April 30, 2013 | by Sadie Stein
“This is a record of everything Fitzgerald wrote, and what he did with it, in his own hand.” The University of South Carolina makes F. Scott’s financial ledger available on the Internet. (“Just weeks before the opening of the movie The Great Gatsby,” the AP adds, horribly.)
In news that carries the ring of inevitability, Steven Soderbergh is writing a crime novella on Twitter.
“It’s pretty graphic, and it’s pretty pornographic for seventh-grade boys and girls to be reading,” says one concerned mother, about … Anne Frank’s diary.
Haruki Murakami is set to make his first public appearance in Japan since 1995.
A. A. Milne’s WWI propaganda career comes to light.
TAGS A.A. Milne, Anne Frank, F. Scott Fitzgerald, Haruki Murakami, news, Steven Soderbergh, Twitter
March 15, 2013 | by Sadie Stein
- Sheryl Sandberg: “I probably shouldn’t admit this since I work in the tech industry, but I still prefer reading paper books.”
- Perhaps this explains why January bookstore sales were up 5.5 percent ($2.1 billion)!
- KFC is recovering from a Chinese chicken scandal with a Twitter poetry contest. “KFC kicked off a poetry contest on social media. The company asked fans to pen poems that include the phrase, ‘The chickens are innocent,’ laying the blame on illicit drug use at the farms. Best poem wins an iPad mini.” Yes, you just read that correctly.
- We can’t get enough of Nina Katchadourian and her “Sorted Books” project.
TAGS China, KFC, Nina Katchadourian, Sheryl Sandberg, Twitter
March 6, 2013 | by Sadie Stein
“Writing a long novel is like survival training. Physical strength is as necessary as artistic sensitivity.” Mohsin Hamid’s fitness tips for writers.
The Vida results are in, and they are, as per usual, damning.
“I was bored at work and looking for a distraction.” Maris Kreizman on the birth of Slaughterhouse 90210.
It is World Read Aloud Day, should you have a child handy! (An adult will do too.)
Why it’s needed? #FictionalCharactersIWantToMarry is a thing. (Reuven Malter, not that you asked.)
TAGS Haruki Murakami, Maris Kreizman, Mohsin Hamid, Twitter, Vida
March 5, 2013 | by Sadie Stein
One-hundred-forty-character poets, channel you inner Bashō, O’Hara, and Williams and listen up! Immortality can be yours: the New York Public Library is sponsoring a Twitter poetry contest for National Poetry Month!
Here’s the (slightly Byzantine) deal:
- Be American and over thirteen.
- Register.
- Follow @NYPL.
- “Submit three poetic tweets in English as public posts on your Twitter stream between March 1 and 10, 2013. Three poetic tweets constitute one entry and each poem must contain the @NYPL Twitter handle.”
- “Two of the poems can cover any topic you choose, but at least one of the three poems needs to be about libraries, books, reading, or New York City.”
The panel of distinguished judges will be looking for “originality, creativity, and artistic quality.” Winners will be highlighted on all the NYPL social networks and stand to claim a passel of truly excellent poetry books. (Plus the aforementioned glory.)
TAGS Basho, Frank O'Hara, NYC, NYPL, poetry, Twitter, William Carlos Williams
February 20, 2013 | by Sadie Stein
#IWishICouldMeet, the popular Twitter hash tag, gets a literary twist as readers tell the LA Times which characters and authors they would love to meet #IRL. (And for the record, #ReuvenMalter.)
Paul Muldoon—poet, professor, Poetry Society macher, New Yorker editor, librettist, and Rackett guitarist—lists his favorite rock books.
This list of best sellers from around the world is fascinating and shaming.
In fact, next, the blogger reading one hundred years of best sellers might want to tackle the Indonesian list.
“The second half of the nineteenth century saw the rise of amateur press associations (ASAs)—small groups of writers, often without professional training, who would produce individual articles, pamphlets, or magazines mailed to all other members of the association; in other words, a progenitor of subscription-based blogging, and yet another example of primitive versions of modern social media.”
TAGS bestsellers, news, Paul Muldoon, roundup, Twitter
December 18, 2012 | by Sadie Stein
British children’s magazine Puffin Post is folding after forty years.
“#bromance goes sour when 2 friends, Prince Harry and Falstaff, are all #yolo #rkoi #dom until Harry inherits the crown and a conscience.” Yup, Twitter Shakespeare.
The (inevitable?) Game of Thrones beer.
An inventory of Emily Dickinson’s family artifacts.
Indiana Jones journal mystery solved!
TAGS beer, Emily Dickinson, Game of Thrones, Indiana Jones, Penguin, Puffin Post, roundup, Shakespeare, Twitter, University of Chicago
