This week, OR Books is launching Gay Propaganda, a collection of LGBT stories from Russia, edited by journalist Masha Gessen (author of many books, including Words Will Break Cement: The Passion of Pussy Riot) and American activist Joseph Huff-Hannon. Gay Propaganda’s release is timed to coincide with the opening of the Winter Olympics in Sochi, Russia, a country where not only is violence against gays and lesbians rampant, but being out makes you a de facto enemy of the Putin regime. For more on what it is like to be LGBT in Russia, see Jeff Sharlet’s recent GQ article, “Inside the Iron Closet.”
Residents of Nakatonbetsu, Japan, are outraged by Haruki Murakami’s portrayal of townspeople throwing lit cigarettes on the ground, resenting their portrayal as litterbugs by Japan’s most famous author.
At Bomb, director Gaspar Noe (Enter the Void) interviews Matthew Barney about his new five-and-a-half-hour film opera River of Fundament, which is based on Norman Mailer’s novel Ancient Evenings.
At Electric Literature, Heidi Julavits recommends Adam Wilson’s story, “The Long In-Between,” noting that the tale “reads like a psychological and sociological study of contemporary plumage strategies. It is also incredibly funny.”