Suspend Your Disbelief

Recent Posts

Shop Talk |

Furnishings of a literary life

by Celeste Ng

How often do we think about our books as physical objects, part of the essential furniture of our homes? The Elegant Variation has a lovely little post about the joy of setting up one’s library again after a move: So now the arduous task of refilling the books begins. First, we need to douse the whole collection to protect against silverfish (also at Mrs. TEV’s insistence). Then I need to incorporate new additions to my library into the boxes packed more than a year ago, and figure out exactly how to order the whole thing. (The previous arrangement could politely […]


Shop Talk |

2009 National Book Award finalists: "strangers" no more

by Anne Stameshkin

For the Star Tribune, Laurie Hertzel comments on this year’s remarkably un-famous crop of fiction finalists; many seemed dark horses next to literary legends like Margaret Atwood, Kazsuo Ishiguro, Lorrie Moore, and John Irving — each of whom published new books this fall, and none of whom made the list. To get better acquainted with the work of one finalist, here’s an excerpt from Column McCann’s Let the Great World Spin.


Shop Talk |

P&W: Top 50 creative writing programs, and a conversation with Jonathan Karp

by Anne Stameshkin

The numbers are in…and the top 50 creative writing MFA programs are ranked in the new issue of Poets & Writers. Here’s an excerpt from the accompanying article by Seth Abramson, who compiled the list based on extensive research. (Note: The full article is available only in the print edition.) Abramson admits the difficulties of quantifying and comparing MFA program experiences: [T]he evils of educational rankings are indeed legion and do urge caution on the part of any prospective analyst of MFA programs. At base it is impossible to quantify or predict the experience any one MFA candidate will have […]


Reviews |

Asta in the Wings, by Jan Elizabeth Watson

by Lee Thomas

In her debut novel, Asta in the Wings (Tin House, 2009), Jan Elizabeth Watson captures the peculiar insightfulness of childhood through her seven-year-old narrator, Asta. Forbidden – ever – to leave the house and left alone during the day, Asta and her brother, Orion, fear a plague that their troubled mother has convinced them lurks outside their locked door and tar-papered windows. As Orion recounts: “The plague started some years ago … in a faraway land … not long after our father died from walking straight into the ocean.” These dark allusions underpin the children’s day as it unfolds in whimsical games amid stark circumstance. Yet when the children are forced to enter the outside world, we become even more fearful for their safety.


Shop Talk |

National Book Award Finalists Announced

by Celeste Ng

The National Book Foundation has announced the 2009 National Book Award Finalists. Here are the contenders in fiction: Bonnie Jo Campbell, American Salvage (Wayne State University Press) Colum McCann, Let the Great World Spin (Random House) Daniyal Mueenuddin, In Other Rooms, Other Wonders (W. W. Norton & Co.) Jayne Anne Phillips, Lark and Termite (Alfred A. Knopf) Marcel Theroux, Far North (Farrar, Straus and Giroux) The complete list, as well as other fun stats and figures, can be found here. Winners will be announced on November 18 at the 60th National Book Awards Benefit Dinner and Ceremony in New York. […]


Shop Talk |

Win A Critique From Nathan Bransford

by Celeste Ng

Over at his eponymous blog, literary agent Nathan Bransford (of Curtis Brown Ltd. in San Francisco) is running his “3rd Sort-of-Annual Stupendously Ultimate First Paragraph Challenge.” Post the first paragraph of your work-in-progress on the contest page, and Bransford will select those he deems strongest as finalists. Readers of his blog will then vote to determine the contest winner. Finalists get query critiques, and the winner will receive: “(1) Their choice of a partial critique, query critique, or phone consultation; (2) A very-sought-after galley of THE SECRET YEAR by Jennifer Hubbard, which will be published by Viking in January; (3) […]


Essays |

Quotes & Notes: In Praise of Perpetual Self-Reinvention

by Steven Wingate

“Every book I publish is an opportunity for me to reinvent myself as a writer.” — Steve Katz

The easy thing to do when we finish one writing project, the default thing, is to simply think about what we’re going to write next. Katz’s words, however, call us to engage in a deeper kind of reconsideration of ourselves, because what we write and who we are as writers are two crucially different things.


Shop Talk |

Apply for the 2009 Dzanc Prize – and spread the word

by Anne Stameshkin

The deadline to apply for the 2009 Dzanc Prize is rapidly approaching; be sure to get your work-in-progress manuscript and community service program proposal in by November 1, 2009. Here is a brief overview of what the submissions process and prize/service opportunity entail, via Dzanc’s website: In 2007, to further its mission of fostering literary excellence, community involvement, and education, Dzanc Books created the Dzanc Prize, which provides monetary aid in the sum of $5,000, to a writer of literary fiction. All writers applying for the Dzanc Prize must have a work-in-progress they can submit for review, and present the […]


Shop Talk |

HuffPo Books launches!

by Anne Stameshkin

I’m a few days behind, so forgive the belated announcement: HuffPo Books is now live, and its content so far – a mix of blog posts and multimedia features (some interactive) — looks exciting! On Oct. 6, Arianna Huffington announced her first book club pick, a 2004 nonfiction title from HarperOne: In Praise of Slowness: Challenging the Cult of Speed by Carl Honore. Read why she chose it and learn more about her selection process and book club goals. It seems that many in the HuffPo community have been inspired by this book and the slow movement it explores; in […]




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