paper trail

Jan 16, 2013 @ 12:40:00 am

Melville House

The National Book Foundation has announced several changes to the selection and awards process of the annual National Book Awards. There will now be both a long list of finalists announced in September, followed by a short list in October. Also, the judges on the selection committee will no longer be only writers, but will include booksellers, critics, and librarians.

The French Embassy is looking into opening a French language bookstore in Manhattan.

Melville House is hiring a managing editor. They’re asking for at least two years of book publishing experience and a willingness to “tolerate malarky.”

New Yorkers: This Sunday marks the one-year anniversary of Triple Canopy’s move to Greenpoint, which they celebrated at the time by holding a marathon reading of Gertrude Stein’s The Making of Americans. Now, to celebrate, they’re holding... a marathon reading of The Making of Americans: “Over one weekend, an invited list of New York–based artists, writers, publishers, scholars, and other collaborators will gather in Greenpoint to perform the entirety of Stein’s text in a continuous read-in, expected to last 52 hours.” (Bookforum's Michael Miller will be among the readers.)

Williamsburg bookstore Spoonbill & Sugartown has become the second Brooklyn-based literary establishment to get a cameo in the HBO show Girls. (DUMBO-based bookstore PowerHouse also plays a role in the scene: they curated the books.)

What a Washington Post list of recommended books about D.C. (which is not to be confused with a best-of list) says about the city’s literary insecurities.