May 31, 2016 Bulletin We Interrupt This Broadcast By Dan Piepenbring Listen up. … to bring you some important news about the Paris Review Daily. As you may have seen, last week marked the end of Sadie Stein’s tenure as our daily correspondent. For two and a half years, with charm and insight, Sadie has brought us her stories: about her family, her childhood, her life as a reader, and, of course, about the truly bizarre personalities one encounters in New York. As she writes in her farewell post, “There are certain kinds of writing—good writing—that are actually better suited to this medium than to print, and translating the personal and fleeting into something public seems to me one of the Internet’s primary gifts.” Her column was a warm, witty reminder of how rich those gifts can be. And remember that before she began, she edited the Daily for nearly two years—all of which is to say that she’s been instrumental in giving this site its voice. We’re sad to see her go. In sunnier news, we have two new editors joining us at the Review and helping to make the Daily even better (read: dailier). Please welcome our new editor-at-large, Robert P. Baird, formerly of Harper’s, in whose April issue you may have read his piece about a trove of Colombian emeralds discovered off the coast of Key West; and our new associate editor, Caitlin Love, who joins us from the Oxford American. (This means that Caitlin, a lifelong Arkansan, has moved north of the Mason-Dixon for the first time. Early reports indicate that she’s enjoying the bagels.) The Review and the Daily are already the stronger for their expertise. Check back to see the wonders they work. Starting next month, we’ll welcome a raft of new columnists and contributors, too. Stay tuned.
May 10, 2016 Bulletin The Norwegian-American Literary Festival Returns By The Paris Review Photo: Johannes W. Berg. For the last few years, The Paris Review has cohosted The Norwegian-American Literary Festival, gathering a small group of American and Norwegian writers and critics for a series of informal lectures, interviews, discussions, and music. We’re proud to announce this year’s festival itinerary: coming to New York for three nights this month, May 19, 20, and 21. All the events below are free and open to the public. We hope to see you there! And yes—that guy in the picture (Torgny Amdam of the Fun Stuff, featuring James Wood on drums) will be performing, too. Read More
May 9, 2016 Bulletin The Secret’s Out: We’re BORINGASFUCK By The Paris Review Subscribe now and receive 10 percent off with the promotion code BORINGASFUCK. In 1953, William Styron introduced the first issue of The Paris Review with a simple mission statement. The magazine, he wrote, “should welcome these people into its pages … the non-drumbeaters and non-axe-grinders.” He said this knowing full well that non-drumbeaters and non-axe-grinders are boring as fuck. It was only a matter of time before someone caught on. In the Guardian today, Jessa Crispin blew our cover with three simple words. “We all have to be in job-interview mode all of the time,” she told Michelle Dean of writers today. “We’re not allowed to say, ‘The Paris Review is boring as fuck!’ Because what if The Paris Review is just about to call us?” Our fabled CIA connections notwithstanding, the Review has always admired those who speak truth to power. That’s why, for the next twenty-four hours, new subscribers can use the discount code BORINGASFUCK for 10 percent off one year of less-than-scintillating reading. Subscribe now to enjoy the best in boring fiction, boring poetry, boring interviews, and boring art. Because we all need something to read while we’re waiting by the phone …
May 4, 2016 Bulletin Now Online: Our Interviews with Gordon Lish and Jane & Michael Stern By Caitlin Love Spring is still gray, but we have some news that might help make it less so: both interviews from our Winter 2015 issue—with Gordon Lish and Jane and Michael Stern—are now available in full online. Gordon Lish outside the Esquire offices, in New York, ca. 1970. Photo by Bud Lee. Read More
May 2, 2016 Bulletin It’s Back: The Paris Review Commencement Gift Box By Dan Piepenbring Rumor has it that our founding editor George Plimpton was once called upon to give a commencement speech at Bennington College. Instead of bringing an armful of platitudes about inspiration and the future, he brought an armful of fireworks—maybe more like a truckload of fireworks, actually. There was one for each graduate, each carefully labeled. Rather than intoning from behind a podium, Plimpton set off the fireworks one by one, shouting each graduate’s name just before the rockets went screaming into the sky. If you want a gift for your graduate that isn’t highly flammable and illegal in most states, try our Commencement Gift Box. It includes a one-year subscription to The Paris Review; a copy of The Unprofessionals, our new anthology, featuring the best young writers at work today; and two archival issues of the magazine—200 and 214—in which James Salter, Eileen Myles, Robert Caro, Jane Smiley, and Luc Sante share their memories of starting out as writers, with plenty of good advice for the graduate in your life. The boxes are available from now through the end of June. You’ll find all the details here—order now. It’s the next best thing to lighting something on fire.
April 29, 2016 Bulletin Last Chance: The Paris Review & Lucky Peach By The Paris Review Attention, shoppers: This is your last chance to get a dual subscription to The Paris Review and Lucky Peach, our favorite food journal. That’s one year of the best in literature and the best in food writing for only $50. The deal ends on April 30, so if you’ve been waiting to subscribe until, say, you’re a little hungrier, you should reconsider. You’re probably hungry enough right now. Subscribe here.