On the Slow Stories podcast, Chelsea Hodson talks about her writing and editing process and her new imprint, Rose Books, which just published Geoff Rickly’s debut novel Someone Who Isn’t Me. The episode begins with Rickly reading his work.
Track Changes: A Handbook for Art Criticism has just been published by Paper Monument. The book, edited by Mira Dayal and Josephine Heston, collects essays by twenty-five editors and writers on the craft of critical writing. You can read excerpts on n+1 and LitHub and purchase the book from the n+1 store.
In the Cleveland Review of Books, an A.V. Marraccini essay on America, Lana Del Ray, Ansel Adams, Frank O’Hara, and more. Writing about artists Kevin and Jennifer McCoy’s NFTs, Marraccini observes, “The word ‘NFT’ is a national trigger for the worst Valley techbro excess. It’s a lasered-off tattoo, initials scratched off a redwood, commemorative plates with your ex’s name on them you still use every time you need to microwave something. But I see something in it, something American.”
The Brooklyn Institute for Social Research is hosting a free teach-in on the work of Edward Said at the Brooklyn Public Library’s central branch on September 21. To commemorate the twentieth anniversary of the scholar’s death, attendees will explore central questions of his work, about tradition, canonicity, power, and artistic representation. For more on Said’s life and work, see Jane Hu’s 2021 Bookforum review of Timothy Brennan’s biography.
For Esquire, Jonathan Russell Clark profiles novelist Chuck Palahniuk, whose twenty-sixth book, Not Forever, But For Now, will be published next week. “To be completely honest, I originally came to Portland to argue in favor of the Palahniuk-to-incel pipeline, but once I was disabused of that premise—first by reading the novels; then by speaking with Palahniuk—I discover something completely unexpected.”
Bookforum is officially back: read our Summer 2023 issue here. If you haven’t had a chance to subscribe yet, you can do so here. We also offer gift subscriptions, and you can donate to help keep us going. To stay informed, sign up for our newsletter. Thank you for your support, and happy reading!