Hyperlinks From Around The Interwebs
A semi-regular roundup of stuff we like from the internets and youtubes:
-Dolly Freed has been blogging for Powells this week. If you ever wanted to know how to prepare that bird that kamikazeed into your window, now’s your chance.
-Poet Heather Christie is doing a live reading/Q&A tonight at htmlgiant. She won me over last time [...]
The Rumpus: One Year Later
In the last year, two literary websites have fought their way onto that “top sites” screen that pops up when I open a new window in Safari–The Rumpus and HTMLGIANT. Both have fantastic original content, links I’m generally thankful I’ve clicked on, worthwhile discussions in the comments threads, and a fierce devotion to independent literature. [...]
Dolly Freed, Blogger
Dolly Freed–who you might have seen here, or here, or here, or here–hadn’t been heard from for awhile (for the whole story, check out Paige Williams’ piece, “Finding Dolly Freed“). All that has changed. Dolly’s been kind enough to give up her dial-up connection and has begun blogging at her new website. I’ve included her [...]
Oprah and Vice, Respectively
What do these two magazines have in common? So far as I can tell…Nothing. Well, almost nothing. While their editorial positions on merkins may differ, they’re both enthusiastic about Dolly Freed’s Possum Living:
The Vice Interview
The O Magazine Review
Paige Williams’ “Radiohead-style” Journalism
When writer Paige Williams wrote a feature on Dolly Freed, author of the cult classic Possum Living: How to Live Well Without a Job and With (almost) No Money, she agreed (as we did when she agreed to let us re-issue the book) not to reveal the writer’s real name. In the book, Dolly encourages [...]
Lost & Found: David Carradine’s Endless Highway
The Winter issue of Tin House is probably, by now, on the coffee table of your smartest and most cultured friend. I suggest you invite yourself over, request a hot toddy, and spend the evening in front of their fire reading the new Ben Marcus story, poetry from Michael Dickman and Dorianne Laux, and Heather [...]
Staff Picks, Best of the Decade: Literary Biographies
If you’re able to carve enough time out of your hectic holiday season for some lengthy reading, Nanci “Knuckles” McCloskey has, as a prelude to her best-of-the-decade list, composed a voluminous dialectic concerning the importance of the literary biography. The author deftly examines her compulsion toward the form, while acknowledging the enigma of how and why one [...]
Staff Picks, Best of the Decade: Stories Haunted by Creepy Little Girls
Nothing, absolutely nothing, has more capacity for creepiness than a little girl. Just a quick glance at that Diane Arbus photo will give me nightmares for weeks. Thankfully, Editor Meg Storey has come through with a list of stories that I should avoid reading at all cost–or at least attempt to block from my memory. [...]
Staff Picks: Best of the Decade, Debut Novels
Brian DeLeeuw, assistant editor at the magazine, has published his own debut novel this year. He’s been kind enough to weigh in on his favorites.
Obviously, five “best” is a bit of a misnomer, since I don’t claim to have read even a fraction of all the no-doubt excellent debut novels published in the ’00s. [...]
Staff Picks: Best of the Decade, NYRB Classics
Lance Cleland, our shiny new Assistant Workshop Director and Editorial Assistant, has contributed a list of his favorite re-issues from the New York Review of Books Classics Series. Look for more posts from Cleland in the new year, ’cause he’s the FNG, and FNGs have to do whatever you tell them to.
I had taken [...]
Staff Picks: Best of the Decade, Books in Translation
Editor Rob Spillman weighs in on his five favorite translations from the past ten years:
WAR AND PEACE, by Leo Tolstoy, translated by Richard Pevear and Larissa Volokhonsky.
The great novel of the Napoleon excursion into Russia is brought to all its glory by the veteran translators who have been methodically slashing their way through the Russian classics. [...]
Staff Picks: Best of the Decade, New York Art-Show Catalogues
Janet Parker, our beloved art director, spent the better part of the decade in New York before joining us in the Portland office last year. She’s taken a few minutes out her 26-hour workday to weigh in on her favorite NY art shows of the last 10 years, and their corresponding catalogues.
Glitter and Doom show at [...]
Staff Picks: Best of the Decade, Book Club Selections
Continuing with our Best-of-the-Decade top 5 lists, Director of Publicity Deborah Jayne shares the books that sparked the best conversations in her book group.
I chose these books based on the quality of discussion that they lead to as book group books–I read each of them over the last ten years in a now sadly defunct [...]
Staff Picks: Best of the Decade, Essay Collections
As 00’s wrap up, and we move toward those difficult adolescent years of the new century, we’d like to take a moment to look back on the decade that was. In the coming weeks, Tin House staffers will compile lists of their favorite books published over the last ten years. Too avoid repetition, I’ve asked [...]
Tin House Writer’s Series
That writer in your life doesn’t need another Moleskin notebook . . . you got her one last year and she’ll be getting two more in her stocking. Not to worry, Tin House has put together a handsome collection of books for people just like her. With instruction on craft and insight into the lives [...]
The Green Movement’s Dark Side
“A Good Without Light” is an excerpt from Curtis White’s new book, The Barbaric Heart, and appears in the Hope/Dread issue of Tin House. White will be appearing at the third installment of our Disjecta reading/music series Saturday the 21st at 7 pm, along with the poet David Biespiel. Adrian Orange & the Child Slave [...]
