Here, in an MIT lecture, Jamaica Kincaid reads and discusses some of her early contributions to The New Yorker’s “Talk of the Town.” She recalls being astounded when her work started to appear in the magazine, because at the time she was reacting against the way everyone else there was writing. One of her pieces, about a book reception for . . .
On June 17, I’ll be talking with Sarah Waters at the Barnes & Noble Lincoln Triangle about her postwar haunted house story, The Little Stranger, possibly my favorite of her novels yet. It’ll be tricky (but fun) to discuss the book without giving anything away. For the uninitiated: my appreciation appeared at NPR last summer. For a writer so gifted . . .
“Is poetry relevant? Even among poets there seems to be a nervous consensus that it’s not.”
Thomas Mann told the young James Lord that he possessed “the gift of admiration,” which “above all enables a talented person to learn.” See also.
Aimee Bender’s The Particular Sadness of Lemon Cake appears early next month. She’ll discuss the book with Heidi Julavits at Symphony Space on June 14.