At The New York Times, Michiko Kakutani reports on how reading and writing helped President Obama to “slow down and get perspective” from novelists, memoirists, and historical figures during the eight years of his presidency.
Writing
Posted inNonfiction
Borges and $: The Parable of the Literary Master and the Coin
Thirty years ago, the world lost a great literary mind—the Argentine writer and poet Jorge Luis Borges. Today, Elizabeth Hyde Stevens revisits the financial conditions that produced this life of pure literature, finding unexpected hope in the darkest period of Borges’ forgotten past.
Posted inNonfiction, Quotes
The ‘Airplane!’ Guide to Joke Delivery
The writers of the classic 1980 comedy deconstruct their screenplay for New York magazine.
Posted inAuthor Notes, Blog Post, Commentary, Discussions
In Praise of Public Pitching
I’ve always been fascinated by how narrative journalism gets commissioned, reported, and published–but the most perplexing part of the entire system is the continued power imbalance between writers and publishers. This imbalance persists in spite of the internet “democratizing” publishing. More digital publishers are embracing feature writing, but the process behind the scenes feels stuck in the past–a time-consuming marathon of […]
Posted inBooks, Nonfiction, Quotes
Stories Make Us Human
Journalist Jacqui Banaszynski’s advice for reporting on the lives of others.
Posted inNonfiction, Quotes
Jia Tolentino Remembers the Books She Started and the Books She Shelved
“Editing is a fugue state; the time self-erases.”
Posted inBooks, Nonfiction, Quotes, Unapologetic Women
Happy Birthday, Joan Didion
“I think we are well-advised to keep on nodding terms with the people we used to be.”
Posted inNonfiction, Quotes
Coexisting With the Void: Simone Gorrindo on Chronic Pain
At Vela, Simone Gorrindo contemplates “the terrible thing that the slowness of pain gives you: time” in this meditation on how chronic illness affects the body and mind.
Posted inBooks, Nonfiction, Quotes
On ‘Remaining in the Shadows’: Elena Ferrante on Anonymity and Writing
After so many years, are you still sure about your decision to remain in the shadows? “Remain in the shadows” is not an expression I like. It savors of plots, assassins. Let’s say that, fifteen years ago, I chose to publish books without having to feel obliged to make a career of being a writer. […]
Posted inNonfiction, Quotes
‘Writing Is Selection’: John McPhee on the Art of Omission
Writing is selection. Just to start a piece of writing you have to choose one word and only one from more than a million in the language. Now keep going. What is your next word? Your next sentence, paragraph, section, chapter? Your next ball of fact. You select what goes in and you decide what […]