Poets and Writers offers the Top 50 MFA Programs in the nation, as compiled by Seth Abramson. Most of the article explains what criteria were excluded from the rankings. I don’t think it’s a bad idea that he completely avoids such subjective criteria as professor status — after all, as he notes, excellent writers are […]
So Barnes and Noble released its e-reader today, which will compete with Sony’s e-reader and Amazon’s Kindle. Over at Business Center, they’re calling the Nook a Kindle-killer. Ironically, wasn’t this the term for not-yet-unveiled-but-hoped-for Apple Tablet? I guess they’ve waited so long to bring it out that it will have to be a Sony/Nook/Kindle killer. […]
Over at The Reading Experience, Dan Green isn’t happy with Tin House’s “The Writer’s Notebook”: If we take The Writer’s Notebook: Craft Essays from Tin House (Tin House Books) to be a representative gathering of critical wisdom from current American writers, what does it ultimately tell us about these writers’ understanding of the purpose of […]
What can we learn from this year’s announcement that Herta Muller has won the Nobel Prize for Literature? Here’s Seven Tips for Future Predictions. The Nobel Prize Committee has a leak. When Herta Muller rockets from 50/1 odds to 3/1 odds in the last few days of voting, that’s not a hunch. That’s a good […]
Okay, last minute speculation here before the big announcement tomorrow. The Guardian notes that the Swedes have given a tip-off by critiquing their European focus in the last decade: Peter Englund [the new frontman of the Nobel literature prize jury] has said that he believes the prize has been too “Eurocentric” in recent years (nine […]
When arguing for the importance and relevance of physical books in “The Case for Books,” Robert Darnton mentions smell as a factor: “Books also give off special smells. According to a recent survey of French students, 43 percent consider smell to be one of the most important qualities of printed books—so important that they resist […]
First: Who decided to give a melancholy book called “Nocturnes” a bright white cover? Check out the British cover — much more evocative. But aside from quibbles over cover art, I enjoyed Ishiguro’s latest very much. Slow, stately prose reminiscent of Jhumpa Lahiri, and highly readable. Also, “Nocturnes” holds together remarkably well. In fact, almost […]
So the National Book Award is taking a page from the Man Booker Prize by deciding to do a “Best of the National Book Award.” It’s not much more than a stunt to draw attention to the prize, and of course the winner takes nothing but popular acclaim, but who are we to complain? Contests […]
Is Oprah’s selection of Uwem’s Akpan’s “Say You’re One of Them” surprising? Yes, but maybe it shouldn’t be. Oprah’s picked books with cannibalism of children, incest, autistic-child love stories, hermaphrodites, and pretty much any other theme or style or length you could imagine. So the fact that she’s finally selected a short story collection (yes!), […]
Go to The Rumpus and check out my review of Irvine Welsh’s “Reheated Cabbage.” It’s a short story collection in high Trainspotting form — drugs, lowlife characters, and humor. PS. The rat on the dust jacket is likely a metaphorical depiction of one or several characters. Here’s the opening: The unappetizing title of Reheated Cabbage, […]
