Celeste Ng is the author of the novels Everything I Never Told You (2014) and Little Fires Everywhere (2017). She earned an MFA from the University of Michigan (now the Helen Zell Writers’ Program at the University of Michigan), where she won the Hopwood Award. Her fiction and essays have appeared in One Story, TriQuarterly, Bellevue Literary Review, the Kenyon Review Online, and elsewhere. She is the recipient of the Pushcart Prize, the Massachusetts Book Award, the American Library Association’s Alex Award, and a fellowship from the National Endowment for the Arts. She lives in Cambridge, Massachusetts.
Okay, I admit it—I didn’t think this was going to funny, but it was. Funny… because it’s true. (Via GalleyCat.) Further reading: Look at things from the other way around: I’m waiting for agents and editors to make a “Shit authors say” video.
…using only the words from The Cat in the Hat. Or could I? That’s the challenge posed by one of the prompts at the Tumblr site Writing Prompts. (Don’t worry, they’re helpfully listed for your reference. Did you know The Cat in the Hat contains the word “shame”?) The site has a huge variety of prompts, including lots based on photos (for you visual thinkers). They’re totally different from other prompts I’ve seen–you’re sure to find something to get you started, unstuck, or turned in a new direction. I’m bookmarking this site for the next time I feel like I […]
Running a journal—selecting content, editing, finding just the right images—takes a lot of time. (Trust us: we know!) So when I heard about Twenty-Four Magazine, I was flabbergasted. You see, Twenty-Four Magazine just put out its first issue last month, and they did it all—the concept, the writing, the publishing, the design—in just twenty-four hours. Why? Here’s what the group said on their site: Because it means that the magazine’s production will become an event that anyone can follow, and the process becomes a part of the product. Because a time-based model makes continuing the magazine more sustainable: it’s a […]
The always-fascinating TYWKIWDBI points us to the origin of the blurb. According to Wikipedia, The word blurb originated in 1907. American humorist Gelett Burgess’s short 1906 book Are You a Bromide? was presented in a limited edition to an annual trade association dinner. The custom at such events was to have a dust jacket promoting the work and with, as Burgess’ publisher B. W. Huebsch described it, “the picture of a damsel — languishing, heroic, or coquettish — anyhow, a damsel on the jacket of every novel” In this case the jacket proclaimed “YES, this is a ‘BLURB’!” and the […]
Is it better to be the only one who loves an unpopular book, or the only one who hates a popular book? Thanks to the Tumblr site I Love Charts, you can now weigh the pros and cons: . Further Reading: Why liking a book—or its popularity—shouldn’t be part of a good review Rick Moody is a popular author writers love to hate. What’s the deal with that?
Here’s some encouragement to read, from that noted bookworm, Peter Griffin: Happy Friday, everyone!
You may have said those words once or twice yourself, perhaps? (If not, please leave this blog. Now.) It may comfort you to know that you are not alone in that sentiment: even established writers think so, now and then—and have for decades, if not centuries. To prove it, Michael Hoffman has combed through the letters of Joseph Roth, finding every mention of his novel The Radetzky March, which would become his masterpiece. Here’s a sampling: November 20, 1930 Joseph Roth to Stefan Zweig: “‘The Radetzky March,’ it’ll be called, set in the Dual Monarchy from 1890 to 1914. I’ll […]
The town of Shutesbury, in rural western Massachusetts, needs a new public library to replace their tiny, antiquated one (there’s no running water!). The state will cover 60% of the cost—IF the town can raise $1.4 million by June 30. Shutesbury has made this adorable video explaning the situation and making the case for a new library. (And if that’s not enough to convince you to watch, I have two words for you: ukulele soundtrack.) This video—especially the lists of things the patrons hope to do in their new library—remind me that libraries aren’t just shelves of books: they’re community […]
Earlier this week, I mentioned Heidi Julavits’ novel The Effect of Living Backwards, and how she thanks Track 4 of Wilco’s Yankee Hotel Foxtrot in the acknowledgements. She suggests she listened to it over and over while writing the novel—but knowing this, would be interested to read the novel while listening to that track, wouldn’t it? The concept of a soundtrack to a book isn’t exactly new. For some time, the fabulous book and music blog Largehearted Boy has asked writers to make playlists for their books, and the resulting lists include the author’s notes on how the song relates […]
On Oscar night, no one listens to the thank-you speeches—except the people being thanked. Likewise, no one reads the author acknowledgements of a book—or do they? On The Millions, Henriette Lazaridis Power delves into the stories behind this oft-overlooked section of a book, from the Brontë sisters to Zadie Smith to Robin Black. And Power argues that the acknowledgements are more than polite thank-you notes; they’re an opportunity: Everyone reads the acknowledgements. In fact, for many of us, the first thing we do when we pull a book off the store shelf is to flip to the back. The writers […]
