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 ]
“Thirteen Doorways, Wolves Behind Them All” is set during World War II in a Chicago orphanage, where teenagers — some of them ghosts — seek answers. Continue reading at The New York Times
[ The New York Times | 2019-11-08 11:00:00 UTC ]
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Stephen Dixon left us yesterday. The author of Frog (1991) and Interstate (1995) two National Book Award finalists, published some thirty other books, including collections of his over 500 short stories. I first met Dixon on the final day of a class in my junior year of college called “Short... Continue reading at Literrary Hub
[ Literrary Hub | 2019-11-07 20:03:05 UTC ]
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TÉA OBREHT’S MESMERIZING DEBUT, The Tiger’s Wife, won the 2011 Orange Prize for Fiction and was a National Book Award finalist. Her writing has been called spectacular and astonishing, and I couldn’t say it better myself. When I had the opportunity to read an early copy of her latest, I jumped... Continue reading at Los Angeles Review of Books
[ Los Angeles Review of Books | 2019-10-28 19:00:55 UTC ]
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AT THE RISK of stating the obvious, most books of poetry are short. This is a function of how difficult they are to write (and read), and also a bit of tradition. The numbers back this up. Based on National Book Award winners and finalists since 2010 (for a single collection), the average length... Continue reading at Los Angeles Review of Books
[ Los Angeles Review of Books | 2019-10-27 19:00:03 UTC ]
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One of them, Jason Reynolds’s middle-grade novel “Look Both Ways,” is a National Book Award finalist. Continue reading at The New York Times
[ The New York Times | 2019-10-18 21:16:26 UTC ]
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News and Events WLT Photo by J. Foley Opale World Literature Today, the University of Oklahoma’s award-winning magazine of international literature and culture, announced late Wednesday evening that Ismail Kadare is the 26th laureate of the renowned... Continue reading at World Literature Today
[ World Literature Today | 2019-10-16 22:21:35 UTC ]
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A lauded but not very lucrative writing career was turned on its head for Colson Whitehead, after Pulitzer and National Book Award wins put his name in lights. Continue reading at The Bookseller
[ The Bookseller | 2019-10-16 17:16:59 UTC ]
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The National Book Award finalist answers 10 questions about her debut memoir The Yellow House. The post Building The Yellow House: An Interview With National Book Award Finalist Sarah M. Broom by Cassandra Lipp appeared first on Writer's Digest. Continue reading at Writer's Digest
[ Writer's Digest | 2019-10-11 13:00:04 UTC ]
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The kids in “Look Both Ways,” a National Book Award finalist, share hustles, jokes, video games, board tricks, secret messages and private dreams. Continue reading at The New York Times
[ The New York Times | 2019-10-08 20:46:07 UTC ]
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Marlon James is among the National Book Awards' 25 finalists battling it out across categories of Fiction, Nonfiction, Poetry, Translated Literature, and Young People's Literature. Continue reading at The Bookseller
[ The Bookseller | 2019-10-08 18:04:30 UTC ]
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Here are the 25 finalists up for the National Book Awards in of Fiction, Nonfiction, Poetry, Translated Literature, and Young People’s Literature: Finalists for Fiction: Susan Choi, Trust Exercise Henry Holt and Company / Macmillan Publishers Kali Fajardo-Anstine, Sabrina & Corina: Stories... Continue reading at Literrary Hub
[ Literrary Hub | 2019-10-08 14:40:58 UTC ]
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This week on The Maris Review, Kimberly King Parsons joins Maris Kreizman to discuss her National Book Award longlisted short story collection, Black Light, now available from Vintage. On sitting with the grime in her stories: Maris: The title really does provide a tool to wrap one’s head around... Continue reading at Literrary Hub
[ Literrary Hub | 2019-10-02 08:48:20 UTC ]
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10 novelists make the National Book Awards fiction longlist: Laila Lalami, Colson Whitehead, Ocean Vuong, Julia Phillips and more. Continue reading at Los Angeles Times
[ Los Angeles Times | 2019-09-20 18:20:50 UTC ]
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It’s here: the final day of the National Book Foundations’ longlist announcements. Yep, it’s time for the fiction list, as chosen by judges Dorothy Allison, Ruth Dickey, Javier Ramirez, Danzy Senna (Chair), and Jeff VanderMeer from a pool of 397 submitted books. It includes two debut short story... Continue reading at Literrary Hub
[ Literrary Hub | 2019-09-20 14:32:33 UTC ]
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Day four of the National Book Foundations’ longlist announcements; today we’re looking at the ten titles judges Erica Armstrong Dunbar, Carolyn Kellogg, Mark Laframboise, Kiese Laymon, and Jeff Sharlet think illuminate “new perspectives on political, natural, cultural, historical, and personal... Continue reading at Literrary Hub
[ Literrary Hub | 2019-09-19 14:45:35 UTC ]
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Another reason to be pro-Warren: she supports (and is supported by) poets. Turns out that one of the poets up for the National Book Award this year, Camonghne Felix, is also the Director of Surrogates & Strategic Communications at Elizabeth Warren for President. Felix has been longlisted for... Continue reading at Literrary Hub
[ Literrary Hub | 2019-09-18 20:27:08 UTC ]
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It’s day three of the National Book Foundation’s longlist announcements; today they’ve announced the list for the 2019 National Book Award in Poetry. Publishers submitted a total of 245 books to be considered by judges Jos Charles, John Evans, Vievee Francis, Cathy Park Hong, and Mark... Continue reading at Literrary Hub
[ Literrary Hub | 2019-09-18 14:56:10 UTC ]
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First, can we all agree that it should be “lit-fluencer”? Moving on: 1. “Gertrude Stein had time to read books. But do moms?” 2. “Owens’s dinner will be in a decidedly lower key: a gingham tablecloth, uniformed servers passing out pigs in blankets, Zibby’s kids popping in occasionally to whisper... Continue reading at Literrary Hub
[ Literrary Hub | 2019-09-17 19:31:52 UTC ]
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News and Events The Editors of WLT Today the New Yorker announced the longlist for the National Book Award for Translated Literature. With such a wealth of talent on display, we don’t envy the judges’ task. To aid you, the reader, in appreciating the... Continue reading at World Literature Today
[ World Literature Today | 2019-09-17 16:53:18 UTC ]
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The National Book Foundation has unveiled the 2019 National Book Award longlist for young people's literature. Contenders tackle major sociopolitical issues. Continue reading at Los Angeles Times
[ Los Angeles Times | 2019-09-16 18:19:57 UTC ]
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