Here’s a tidbit of literary trivia from Salman Rushdie’s forthcoming memoir: After a fatwa was declared against him, Rushdie was known to his police detail as “Joseph Anton,” a pseudonym in homage to his favorite writers, Joseph Conrad and Anton Chekhov. The memoir, Joseph Anton, is about this nine-year period of Rushdie’s life, and will be out this September.
Stephen Burt talks to Publishers Weekly about being a poetry critic and a poet. In both roles, he pays close attention to language, and describes words like “generous,” “lucid,” “courageous,” and “luminous” as “reviewspeak,” or “thrice-steeped teabags.”
Electric Literature takes to Kickstarter to crowdfund its latest entrepreneurial venture, Recommended Readings, which will publish one story a week chosen by a well-known writer or editor, as well as one original story a month. The project will launch once EL reaches the $10,000 mark—enough for eight issues.
What did Emily Gould do with her $200,000 book advance? Some went to travel, some to a solo apartment, and more than 1,000 to clothes she’s never worn—most notably a black leather vest, of which Gould says: “Who doesn’t need a leather vest? Oh wait, I know: everyone. Everyone doesn’t need a leather vest.”
The Rumpus is honoring National Poetry Month by posting a new, original poem on every day of April. Here’s the full line-up.
At The Awl, nine authors and publicists chime in on the do’s and don’ts of book tours. Here’s Shane Jones, author of the surprise hit novel Light Boxes, which has been optioned by director Spike Jonze: “Albany (drove myself; made eye contact with my mom in the audience). Boston (plane; before reading sat in a bar alone and ate a hamburger served on an English muffin). New York City (train; was 100 degrees outside). Portland (plane; during the Q&A a man asked if I was surprised when Spike Jonze bought the film option. I said no, that I expected it. Not sure he picked up on the sarcasm, felt like an asshole).”
Ryan Chapman, the digital marketing director at Farrar, Straus & Giroux, is leaving his post to take over as marketing director at Penguin Press.
