The Paris Review

It has long been a source of chagrin here at 62 White (and to George Plimpton before us) that our love for the Strand went unrequited.

Though we whiled away our weekends amid their shelves, brought them armloads of books every time we moved, and always spent more than we got paid, the Strand refused to carry so much as a single copy of The Paris Review. We tried not to take it personally. We were told it was company policy—no magazines. But in our heart of hearts, we always knew we should be together. Was there no room for us in their sixteen miles of books?

Now, all is right with the world. Starting June 13, not only can you purchase America’s finest literary quarterly at 13th and Broadway, but you can join us there, too, for a series of events featuring the best fiction, poetry, movies, actors, and readers we can find. It’ll be smart. It’ll be fun. And it will come with an original tote bag celebrating these two venerable New York institutions.

And who, you ask, will design this tote? You, dear reader! That’s right: we're holding a contest. Get in touch with your inner graphic designer/illustrator. Here are the details:

Design a bag that features the original Paris Review logo (as seen on our homepage and the cover of the magazine) and remember to leave room for the Strand oval, too. You can incorporate old cover art, go all-graphic, or dream up something completely your own. (For further inspiration, check out our current totes!) We want to know what the Review means to you!

Submission deadline: Monday, June 5, 2012

Artwork maximum size: 10 inches by 10 inches

EPS vector format preferred; 300 dpi acceptable

Send your entry to contests@theparisreview.org

The winning design will be revealed at the inaugural event at the Strand on June 13, 2012.

Top entries will be posted on The Paris Review Daily. The grand-prize winner will receive a Strand shopping spree and a year subscription to The Paris Review. Plus, of course, your tote.

Dear Pete Campbell,

You’ve always creeped me out. This isn’t entirely your fault. You can blame your parents for the beady eyes and the cheeks as yet untouched by razor; for your emotional immaturity; for the fortune they squandered and the love they withheld; and for the Waspy sense of privilege they nonetheless managed to confer on your skinny ass.

And so I don’t hate you, Pete, as others are wont to do. Sure, you’ve done some shitty things—getting Peggy preggers then treating her like trash; blackmailing Don into making you head of accounts; last night’s display of pathetic adultery with that chick from The Gilmore Girls—but I feel a strange affinity for you anyway. Read More »

On April 3, Robert Silvers accepted the Paris Review’s Hadada Prize for a strong and unique contribution to literature. These were his remarks.

When something like this evening happens, you ask how you got here, and I thought back to the autumn of 1954, when I was a soldier at NATO military headquarters—called SHAPE—near Paris. One of the best things about working there was that, by some international understanding, practically everyone had Wednesday afternoon off—you could go to the Louvre, you could go to the Café de Flore. And there, one Wednesday afternoon, at the kiosk in front of the Flore, I bought a copy of The Paris Review and took it back to our international barracks at Rocquencourt and read it in my bunk. I thought I should know more about it.

Read More »

This Thursday, join us at NYU’s Lillian Vernon Creative Writers House for an evening of new fiction and poetry from The Paris Review, hosted by editor Lorin Stein. The event, part of NYU’s Creative Writing Program Reading Series, will feature readings by recent contributors, including Adam Wilson, author of Flatscreen (and winner of our Terry Southern Prize) and Rowan Ricardo Phillips, author of the poetry collection The Ground.

For details, visit the Reading Series Web site.

Thanks to our fan loyalty, we have made it to the finals in the Battle of the LitMags. But can we take down worthy rival Georgia Review? It's a clash of the Titans! But our money's on our readers. Vote now!

Dear readers,

This is a matter of honor. If you love and believe in The Paris Review, now is the time to show what our fans are made of. We are currently in the Final Four of the Bill and Dave’s Cocktail Hour Tournament of Literary Magazines.

As they explain,

“[Oxford American] will now take on another program with a shining pedigree, The Paris Review, in what promises to be a battle of titans. The surprises this year are all on the other side of the bracket. Many thought that the Georgia program had grown too old and could never return to its glory days under coach Lindberg, but their execution has been flawless, and they play a measured style that has everyone buzzing about the old days. The real Cinderella story of the tourney, however, has been Ecotone, a tiny program that, thanks in part to the recruiting pull of recent grad (and power forward) Edith Pearlman, has made a surprising run, littering the courts with higher seeds.“

You know what to do. (If you don’t, it’s vote in comments.) You gotta believe.