From the Magazine in New York

Mailer Remembered: Postcard From New York City

Online Only, posted 4.23.08

On Wednesday, April 9, five months after his death at age eighty-four from acute renal failure, hoards of literary aficionados, friends, colleagues, and readers of Norman Mailer attended a memorial for the author at Carnegie Hall in New York City. Among the scheduled speakers were authors Don DeLillo, Joan Didion, and William Kennedy, actor Sean Penn, and members of Mailer’s family.

Jim Shepard Wins Story Prize: Postcard From New York City

Online Only, posted 2.29.08

On Wednesday, supporters of the short story gathered in New York City at the New School’s Tishman Auditorium on West Twelfth Street for the fourth annual Story Prize award ceremony. The $20,000 Story Prize is given for a collection of short fiction published in the United States during the previous year. Writers, editors, and industry professionals trickled in from the frigid evening, melding with students and writerly types and filling the space with convivial banter.

Daniel Menaker to Host Online Book Program

Online Only, posted 1.30.08

Q&A: Alice Quinn's Poetic Providence

1.23.08

Former New Yorker poetry editor Alice Quinn discusses her final days at the magazine and looks ahead to more time spent in her role as the director of the Poetry Society of America.

Authors Discuss "Writing in Jewish": Postcard From New York City

Online Only, posted 9.26.07

On the evening of September 18, about halfway between the Jewish High Holy Days of Rosh Hashanah and Yom Kippur, a panel convened at the Museum of the City of New York to consider the idea of "Writing in Jewish." Cosponsored by the museum and the Jewish Book Council, the panel was moderated by Alana Newhouse, the arts and culture editor at the Forward, a newspaper whose 110-year history the Museum will celebrate until November 25 in an exhibition titled "The Jewish Daily Forward: Embracing an Immigrant Community."

The "Ethics in Book Reviewing" Panel: Postcard From New York City, Part 2

Online Only, posted 6.06.07

Oh that mine enemy were to write a book. It's a line, paraphrased from the Book of Job, that was uttered last Friday morning at BookExpo America by Christopher Hitchens—author of the recently published book God Is Not Great—as the motto from his earlier book reviewing days. It was an odd sentiment to be heard at a panel called "Ethics in Book Reviewing: The More Things Change…?" but it certainly made the crowd, which was packed in and spilling out of the conference room, laugh out loud. And it set the tone for the rest of the panelists' comments.

The Spectacle of BookExpo America: Postcard From New York City, Part 1

Online Only, posted 6.05.07

It's not what most people expect from a book conference. There are no scholars huddled together discussing the latest piece of literary fiction that is keeping them up late at night; no gangs of poets arguing about who will make up the future canon of Western literature. Instead, what people found at this year's BookExpo America, held last weekend at the Jacob Javits Convention Center in New York City, was actress Julianne Moore (really her), America's Test Kitchen host Christopher Kimball (really him, but not quite as exciting as Moore), the cast of Pirates of the Caribbean (look-alikes, pretty good), Borat (another look-alike, not so good), and the Knight Bus from the Harry Potter series.

The Matthew Sharpe Book Signing: Postcard From New York City, Part 3

Online Only, posted 6.03.07

It was Saturday morning and Matthew Sharpe was late, but for a good reason. The author of Jamestown was supposed to be signing copies of his book in the autographing room of BookExpo America (BEA), but he’d just been named a finalist for a Quill Book Award, part of a program organized by NBC Universal and Reed Business Information that honors books in nineteen different categories at an awards show televised on NBC. Sharpe was busy being interviewed for MSNBC.

The PEN World Voices Festival: Postcard From New York City

Online Only, posted 5.01.07

Those lucky enough to have tickets to "A Believer Nighttime Event" on Saturday, part of last week's PEN World Voices Festival of International Literature, received program notes that contained a list of the night’s proceedings, complete with short descriptions and estimated times ("Introduction, Eric Bogosian commences the evening in his fashion, seven minutes, thirty-four seconds"), as well as bios of the seven participants.

PEN World Voices Festival Brings the World of Literature to NYC

Online Only, posted 4.24.07