Staten Island congressional candidates can’t remember the last book they read
Books are dumb. They’re full of impractical, useless information (especially novels! Ugh, novels are awful); they’re awkward to carry around; and even the short ones take at least a few… Read more »
Famous authors (except Martin Amis) promise immortality via charity auction
“Crowd” is the prefix of the moment. Crowdfunding. Crowdsourcing. Crowdediting. Crowded House. Which is probably because it takes less time to say than “tragedy of the commons.” All of these… Read more »
Eleanor Catton wins Man Booker Prize
Eleanor Catton has won the prestigious Man Booker Prize for The Luminaries. At 28, the Canadian-born, New Zealand-bred, Iowa-educated Catton is the youngest author to ever win the award. A 848… Read more »
Designers under the bell jar
In 1966, a young designer at Faber and Faber named Shirley Tucker created an image that would become an icon of modern design. Her cover for the first edition of… Read more »
The Hatchet Job of the Year award: Shrimp for snark
The Hatchet Job of the Year award will, on 10th February, reward the writer of the most ‘entertaining’ book review of the past year with—wait for it—a year’s supply of… Read more »
A “bum-squeakingly close” literary contest
Yesterday, The Not-the-Booker Prize, the rowdy, populist rival to the Man Booker Prize, came down to what prize moderator Sam Jordison described as a “bum-squeakingly close” (translation for American readers:… Read more »