“As much as I like to spend time in the extended Smurf village of my imagination, there’s something nice about getting to go to a day job where there are concrete expectations of you…” The Rumpus chats with novelist (and doctor) Chris Adrian.

• Ted Leo will be performing his excellent 2001 album The Tyranny of Distance in its entirety on July 9th.

• If You’re Not Yet Like Me author Edan Lepucki on her writing space.

• At The Portland Mercury, Andrew R. Tonry sits down for an in-depth conversation with Sublime Frequencies’ Hisham Mayet.

• Alex Ross takes a tour of musical Venice.