Suspend Your Disbelief

Contributor Types

Anne Stameshkin

Founding Editor

Anne Stameshkin lives in Brooklyn. Her fiction has been published in the Chattahoochee Review andNimrod, and her book reviews have appeared inEnfuse magazine. Anne holds an MFA (fiction) from the University of Michigan. She pays the bills as a freelance editor, writer, and writing teacher, most recently at Connecticut College. While in-house at McGraw-Hill, Anne edited a number of literature and composition texts and two craft books—Tell It Slant: Writing and Shaping Creative Nonfiction by Brenda Miller and Suzanne Paola and The Sincerest Form: Writing Fiction by Imitation by Nicholas Delbanco, among other projects. She is currently at work on a novel. Some recently published collections she recommends include If I Loved You, I Would Tell You This by Robin Black, The Theory of Light and Matter by Andrew Porter, and Boys and Girls Like You and Me by Aryn Kyle.


Articles

Shop Talk |

trailers for books

by Anne Stameshkin

In the workshop I’m teaching we’ve been talking a lot about the difference between writing for the screen and writing for the page — the advantages of each medium and how to “translate” scenes from one to the other. Tangentially, we wondered if a lion roared or a castle illuminated or a fanfare erupted just before we opened a book, would that make us even more thrilled to begin reading? No wonder sitting in a theater feels more exciting — to most — than turning to page 1. (Caveat: I think if you have the memory of opening many rewarding […]


Shop Talk |

tonight: NYC LitCrawl

by Anne Stameshkin

New Yorkers, tonight is your chance to get liquored up in bookish style. I’m talking about the first NYC LitCrawl (an off-shoot of San Francisco’s famed LitQuake ). FWR Contributor Lee Goldberg’s Guerilla Lit Reading Series is curating one of the events, a reading by Tao Lin and Nicole Audrey Spector (7:15 at Solas – East Village: 232 East 9th Street). San Franciscans, you get to enjoy LitQuake events from October 3-11, 2008. Check out the schedule.


Shop Talk |

Banned Books Week: September 27-October 4, 2008

by Anne Stameshkin

Every year, hundreds of books are challenged at libraries, bookstores, and schools across the United States. Banned Books Week is an annual opportunity to celebrate our freedom to read–and to rally for uncensored access to great literature. Bookstores and libraries are sponsoring exhibits and events to raise awareness; find out what’s happening near you on the Banned Books Week site. Some NYC events include displays at the Inwood branch of the New York Public Library and Hunter College Libraries. Additionally, the Hunter College Library blog will feature posts on banned books throughout the week. The American Booksellers Foundation for Free […]


Shop Talk |

weekly dream cast: Netherland / book giveaway

by Anne Stameshkin

EDIT 10-3-08: This competition is now extended through OCTOBER 31, 2008 to give Netherland fans a chance to ponder the perfect cast. In the meantime, tell FWR what books you’d like to see in future dream-cast competitions by commenting here. Every Friday, FWR lets you dream-cast a film adaptation of a widely-read book. First up: Joseph O’Neill’s critically acclaimed Netherland. Who would play Hans? Chuck? Rachel? Jake? Eliza? Any smaller characters? [For the hardcore film people out there: who would write the screenplay? who would direct?] Comment with your picks by 10 PM this Sunday night (Sept. 28) and be […]


Shop Talk |

extended previews available on Google Book Search

by Anne Stameshkin

From PW Daily: Yesterday, Google announced a new feature tied to its Book Search program, a widget-like tool called Google Previews. By adding simple code to their Web sites, publishers, retailers or anyone with sufficient technical knowledge can embed a Google-hosted preview of up to 20% of any book that has been included in the Google Book Search database. Fabulous! Excerpts are gateway drugs. I’ll see if we can add this “simple code” and include samplings from books reviewed on FWR.


Shop Talk |

Books for Barack

by Anne Stameshkin

I still haven’t read one of her mysteries, but in 2005, Ayelet Waldman had me at hello with her infamous Modern Love essay — the one where she admits – blissfully – to loving her husband even more than her children. (Bonus: said husband is Michael Chabon.) Now Waldman is channeling some of that passion toward electing Barack Obama, who she first met in law school. She’s launched a Books for Barack fundraising drive. In a widely circulated email, Waldman called for writers to donate signed copies of their books, including rare collectibles and first editions, to offer as gifts […]




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