Suspend Your Disbelief

Shop Talk

nyc-based writers: seeking an agent?

by Anne Stameshkin

Head to the Asian American Writers Workshop (AAWW) next Tuesday, October 7 at 7pm for: The Practicing Writer Panel: How To Get An Agent Literary agents Jin Auh (The Wylie Agency), Ayesha Pande (Collins Literary Agency) and Amy Tipton (FinePrint Literary Management) will discuss how to get your manuscript into the right hands and find a good home for your book(s). The AAWW is located at 16 West 32nd Street (between Broadway & 5th Avenue), 10th Floor, NY, NY.


reviewlet: How Far is the Ocean from Here by Amy Shearn

by Anne Stameshkin

How Far is the Ocean from Here, Amy Shearn’s captivating debut, follows a young surrogate mother who flees to the desert shortly before her due date. Accomplishing a seemingly impossible goal, the novel sustains the quality and language of a short story for 320 pages. Shearn exceeds at painting characters and relationships – particularly the bond between surrogate Susannah and father Julian; an adopted child himself, Julian feels a strong pull to the woman carrying his first blood relative–much to the chagrin of his wife, Kit. The book’s POV, a shifting third person with hints of omniscience, is ambitious and […]


against depression

by Anne Stameshkin

This story (audio and transcript available here) covers the high rate of teen suicide on Nantucket. The community is struggling with how to cope – and how to prevent further cases; psychologists and trauma specialists are working with police officers and teachers, training them to identify (and recommend to counseling) kids who suffer from depression. At a town meeting earlier this year, Harvard’s Robert Macy urged parents to take the time to really listen to their kids, stressing that this was more important that actively trying to prevent them from harming themselves. All of this seems like good work and […]


songs of innocence and of experience

by Anne Stameshkin

On the topic of our “you’ve got to re-read this” series, I highly recommend this wonderful essay from Tim Kreider at Balitmore City Paper. When Books Could Change Your Life: Why What We Pore Over At 12 May Be The Most Important Reading We Ever Do Let’s all admit it: We never got over those first loves. Listen to the difference in the voices of any groups of well-read, overeducated people discussing contemporary fiction, or the greatest books they’ve ever read, and the voices of those same people, only two drinks later, talking about the books they loved as kids… […]


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 […]


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.


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 […]


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 […]




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