At Crooked Timber, John Holbo announces his latest project: I know this doesn’t sound healthy, but I’ve, I’ve … started a blog: a literary studies group blog. It’s called the Valve and it just got turned on.
Tod Goldberg used the same author photo for his first two novels. While mulling over the photo possibilities for his third book, he’s “run across the very disturbing trend of authors trying to either look like their characters, or, worse, authors looking like strung out real estate agents.” He posts “a few notably bad author photos,” with descriptions like: Granted, . . .
Like most of the bars in [expurgated] after 11:30 p.m., Kurt Vonnegut doesn’t give a damn about New York City’s smoking ban. Especially not when he just wants a smoke in a public park on a fine, sunny afternoon. In the Telegraph, Mark Sanderson says: “The latest annual sales figures from Nielsen BookScan reveal why so many authors are taking . . .
On Monday, Mark Sarvas reported on the launch party for Swink magazine’s second issue, which includes stories from Sam Lipsyte, Neil LaBute and Carol Test, whose “Conversational English” won the magazine’s Literary Award in Fiction prize. The issue’s “damaged darling” is a collaboration between Dan Chaon and Stacy Richter. And Michael A. FitzGerald contributes a piece called “I Heart Denis . . .