Oct 24 Q&A: In Her New Book, Joyce Johnson Tries to 'Set the Record Straight' on Jack Kerouac By Arts Desk Joyce Johnson's latest book, "The Voice Is All: The Lonely Victory of Jack Kerouac," draws heavily from Kerouac's own journals, letters and other source material, which are now archived at the New York Public Library. Continue reading
Sep 11 Iraq War Veteran Wins Inaugural Prize From Iowa Review Iraq War veteran Hugh Martin has won the first-ever Jeff Sharlet Memorial Award from The Iowa Review, the literary journal announced Tuesday. Martin, a poet and author who served in the Ohio Army National Guard from 2001 to 2007 and… Continue reading
Jun 08 Conversation: Lou Beach's '420 Characters' By Tom LeGro They began as status updates on Facebook, but Lou Beach came to see something more in the short pieces he was writing -- a new form of short story, in fact. And it's an interesting and compelling approach, indeed, in… Continue reading
May 16 Carlos Fuentes and His American Life Carlos Fuentes had aged so beautifully you might have subconsciously assumed he would live forever, like a character in a Latin American novel. He moved easily through the complicated world of the second half of the 20th century, at home… Continue reading
Mar 09 Conversation: Eavan Boland By Tom LeGro Jeffrey Brown talks to Irish poet Eavan Boland. Continue reading
Jan 06 Conversation: Joan Didion By Tom LeGro Mortality is a subject Joan Didion has grappled with in recent years, both in life and on the page. In the span of roughly two years, her husband, the writer John Gregory Dunne, and their only child, Quintana Roo, both… Continue reading
Dec 21 Conversation: The Year in Fiction By Tom LeGro What was 2011 like for fiction? And what was it like for books themselves? I recently talked with Washington Post book critic Ron Charles about the novels and authors who stood out from the others and about the business of… Continue reading
Nov 16 Ward, Finney Are Among 2011 National Book Award Winners The 2011 National Book Awards were announced at a ceremony in New York Wednesday night. Continue reading
Nov 08 Conversation: Julian Barnes, Winner of the 2011 Man Booker Prize By Tom LeGro The Man Booker Prizeis given annually to a novel by an author in Britain, Ireland or one of the Commonwealth nations. It is highly prestigious, as well as often highly contentious and controversial. This year was no exception. This year's… Continue reading
Nov 02 'Pulphead' Tours the Geography of American Culture John Jeremiah Sullivan's new collection of essays, "Pulphead," forms a patchwork image of Americana. Continue reading