Fall 2010 Theme: Class in America
Just received word that we’ve settled on our Fall 2010 theme issue. From our esteemed Editor, Rob Spillman:
Tin House is seeking to invest in fiction, essays, and poetry that address the often taboo subject of CLASS IN AMERICA. We are looking for all perspectives: from or about the rich to the middle class to the [...]
Tin House (E) Books
While we’re still getting comfortable with the technology ourselves, Tin House is beginning to roll out our list on various E-Book devices. Most of our forthcoming titles will be available the same time that physical books hit the shelves, and our backlist is in the works. Check back soon for titles from Jeff Parker, Karen [...]
JC Hallman: Kenneth Patchen’s The Journal of Albion Moonlight
J.C. Hallman’s anthology, The Story About The Story, collects essays that approach book criticism from a personal angle. One of his favorite venues for that sort of thing is Tin House’s own “Lost and Found” section. In our most recent issue (Hope/Dread), Hallman writes about encountering Kenneth Patchen’s The Journal of Albion Moonlight.
I had it [...]
Q&A: MATTHEA HARVEY
Parents: You know that 10,000th time you read your kid Go, Dog. Go! as your unfinished copy of that Anne Carson collection you really wanted to read sat on the coffee table and served as nothing but a sippy-cup coaster and a reminder of all the great writers you no longer had the time to [...]
CORY DOCTOROW: RADICAL PRESENTISM
Tin House #41 should be hitting your mailboxes or newsstand any day now. The dual theme is Hope/Dread (our designer, the fabulous Janet Parker, created stunning covers for each). In the dread corner, look for Nick Cave, Ander Monson, Alex Lemon, Matthea Harvey, and other doomsayers. Flying the colors of hope, we have Karen Russell, Abigail Thomas, Mahmoud Darwish, [...]
An Essay in Criticism: Virginia Woolf on Hemingway
An Excerpt from our new anthology, THE STORY ABOUT THE STORY, which hits bookshelves today.
Human credulity is indeed wonderful. There may be good reasons for believing in a King or a Judge or a Lord Mayor. When we see them go sweeping by in their robes and their wigs, with their heralds and their outriders, our [...]
A Conversation w/ Deborah Eisenberg
In celebration of Deborah Eisenberg’s recent MacArthur Fellowship, we decided to post her conversation with Anna Keesey from our interview anthology, The World Within (for you subscribers, it also appears in Tin House #34). We’ve been calling her a genius for years, and are thrilled that it’s been made official.
After thirty years on West [...]
Q&A with WE DID PORN’s Zak Smith
Zak Smith paints, writes, and performs in adult films. His new book is at the center of that venn diagram. The book is available now, both in paperback and limited-edition hardcover, and next month, it will be available in the UK from Beautiful Books. For those of you in Seattle, Zak will reading Sunday at [...]
Brief Interviews w/ Русская (Wo)men: Natalya Klyuchareva
It’s launch day for Rasskazy: New Fiction from a New Russia (You’ll see the little red “buy now” button in that right-hand corner…you should be able to handle it from there). To cap off our series of mini-conversations, Jeff Parker checked in with Natalya Klyuchareva, author of White Pioneers, a collection of poems, and Russia [...]
Brief Interviews w/ Русский Men: Oleg Zobern
Now that we’ve settled on the proper cyrilic for the demonym “Russian,” we’ll continue with our series of short Q&A’s with the Rasskazy contributors. Today our interlocutor, Jeff Parker, is mostly made fun of by Oleg Zobern. Zobern is the author of Silent Jericho and Funeral Feast for Yann Volkers. His story “Bregovich’s Sixth Journey” [...]
Drill and Song Day, by Vladimir Kozlov
There’s one week until the release of Rasskazy: New Fiction from a New Russia. Because I’m feeling charitable this morning, I’m posting an excerpt from the book–a short story by Vladimir Kozlov (translated by Andrea Gregovich with Mikhail Iossel). Enjoy.
Each year around the twenty-third of February, to celebrate the anniversary of the Red Army, we had [...]
Brief Interviews w/ Русский Men: Dmitry Danilov
On September 1st we’ll be celebrating the release of our new anthology Rasskazy: New Fiction from a New Russia. In the meantime, Jeff Parker (who co-edited the book with Mikhail Iossel) will be posting brief interviews with some of the contributors. The first conversation is with Dmitry Danilov, author of Black and Green and House [...]
Congrats to Jim Krusoe! And Persistence!
Jim Krusoe–our dear, dear friend and idol–has been shortlisted for the St. Francis College Literary Prize, an award for a fourth work of fiction.
The prize carries a $50,000 purse and the honor of being nominated alongside Aleksandar Hemon (who kindly endorsed Rasskazy, our forthcoming anthology of Russian Short Stories), Chris Abani (who was recently featured [...]
The Children’s Day: Discussion Questions
Michiel Heyns’ novel The Children’s Day is available now. Below are some discussion questions–for bookgroups, classrooms, or just your personal edification. If you have any thoughts or feelings, please post them below…
The novel’s title is derived from the Robert Graves poem “The Cool Web,” reprinted in the book. Discuss ways in which the poem might [...]
