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 ]
This week, the National Book Foundation is announcing the 2021 National Book Award longlists. Five finalists in each of the five categories will be named on October 5, and the winner will be announced during the awards ceremony on November 17, which will once again be held in-person at Cipriani... Continue reading at Publishers Weekly
[ Publishers Weekly | 2021-09-15 04:00:00 UTC ]
More news stories like this
On this day in 1935, the highly acclaimed poet Mary Oliver was born in Maple Heights, Ohio. Oliver, who won a Pulitzer Prize in 1984 and later the National Book Award for Poetry in 1992, was by all accounts a private person who sought solace in the natural world. Throughout the course of her... Continue reading at Literrary Hub
[ Literrary Hub | 2021-09-10 15:24:16 UTC ]
More news stories like this
On this day in 1937, the prolific author Walter Dean Myers was born Walter Milton Myers in Martinsburg, West Virginia. The three-time National Book Award finalist was known for his realistic, groundbreaking, affecting portrayals of the Black urban experience, which did not shy away from... Continue reading at Literrary Hub
[ Literrary Hub | 2021-08-12 14:30:33 UTC ]
More news stories like this
Today, Librarian of Congress Carla Hayden announced that Joy Williams will receive the 2021 Library of Congress Prize for American Fiction, which honors an American writer whose body of work is distinguished for both its mastery and originality of thought and imagination. Williams, a previous... Continue reading at Literrary Hub
[ Literrary Hub | 2021-06-30 17:19:46 UTC ]
More news stories like this
National Book Award winner Charles Yu discusses 'Interior Chinatown' with Times film critic Justin Chang at the L.A. Times Book Club Continue reading at Los Angeles Times
[ Los Angeles Times | 2021-05-27 20:58:15 UTC ]
More news stories like this
Along the coast of California, a vibrant literary community came together, but its many styles could not be defined together. Continue reading at New Yorker
[ New Yorker | 2021-05-24 10:00:00 UTC ]
More news stories like this
A new survey examining the impact of the pandemic on New York City’s literary community found that 75% of the city’s literary organizations reported some financial loss over the last year, with some organizations reporting losses as high as $100,000. Continue reading at Publishers Weekly
[ Publishers Weekly | 2021-05-12 04:00:00 UTC ]
More news stories like this
Interviews Photo © Matika Wilbur For the 44th Annual Writers Week, the University of California, Riverside Department of Creative Writing, in partnership with the LA Review of Books, honored three US Poets Laureate with Lifetime Achievement... Continue reading at World Literature Today
[ World Literature Today | 2021-04-21 15:11:24 UTC ]
More news stories like this
A National Book Award nominee's new children's books for Easter 2022, Matthew Paul Turner adds more kids' titles, podcaster Faitth Brooks has "a love letter to Black Women' in the works, and more. Continue reading at Publishers Weekly
[ Publishers Weekly | 2021-04-13 04:00:00 UTC ]
More news stories like this
Interviews Carlos Manuel Álvarez’s debut novel, The Fallen—a withering portrait of a Cuban family with conflicting visions of their country and their roles within it—was published in June 2020 and has helped establish Álvarez as one of the leading... Continue reading at World Literature Today
[ World Literature Today | 2021-03-29 21:52:25 UTC ]
More news stories like this
Legend of children’s literature Beverly Cleary died on March 25th in Carmel, California, HarperCollins announced on Friday. She was 104. Since publishing Henry Huggins in 1950, when she was a librarian, Cleary has sold 85 million copies of her books, which have been translated into 29 different... Continue reading at Literrary Hub
[ Literrary Hub | 2021-03-27 13:47:12 UTC ]
More news stories like this
Today, the National Book Foundation announced that Ruth Dickey will be its next Executive Director, filling the role that Lisa Lucas vacated at the end of last year. Dickey has served since 2013 as the Executive Director of Seattle Arts & Lectures, and in 2019 was a judge for the National... Continue reading at Literrary Hub
[ Literrary Hub | 2021-02-11 13:36:11 UTC ]
More news stories like this
A Pulitzer Prize winner and a National Book Award finalist have new books headed our way. Continue reading at The Washington Post
[ The Washington Post | 2021-02-02 13:00:00 UTC ]
More news stories like this
The National Book Awards' new digital outreach series features a 12-event presentation of winners, shortlistees, and finalists, including international literature and translation. The post US National Book Award Program: Spring Season appeared first on Publishing Perspectives. Continue reading at Publishing Perspectives
[ Publishing Perspectives | 2021-01-18 19:01:19 UTC ]
More news stories like this
More than 250 members of the literary community signed a letter this week urging publishers not to sign book deals with anyone in the Trump administration. Continue reading at Los Angeles Times
[ Los Angeles Times | 2021-01-15 19:12:33 UTC ]
More news stories like this
Interviews Barbara Epler started working at New Directions after graduating from college in 1984, and she has been its president and publisher since 2011. In 2015 Poets & Writers awarded Epler their Editor’s Prize, and in 2016 Words Without Borders... Continue reading at World Literature Today
[ World Literature Today | 2021-01-11 14:39:22 UTC ]
More news stories like this
His exhaustive coverage of the Vietnam War also led to the book “A Bright Shining Lie,” which won a National Book Award and a Pulitzer Prize. Continue reading at The New York Times
[ The New York Times | 2021-01-07 23:20:39 UTC ]
More news stories like this
A former New York State Poet, she won the National Book Award and was a Pulitzer finalist for poems in which small details could accrue great power. Continue reading at The New York Times
[ The New York Times | 2021-01-07 17:27:38 UTC ]
More news stories like this
2021 is already starting off right (movie-wise, at least): Deadline has just announced that Tiffany Haddish is in final negotiations to star in the screen adaptation of National Book Award winner M.T. Anderson’s sci-fi novel Landscape with Invisible Hand, which will be produced by MGM, Annapurna... Continue reading at Literrary Hub
[ Literrary Hub | 2021-01-06 19:07:21 UTC ]
More news stories like this
The National Book Award recipient plumbed the natural world for its wisdom, exploring the Arctic tundra, the Antarctic waters and the spaces in between. Continue reading at The Washington Post
[ The Washington Post | 2020-12-30 17:34:15 UTC ]
More news stories like this