In our afternoon reading: interviews with Lincoln Michel, John McManus, and Emily Schultz; new writing from Margaret Eby and Justin Taylor; and more.
Afternoon Bites: Ben Marcus, Bikini Kill Covers, Joshua Mohr Interviewed, Rachel Sherman Fiction, and More
In our afternoon reading: Ben Marcus on short fiction, new writing from Jess Zimmerman and Rachel Sherman, a report from this year’s Pitchfork Festival, and much more.
Weekend Bites: Ta-Nehisi Coates, Revisiting Anne Garréta, Ben Marcus Interviewed, and More
In our weekend reading: Bijan Stephen on Ta-Nehisi Coates, Alexandra Molotkow on rock culture, an interview with Ben Marcus, and much more.
A Conversation With Ben Marcus, Part Two: “You Make Your Character Out of Your Fake Flesh”
This is the second part of a conversation I conducted with Ben Marcus in January at Community Bookstore. Here, we continued our examination of certain parts of Leaving the Sea, and touched on Marcus’s other works, as well as some of the books for which he has provided introductions or afterwords. Miss the first part? It’s right here.
A Conversation With Ben Marcus, Part One: “The Notion That You Control What Any Reader Does is Folly”
In early January, I interviewed Ben Marcus at Community Bookstore. The occasion was the release of his new collection, Leaving the Sea, which finds Marcus’s surreal wordplay run through a series of landscapes familiar and strange. In person, Marcus speaks knowingly about his own work as well as the broader literary context in which it rests; he’s also dryly funny, and sometimes (as you’ll see) self-effacing. Our conversation began with a discussion of Leaving the Sea‘s opener, “What Have You Done?” and […]
Afternoon Bites: Elena Ferrante, Sun Kil Moon’s Latest, Burroughs Facts, Pamuk’s Istanbul, and More
This afternoon: new books from Willy Vlautin and Elena Ferrante, an interview with Ben Marcus, thoughts on the latest from Sun Kil Moon, and much more.
Vol.1 Brooklyn and Community Bookstore Present Ben Marcus
We’re very excited to be co-hosting Ben Marcus at Community Bookstore to begin our 2014 schedule of events. Since his debut, The Age of Wire and String, thoroughly reimagined the uses of language, we’ve thoroughly admired Marcus’s work. With his new collection, Leaving the Sea, Marcus again explores the boundaries of short fiction. At this event, he will be in conversation with Vol.1 Brooklyn managing editor Tobias Carroll.
A Partial Recap: The Southern Festival of Books
The Southern Festival of Books was this past weekend in Nashville, TN. I went to it; at least I went on Saturday, parked in a parking garage, ate a granola bar, and thought about last year when I made a fool of myself in front of Chad Harbach. But that was then. And this is now. Or at least it was “now” a few days ago.