“Why, a decade ago, did my father give me the heavy gift of a controversial 100-year-old Oswald Spengler tome? It took a pandemic for me to find out.”
writers
Why I Paid Tenfold to Buy Back the Rights for Two of My Books
Kiese Laymon on revision, radical friendship, and community.
William Gibson on How Science Fiction Portrays Reality
“Every fiction about the future is like an ice-cream cone,” Gibson says, “melting as it moves into the future.”
Why I Wanted To Finish My Father’s Life’s Work
Karen Brown recalls the pain and joy of fulfilling a deathbed promise.
How to Stay Out of Your Editor’s ‘Jerks’ File
Rule one of freelance writing: accept rejection with grace.
Don’t Be a Jerk to Your Online Humor Editor
McSweeny’s Internet Tendency editor Chris Monks catalogues some of the rudest responses to his rejections of humor writers’ submissions to the site.
Lindy West is Preaching to the Choir
Sara Fredman talks to author Lindy West on women and likability, the evolution of pop culture, and navigating conversations in a complex, messy world.
Exilium Vita Est: The Island Home of Victor Hugo
Emma Jacobs takes us on an illustrated journey of Hugo’s writing life in exile on Guernsey, where he completed Les Misérables.
On Keeping a Notebook: A Reading List
In this reading list, Jeanne Bonner ruminates on the joys of writing by hand and keeping a notebook.
Shackled to Twitter
The pros and cons of building one’s brand on Twitter.
