The first page of Jenny Erpenbeck’s amazing 2014 novel The End of Days (Aller Tage Abend in German, available in English from New Directions) has to rank among the most agonizingly beautiful—and thematically apt—novel openings ever written: “The Lord gave,…
Friday Feast: Thoughts from Literary Professionals of Color, Kindness at Writing Conferences, What Editors Can Do, Thick Skin, and What to Read after Watching Beyoncé’s ‘Lemonade’
What does Prince have to do with writing? Everything if you’re a kid growing up in a dead-end town in a state that everyone forgets exists and everything around you is the worst and your stupid stepbrother told your parents…
The slogans zing at writers everywhere we go, from tree-dangling kittens on social media to well-meaning cocktail party guests. Keep the Faith. Never Give Up. Butt in Chair. And we spoon feed it to ourselves as well, suckling at the…
Somehow, I managed to miss the most important best of/year-end list of 2015. The top sellers? The best of whatevers? Who cares?! It’s the best cuties in publishing! At left: “Bela Lugosi, who belongs to Ben Samuel and probably helps at the National Book…
The blogosphere has been abuzz over a six-figure deal for the rights to a year-old self-published debut novel, The Cruelty, by Scott Bergstrom. The firestorm began with a November 24th article in Publisher’s Weekly, “YA Debut Gets Six Figure Deal,…