Author, critic, and poet Peter Schjeldahl—whose books include Let’s See and Hot, Cold, Heavy, Light—has died at age eighty. The New Yorker has collected some of his signature pieces, including his essay from 2019, “The Art of Dying,” and David Remnick has written a remembrance. Yesterday, in his newsletter, Sasha Frere-Jones wrote, “I like The Hydrogen Jukebox but it’s not at all that important which collection you choose. Schjeldahl was relentlessly consistent. From his first column in the ‘70s on, you could not sell him a bill of goods or extinguish the love he gave to art. He was cowed by nothing.”
In a new interview, agent Andrew Wylie gives an update on Salman Rushdie’s condition after the attack on the author in August and offers an optimistic take on the publishing business: “It’s a very good time for publishing. Publishers did extremely well during the pandemic because . . . a lot of people had time on their hands to read, and they were alone at home, so they picked up a book or two. And so, the publishers are doing very well.”
The Washington Post profiles IranWire, a digital news outlet working in the shadow of violent government crackdowns.
In November, Hua Hsu will be touring the West coast in support of his new memoir, Stay True.
On November 15th, Thomas Beller will discuss his new book about basketball, Lost in the Game, with Alexander Wolff, author of Big Game, Small World. The event is a production of Duke University Press and Harper’s Magazine. You can watch Beller on Bookforum’s recent panels on sports and literature, Sports Annotated.
