Hiding the Body: My Susan Sontag Story, by John Weir

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 ]

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Ananda Devi Wins the 2024 Neustadt Prize

Ananda Devi Wins the 2024 Neustadt Prize News and Events [email protected] Tue, 10/24/2023 - 18:02 Ananda Devi, winner of the Neustadt International Prize for Literature. Photo by J. F. Paga, courtesy of GrassetNORMAN, OKLA. (Tuesday, October 24,... Continue reading at World Literature Today

[ World Literature Today | 2023-10-24 23:02:22 UTC ]
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Oprah Announces 103rd Book Club Pick

Oprah has chosen her 103rd book club pick. It's the latest from a two-time National Book Award winner and one of our great modern writers. Continue reading at Book Riot

[ Book Riot | 2023-10-24 17:43:43 UTC ]
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Read the last words of writer Heba Abu Nada, who was killed last week by an Israeli airstrike.

Novelist, poet, and educator Heba Abu Nada, a beloved figure in the Palestinian literary community and the author of Oxygen is Not for the Dead, was killed in her home south of Gaza City by an Israeli airstrike on Friday. She was thirty-two years old. In her final tweet, written in Arabic on... Continue reading at Literrary Hub

[ Literrary Hub | 2023-10-24 15:54:33 UTC ]
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Lauren Groff on Writing Her Own Robinson Crusoe

Books & Books recently had the pleasure of hosting three-time National Book Award finalist and best-selling author Lauren Groff, presenting her new novel, The Vaster Wilds. The New York Times calls it “a lonely novel of hunger and survival.” The brilliant Groff reads from her adventure novel... Continue reading at Literrary Hub

[ Literrary Hub | 2023-10-20 08:11:49 UTC ]
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An Open Letter in Support of Adania Shibli From More Than 350 Writers, Editors, and Publishers

This letter was originally published by ArabLit. The shocking and tragic events that began on October 7th and are ongoing today have had repercussions all over the globe, including within the publishing world. Award-winning Palestinian author Adania Shibli, who was a finalist for the 2020... Continue reading at Literrary Hub

[ Literrary Hub | 2023-10-17 09:05:58 UTC ]
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Here are the 2023 National Book Award finalists.

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[ Literrary Hub | 2023-10-03 14:15:17 UTC ]
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2023 National Book Award Finalists Are Named

Nana Kwame Adjei-Brenyah, Paul Harding and Cristina Rivera Garza are among the honorees. Winners will be announced next month. Continue reading at The New York Times

[ The New York Times | 2023-10-03 14:00:07 UTC ]
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2023 National Book Award Shortlists Announced

The National Book Foundation has announced the 2022 National Book Award longlists. Five finalists in each of the five categories will be announced at an awards ceremony on November 15. Continue reading at Publishers Weekly

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Finalists for 2023 NBA in Young People's Literature Announced

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Here’s the longlist for the 2023 National Book Award for Fiction.

Today, the National Book Foundation announced the longlist for the 2023 National Book Award for Fiction. The ten titles on the longlist were selected from a pool of 496 books submitted for consideration by their publishers; this year’s judges for Fiction are Steph Cha, Calvin Crosby, Silas... Continue reading at Literrary Hub

[ Literrary Hub | 2023-09-15 14:15:56 UTC ]
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US National Book Awards 2023 Longlist: Nonfiction

A majority of newcomers: Nine of the 10 longlisted nonfiction authors in 2023 are getting National Book Award attention for the first time. The post US National Book Awards 2023 Longlist: Nonfiction appeared first on Publishing Perspectives. Continue reading at Publishing Perspectives

[ Publishing Perspectives | 2023-09-14 22:53:40 UTC ]
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Here’s the longlist for the 2023 National Book Award for Nonfiction.

Today, the National Book Foundation announced the longlist for the 2023 National Book Award for Nonfiction. The ten titles on the longlist were selected from a pool of 638 books submitted for consideration by their publishers; this year’s judges for Nonfiction are Hanif Abdurraqib, Ada Ferrer... Continue reading at Literrary Hub

[ Literrary Hub | 2023-09-14 19:15:07 UTC ]
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Deesha Philyaw has signed a 7-figure book deal.

Deesha Philyaw—the National Book Award finalist whose critically-acclaimed debut, The Secret Lives of Church Ladies, had trouble finding a publisher—has just inked a seven-figure, two-book deal. The Secret Lives of Church Ladies, a collection of nine stories, was turned down by several major New... Continue reading at Literrary Hub

[ Literrary Hub | 2023-09-14 18:40:18 UTC ]
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Here’s the longlist for the 2023 National Book Award for Poetry.

Today, the National Book Foundation announced the longlist for the 2023 National Book Award for Poetry. The ten titles on the longlist were selected from a pool of 295 books submitted for consideration by their publishers; this year’s judges for Poetry are Rick Barot, Heid E. Erdrich (Chair),... Continue reading at Literrary Hub

[ Literrary Hub | 2023-09-14 14:15:10 UTC ]
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Here’s the longlist for the 2023 National Book Award for Translated Literature.

Today, the National Book Foundation announced the longlist for the 2023 National Book Award for Translated Literature. The ten titles were originally published in seven different languages—Arabic, Dutch, French, German, Korean, Portuguese, and Spanish—and were selected from a pool of 154 books... Continue reading at Literrary Hub

[ Literrary Hub | 2023-09-13 19:15:43 UTC ]
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Here’s the longlist for the 2023 National Book Award for Young People’s Literature.

Today, the National Book Foundation announced the longlist for the 2023 National Book Award for Young People’s Literature. The ten titles were all written by newcomers to the National Book Awards, and were selected from a pool of 348 books submitted for consideration by their publishers. This... Continue reading at Literrary Hub

[ Literrary Hub | 2023-09-13 14:15:55 UTC ]
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2023 National Book Award Longlists Announced

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2023 NBA Longlist for Young People's Literature Announced

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In Memoriam Andrew Singer, by Clayton McKee

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[ World Literature Today | 2023-09-11 20:36:23 UTC ]
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Dragons Are People Too: Ursula Le Guin’s Acts of Recognition

Nobody would dare to boil down Ursula Le Guin’s marvelous writing—all that fantasy, all that science fiction, poetry, essays, translations—into one idea. But in a pinch I’d pick two sentences from her 2014 National Book Award speech: “Capitalism[’s] power seems inescapable. So did the divine... Continue reading at Literrary Hub

[ Literrary Hub | 2023-08-24 10:00:21 UTC ]
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