “Sight Lines.” Continue reading at The New York Times
[ The New York Times | 2019-11-21 03:34:36 UTC ]
More news stories like this
The 2019 National Book Award winners were announced in New York City tonight. The big prize for Fiction went to Trust Exercise by Susan Choi (Bonus: Read our 2019 interview with Choi). In his opening remarks for the 70th annual ceremony, host Levar Burton spoke about the power of books... Continue reading at The Millions
[ The Millions | 2019-11-21 03:04:39 UTC ]
More news stories like this
The 2019 National Book Awards—aka the Oscars for books—have officially been awarded! This year’s winners are as follows: Young People’s Literature: Martin W. Sandler for 1919, The Year That Changed America. * Poetry: Arthur Sze for Sight Lines. * Translation: Laszlo Krasznahorkai and Ottile... Continue reading at Literrary Hub
[ Literrary Hub | 2019-11-21 02:41:21 UTC ]
More news stories like this
On the day the 2019 honorees are to be unveiled, we recall recipients who have died in recent years. Continue reading at The New York Times
[ The New York Times | 2019-11-20 23:04:27 UTC ]
More news stories like this
Ahead of tonight’s ceremony, we looked back at every National Book Award for Fiction and Nonfiction winner of the 21st century. | Book Marks “A closeness comes from an every-day giving of attention.” Nina McLaughlin on finding the natural world in Ovid. | Lit Hub What does the debutante ball... Continue reading at Literrary Hub
[ Literrary Hub | 2019-11-20 11:30:40 UTC ]
More news stories like this