October 28, 2013 On the Shelf Literary Cultural Districts, and Other News By Sadie Stein A group of advocates is looking to establish the nation’s first literary cultural district in historically-rich Boston. Says the Globe, “Its proponents don’t know exactly where its borders will lie, or what, precisely, visitors will do, but more significant is this: the very idea that there could be a literary cultural district is recognition that the city is undergoing a renaissance.” A Cleveland house where Langston Hughes lived as a high-school student is on the market, following a foreclosure. Germaine Greer has sold her archive to her alma mater, the University of Melbourne. The feminist’s portion of the three million dollar sale will go to her charity, Friends of Gondwana Rainforest. “Because we are less sure of what fiction is ‘saying,’ we are less preemptively defended against it or biased in its favor. We are inclined to let it past our fortifications. It’s merely a court jester, there to amuse us. We let in the brazen liar and his hidden, difficult truths.” Rivka Galchen on the relevance of fiction.
October 25, 2013 On the Shelf Authors in Uniform, and Other News By Sadie Stein From Twain to Wolfe to Tartt: authors in uniform. Fittingly enough, fisticuffs at the Norman Mailer: A Double Life party. The Asterix reboot, set in ancient Scotland, is being hailed by (a few, possibly as few as none) Scottish nationalists as an endorsement in the referendum debates. The Iranian culture minister promises a relaxation of book censorship under the new regime.
October 24, 2013 On the Shelf Emily Dickinson Rage, and Other News By Sadie Stein The Emily Dickinson Archive, providing digital access to the poet’s surviving ephemera, is live. And has sparked all kinds of scholarly infighting! “They have the furniture, we have the daguerreotype; they have the herbarium, we have the hair,” says one archivist. “Obviously we’re honored we’ve been chosen to do this but, at the same time, we’re also intimidated because it’s a huge responsibility to live up to the memory we had as young readers of Asterix.” On taking on the Gaul reboot. Speaking of pressure, will rabid fans be any happier with the latest casting choice for Fifty Shades of Grey?
October 23, 2013 On the Shelf The History of Letters of Note, and Other News By Sadie Stein “An assignment from a stationery retailer didn’t, at first, appear much better: they wanted an article related to writing paraphernalia for their website. But then I had an idea: what if I put something together about famous letters from history?” The story behind the wonderful Letters of Note. Courtney Love’s memoir is set for an early 2014 release. Talking about her influences to Rolling Stone in June, Love said, “I’m reading Just Kids again because I know [Patti Smith] wrote that by herself, and My Booky Wook by Russell Brand, which I think is a great book in terms of just his voice. And then I found an old Tallulah Bankhead book where she is very fabulous. So it’s a combination of those three books. [Keith Richards’] Life was just so bloody long, I didn’t even finish it.” Speaking of musician tell-alls! Morrissey’s Autobiography is number one in the UK. “Cole and Sarah stayed to see the two grooms off. Waiting until the last guest was out the door, he walked up to her. Even though they’d gone on with the reception as planned, he knew the paparazzi raid was uppermost in both their minds.” Speaking of coauthoring books! A (tame) excerpt from Jenna Jameson’s erotic novel, Sugar.
October 22, 2013 On the Shelf Novels a Waste of Time, Says Noel Gallagher, and Other News By Sadie Stein Cheryl Strayed’s Wild is apparently igniting fresh interest in hiking the Pacific Crest Trail. “She had relationship issues, and I was in the same boat,” one hiker and Strayed fan tells the New York Times. A baby boy was born in a California Barnes & Noble. Mother and child are reportedly doing well. “Novels are just a waste of fucking time,” says Noel Gallagher. His remarks, declares the Guardian, are “a valuable contribution to the debate around books and literature’s role in modern society.”
October 21, 2013 On the Shelf Dramatic Deaths, and Other News By Sadie Stein Citing health concerns, Alice Munro says she will not travel to Sweden to accept her Nobel in person. “For the first time I felt myself in the presence of a talent greater than my own.” The long, strange friendship of Kingsley Amis and Philip Larkin. “People are messes, every one of us.” Editor Giancarlo DiTrapano talks Tyrant. For its sixtieth anniversary, the Crime Writers’ Association has asked its six hundred writer-members to choose the best crime novel of all time. Agatha Christie, Arthur Conan Doyle, and Raymond Chandler fight it out. Speaking of hot competition, the ten most dramatic deaths in fiction.