paper trail

Apr 29, 2013 @ 12:20:00 am

Cynthia Carr’s biography of David Wojnarowicz, Fire in the Belly, which Luc Sante reviewed for Bookforum, has been named as the finalist for The J. Anthony Lukas Book Prize, awarded by the Columbia Journalism School and The Nieman Foundation for Journalism at Harvard, for a work of nonfiction that exemplifies “literary grace and commitment to serious research and social concern.’’

Today marks the Paris Review’s first day in their new offices on 27th Street between 10th and 11th Avenues in Chelsea. “We’re across the street from Scores and about six doors west of Sleep No More,” editor Lorin Stein told the Observer. “Does that not just sketch some of the strangest urban feng shui?”

Amazon is reportedly planning to delete all Kindle e-books from their marketplace that contain fewer than 2,500 words. In a letter to authors, the company offered the following explanation: “Content that is less than 2,500 words is often disappointing to our customers and does not provide an enjoyable reading experience.”

How do you judge a book by its cover when the cover in question is The Great Gatsby? A new design with a movie tie-in has upset Fitzgerald die-hards.

Andrew O’Hagan talks with Kazuo Ishiguro, John Lancaster, Sarah Hall, and Colm Toibin (among others) on their second-favorite art form.

Writing coach William Zinsser can no longer see, but a New York Times profile makes clear that that hasn’t prevented him from teaching others how to write (or helping them with “stalled editorial projects and memoirs... singalongs and piano lessons and vocal coaching.”) Zinsser is the author of the famed On Writing Well, which contains tips like the following: “Clutter is the disease of American writing...we are a society strangling in unnecessary words, circular constructions, pompous frills and meaningless jargon.”