Cliff Garstang is out with his annual Perpetual Folly Pushcart Prize rankings, which ranks literary journals according to how many Pushcarts or special mentions they've won in the past decade. As is wise with any of these lists, he offers the disclaimer: Rankings of literary magazines are of questionable value. Most such rankings are subjective. Others […]
Nothing says literary more than wearing a literature-inspired T-shirt, preferably under a beaten-up thrift-store blazer. And since I’ve been mulling over some purchases, I’ve made the rounds through the internet nooks and crannies and come up with some of my favorite literary T-shirts. Here they are. Library themed from Threadless: Edgar Allen Poe, Quote the […]
The Kenyon Review just revealed that Amazon's funding their short story competition: The Kenyon Review is one of a diverse range of not-for-profit author and publisher groups receiving support from Amazon.com for programs dedicated to developing new voices and new books, including the Council for Literary Magazines and Presses, Lambda Literary Foundation, Poets & Writers, One Story, Ledig […]
Remember Howard Junker’s faux retirement last year, before he pulled back at the last moment because they couldn’t find anyone to take his place? Well, they found someone. After his long tenure at Zyzzyva, Junker is finally handing the reins over to the current managing editor, Laura Cogan. An ad in Poets & Writers tipped me […]
At 11:42 last night, Wednesday the 27th of October, the number of Amazon Book Categories superseded the actual number of books they sell. The category that put the tally over the edge was “Baking for Emo Vampire Teens,” created especially for a new cookbook, “Black Blood Sausages: Balancing Bodily Fluids and Dark Colors in Your […]
Ted Genoways has been exonerated from Kevin Morrissey's suicide by a University audit. Of course, the audit might be merely trying to cover the university's backside for lawsuit purposes. The overall conclusion is given in clinical terms: Overall, there were several institutional notifications of problems within VQR, but no specific allegations of bullying or harassment […]
I’ve been watching Mad Men. It frequently underwhelms me. It’s also frustrating, and the reason for my frustration overlaps onto some fiction. One of my main problems is that the show doesn’t portray a historical period as much as luridly exhibits all the aspects of that historical period that seem offensive. The misogyny, the ubiquitous […]
This morning the National Book Award Nominees were announced. These are the contenders in fiction: Peter Carey, Parrot and Olivier in America (Alfred A. Knopf) Jaimy Gordon, Lord of Misrule (McPherson & Co.) Nicole Krauss, Great House (W.W. Norton & Co.) Lionel Shriver, So Much for That (HarperCollinsPublishers) Karen Tei Yamashita, I Hotel (Coffee House […]
A few days ago Cormac McCarthy spiked in the betting pool rankings for who would win the Nobel. He rose past Philip Roth, Don Dellilo, Thomas Pynchon, and Joyce Carol Oates, going from 66/1 to 8/1 to 6/1 to 3/1 and now 5/2. Do I think McCarthy’s deserving? Absolutely. And do I adore his books? […]
It’s that time again when literary folk dust off their shattered predictions from years past and wager (money, prestige, honor) on who will win the 2010 Nobel Prize for Literature. Most likely, you will be wrong. Most likely, virtually everyone will be wrong. Even people who do nothing other than read, study, and talk about […]
