I love hearing about other writers’ processes, how they perceive of and describe them. There’s always the hope that this will yield some magical secret–or at least a scrap of empathy. And I think it serves writers well to read about how artists in other mediums work through a piece. This post on Henry Sene Yee’s book design blog walks us through his process — including many drafts — in creating the cover design for Columbine by Dave Cullen.
Michael Hinken asks Young Lions Fiction Award winner Salvatore Scibona about the story behind his first novel, The End. Scibona emphasizes the value of writing from habit (rather than discipline), discusses his own process, and shares why he recently built a worm farm.
This may be last week’s news, but the issues it raises are still worth a jaw. From The Daily Beast (via some friends who were at this event: a reception and Q&A with the Man Booker International Prize judges, who met to discuss the finalists for this prestigious biannual award): The book world is generally so polite and civilized, that it’s sort of fun when a kerfuffle breaks open as it did last night at the New York Public Library. […] Up on stage were The Daily Beast’s Tina Brown, acting as moderator, and the three judges: novelists Amit Chaudhuri, […]
Hey, Boston-based writers! If you like western-themed mad-libs, raffles, and good short fiction, don’t miss this Sunday’s Dirty Water Reading Series event. $1 suggested donation.
Celebrate Slice Magazine‘s fourth issue launch with a Literary Trivia Showdown event tonight, March 23, from 6:30-9:30 at Dixon Place (161 Chrystie St, between Rivington and Delancey). This first-time event will pit three teams of five agents, five editors, and five authors (including Jonathan Lethem) against each other. The launch party will also feature craft ales, a raffle, and a silent auction. Tickets are $25 and include a copy of the magazine’s Issue 4.
DZANC books and the Emerging Writers Network are offering a a great opportunity for writers seeking feedback on their work: the DZANC Creative Writing Sessions are online one-on-one workshops that you can purchase very cheaply by the hour. Have your work read and commented on by someone from this amazing list of authors–all of whom are volunteering their time to this project. 100% of the proceeds go to support DZANC’s Writers in the Schools program for kids grades 4-12.
Warm congratulations to friend and former classmate Uwem Akpan, whose debut story collection Say You’re One of Them has won the Africa regional for the Commonwealth Writers’ Best First Book Award. Africa’s Best Book Award winner is South African writer Mandla Langa, for The Lost Colours of the Chameleon. The authors will each go on to compete for the overall Commonwealth Writers’ Prize in their respective categories.
Near the beginning of Nathaniel Rich’s debut novel, The Mayor’s Tongue, a young man named Eugene reads a novella by his idol, the legendary author Constance Eakins. “[It] was typical Eakins,” Eugene reflects, “a strange reality that bordered on fantasy, an exotic locale, larger-than-life characters.” He might have been describing The Mayor’s Tongue itself, a book so dizzyingly rich with surprises that no review could—or should—describe them all.
This is courtesy of The Millions, who gave us the first incarnation of this tour in 2007. This updated, expanded map and itinerary is also a eulogy for the bookshops we’ve lost and those that won’t be with us for much longer… And, as of today, you can edit and update the map to include the independent bookstores and bookish places you love anywhere in the world. Follow these instructions to help create The Millions’ Collaborative Atlas of Bookstores and Literary Places. Who will add Shaman Drum to the Atlas? Do so, let me know you did, and I’ll order […]
Congratulations to Salvatore Scibona for winning the 9th annual Young Lions Fiction Award!! Sponsored by the New York Public Library, this $10,000 prize honors a writer who, at age 35 or younger, has made “an indelible impression on the world of literature” with a novel or story collection. The four finalists were: Jon Fasman, The Unpossessed City Rivka Galchen, Atmospheric Disturbances (FWR’s review coming soon) Sana Krasikov, One More Year (see FWR’s review here) Zachary Mason, The Lost Books of the Odyssey And check out Fiction Writers Review this weekend for an interview with Salvatore Scibona; a review of The […]
