If you don’t take Swift seriously, you don’t take contemporary music seriously. With the (arguable) exceptions of Kanye West and Beyoncé Knowles, she is the most significant pop artist of the modern age. The scale of her commercial supremacy defies parallel—she’s sold 1 million albums in a week three times, during an era when most […]
interview
Posted inNonfiction, Quotes
Thelonious Monk on the Moment He Became Aware of the Police
During the 1960s and 70s, legendary jazz drummer Art Taylor interviewed his fellow musicians. The interviews are collected in the 1993 book Notes and Tones: Musician-to-Musician Interviews, and it’s one of jazz’s greatest. The familial, casual conversations are also serious and insightful, full of history, portraiture, and revelations about race relations in America, and the […]
Posted inNonfiction, Quotes
Jeffrey Eugenides Imagines His Favorite Writers Together at a Dinner Party
The waiter arrives. When he asks about food allergies, Kafka hands him a written list. Then he excuses himself to go to the bathroom. As soon as he’s gone, Kundera says, “The problem with Kafka is that he never got enough tail.” We all snicker. Joyce orders another bottle of wine. Finally, he turns and looks at me through his dark glasses. “I’m reading your new book,” he says. “Oh?” I say. “Yes,” says Joyce.
Posted inBooks, Nonfiction, Profiles & Interviews
The Twisted History of Your Favorite Board Game
An interview with Mary Pilon about her new book, ‘The Monopolists,’ which uncovers the real story about how Monopoly became the game it is today.
Posted inBooks, Nonfiction, Profiles & Interviews, Story
The Twisted History of Your Favorite Board Game
An interview with Mary Pilon about her new book, ‘The Monopolists,’ which uncovers the real story about how Monopoly became the game it is today.
Posted inNonfiction, Profiles & Interviews, Story
The Art of Authenticity: A Conversation with PostSecret’s Frank Warren
“I feel like PostSecret is almost like an anti-Facebook. It’s the true story that you would normally never share in a public arena.”
Posted inNonfiction, Quotes
Gabriel García Márquez on the Solitude of Writers and Dictators
What Márquez told Peter H. Stone in a 1981 interview with The Paris Review.
Posted inNonfiction, Quotes
Toni Morrison on Why Writers Have Such a Hard Time Writing About Sex
Sex is difficult to write about because it’s just not sexy enough. The only way to write about it is not to write much. Let the reader bring his own sexuality into the text. A writer I usually admire has written about sex in the most off-putting way. There is just too much information. If you start saying “the curve of . . .” you soon sound like a gynecologist.
Posted inNonfiction, Profiles & Interviews, Quotes
‘In the Name of Our Own Fear’: Eula Biss on Vaccination, Privilege and Fear
In light of the recent measles outbreak in California, I want to share this interview with Eula Biss, author of On Immunity. After the birth of her first child, Biss’ research turned to vaccination, and she ruminated on a culture in which no man, woman or child is an island. Michael Schulson interviewed Biss at Salon.
Posted inNonfiction, Profiles & Interviews, Quotes
Lucinda Williams on Grief and Her Father’s Inspirational Words
The American poet Miller Williams — father of alt-country singer-songwriter Lucinda Williams — passed away on January 1st, 2015. In this interview with Paste Magazine, Lucinda Williams reflects on her father’s influence in her life and on her work. Not only did he encourage her to pursue music, his words inspired many of her songs.