A Rational Discussion about Amazon
Over at The New Republic, Ruth Franklin has one of the most rational pieces on Amazon.com that I’ve seen in a long while. She wrote this in response to Colin Robinson’s The Trouble with Amazon article that appeared in a recent issue of The Nation. (And which I haven’t read, because after subscribing to The ...
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"Zone": An Excerpt of a Sentence
In some ways, the books we publish are like having children—the newest one always smells the best, is the most EXCITING THING EVER, and is that much more aesthetically refined, er, more adorable, or whatever. But seriously, when I read our titles for the final proof, I frequently fall in love all over again, getting all ...
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English PEN, Writers in Translation
This year, Writers in Translation celebrates its fifth anniversary with the publication of an anthology containing extracts from the 36 books that the programme has supported since its inception. Making the World Legible contains a dazzling array of fiction, non-fiction and poetry from some of the best international ...
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Little Star and a Little Love for Jerzy Pilch
Ann Kjellberg—who has not only serves as literary executor for Joseph Brodsky, but has been an editor at The New York Review of Books, Farrar, Straus & Giroux, and Artes, the journal of the Swedish Academy—recently launched a new journal called Little Star, featuring work from a host of interesting authors and ...
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Odyssey Editions
Last Thursday the publishing news of month year century broke with the announcement that the Andrew Wylie Literary Agency (one of the largest, most powerful, most intimidated, most unscrupulous literary agencies out there) had launched Odyssey Editions so they could publish ebook editions of a number of backlist titles by the ...
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Man Booker Longlist
The Man Booker Longlist was just announced. I haven’t read many of these, but I’m really excited that both David Mitchell and Tom McCarthy are on here: Peter Carey: Parrot and Oliver in America (Faber and Faber) Emma Donoghue: Room (Pan MacMillan – Picador) Helen Dunmore: The Betrayal (Penguin – ...
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Open Letter & the Elizabeth Kostova Foundation & Two Bulgarian Contests
I never had a chance to write all that I wanted to write about the Sozopol Fiction Workshop (and some of what I wanted to write—skinny dipping in the Black Sea, “Kentucky Fried Happy Hour,” etc.—was maybe a bit too “you had to be there” to really make sense anyway, so, well, you’ve ...
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