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In Greece "a vibrant DIY scene has emerged, comprised of small presses, magazines, journals,... & independent bookshops. A thriving, marginal writing culture." Domenic Amerena Los Angeles Review of Books, with a thoroughgoing look at Greece in & out of novels. lareviewofbooks.org/article/the-li…

No question, an indie publisher faces a hard road, so here’s hoping this makes the way more comfortable.

“I took all these lessons with me along with a new love for Faulkner, a conflicted, imperfect love—but love, nevertheless, for I realized he was kin in telling this complicated… story that is Mississippi.” Jesmyn Ward Literary Hub, coming back to AS I LAY DYING lithub.com/a-conflicted-i…

"Austerity & asceticism were cast as essential virtues, & some ardent Christians even sought to emulate the alleged sexlessness of the angels by undergoing castration." Some wild carrying on, in order to avoid carrying on: Lucy Wooding London Review of Books. lrb.co.uk/the-paper/v47/…

“When the sign #ZoraNealeHurston appears, …we think we know her. We don’t, of course. We can’t possibly. A cursory glance at her oeuvre demonstrates uncontainable heterogeneity.” The Yale Review, Tiana Reid digs deep into newly discovered Hurston. yalereview.org/article/tiana-…

Throwback, with a nod to all my friends attending AWP in LA next week-- won't be joining you, alas-- here'sthe last AWP-LA, 2016, with great folks like Joseph Salvatore & & more.

“When one of the world’s most powerful media companies tries to snuff out a book — amid other alarming attacks on free speech in America… — it’s time to pull out all the stops.” Ron Charles in his Book Club, calling out Meta for trashing CARELESS PEOPLE. washingtonpost.com/newsletters/bo…

"In one of my novels,...I included some reflections on how that book came about. It describes how sometimes you have this feeling that the novel already exists & that your job is to excavate...." The Paris Review, Dag Solstad, New Directions -- gone today. theparisreview.org/interviews/647…

"#ToniMorrison... argued that sexual freedom, economic freedom, and the freedom to choose one’s life path, ...are intertwined; without the latter, the other two crumble." Kelly Marie Coyne, Los Angeles Review of Books, reads SULA in a country without abortion rights. lareviewofbooks.org/article/reread…

“The real wound ran deeper: the quiet, creeping sense that something larger — the very idea of the university as a place of free inquiry — was slipping away.” ⁦⁦Meghan O'Rourke meghanor.bsky.social⁩ ⁦⁦New York Times Opinion⁩, extended, essential essay on education under DT. nytimes.com/2025/03/16/opi…

A couple of readings— very different— for Morocco & Portugal. (I have an electronic version of Pessoa.)

Throwback? Yesterday I forgot, I was so caught up celebrating #ItaloCalvino, so here’s two springtimes back, my presentation ⁦Trinity Centre for Literary & Cultural Translation⁩. An inspiration, & Grazie sempre, ⁦Enrica Ferrara⁩.

Mighty pleased to see Hanif Abdurraqib & his righteously knockabout memoir-&-more (much more) take home a prize from National Book Critics Circle last night. bookshop.org/p/books/there-…

Today, a miracle of media & lit. 8 years ago in Prague, we met a smart Shanghai HS grad, seeking Kafka sites. We were tourists together & then virtual friends. Today in Funchal, Madeira— she & her Paris bf were at the next table. Now big Murakami fans. Gelato for everyone!

Up in the Monte Palace Madeira, in the mountains of Madeira, a Portuguese artist reconfigures reading glasses. Hard not to think of #Pessoa

“To our detriment, we try to be definitive about what feminism is or isn’t, & how it should be represented. It serves us better to be more expansive.” roxane gay Literary Hub, striving to get beyond “bad feminism” to better. lithub.com/towards-a-new-…