By Kara Bloomgarden-Smoke 10/09/12 8:27pm

Legends in the Fall

Rebecca Mead on Middlemarch

The New Yorker on The New Yorker

On a recent Friday evening, we headed all the way west on 37th Street to hear New Yorker writers recount stories about being that most exciting of things—a New Yorker writer. The event was the opening night of the blitz of panels, conversations and chances to see what writers look like that is the annual New Yorker Festival.

The hangar-like space was converted into a lounge with the addition of cafe tables and chairs. A cash bar offered wine, beer and snacks in serving bowls fashioned  to look like martini glasses. Snippets of conversation—overheard while we looked for a seat—sounded like, dare we say it, the premise of many a New Yorker cartoon. Read More

By Kara Bloomgarden-Smoke 9/26/12 5:32pm

The Book Biz

Wonkette Ana Marie Cox

Penguin Sues Authors for Repayment

The Penguin Group is suing some pretty high profile authors  to recoup some of their advance money, The Smoking Gun reports.

Since an advance is really more of a gamble than a guarantee (authors can be hard to rely on! You can’t rush the creative process! Sometimes editors cancel books!), historically publishers have not held authors accountable. But it is a difficult time for publishing companies and they can probably use all the cash they can get. Read More

By Sheelah Kolhatkar 10/23/06 12:00am

In Simone’s Shoes: Laura Kipnis Lets Loose on Big Ones

“Not to compare myself to Simone de Beauvoir—who is, you know, this vast intellectual heroine—but I remember reading something that she said about when The Second Sex came out in France, and that she just was mocked to death,” said the author, professor, former video artist and feminist pundit Laura Kipnis.

It was the eve Read More

By Sheelah Kolhatkar 10/23/06 12:00am

In Simone’s Shoes: Laura Kipnis Lets Loose on Big Ones

“Not to compare myself to Simone de Beauvoir—who is, you know, this vast intellectual heroine—but I remember reading something that she said about when The Second Sex came out in France, and that she just was mocked to death,” said the author, professor, former video artist and feminist pundit Laura Kipnis.

It was the Read More