Author Shmuel T. Meyer was informed that he won the Spring Goncourt Prize during a family visit to Israel. ‘My culture is French, my heart is in Switzerland, but my soul is in Israel,’ he tells Haaretz. Read more
Author: Proprietor
How a COVID-era Federal Writers Project went from wild idea to a proposed bill
During the Great Depression as part of the New Deal, Roosevelt established the FWP with the goal of providing work for writers, historians, librarians, editors, teachers and others. At its peak, the program employed more than 6,000 people nationwide. Read more
Excuse Me While I Steal Your Book Idea and Get Famous
Jean Hanff Korelitz’s “The Plot” is an addictive Russian nesting doll of a novel where every character’s hand fits neatly into someone else’s pocket. Read more
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Windmill House, former dwelling of Arthur Miller, is finally for sale
Need a secluded getaway with writerly flair? Have $11.5 million on hand? You’re in luck: Amagansett Windmill House, famously occupied by Arthur Miller, is finally up for sale after years of temporary renting.
Windmill House, built as a functioning windmill in the 1950s, was renovated and converted into a living space a century later by Samuel Rubin, founder of Fabergé cosmetics; now, it’s a two-bedroom, one-bath house, with an adjoining studio and two-car garage. It’s located on 5.5 acres of land, suitable for property expansion—or just a nature-shrouded experience. Read more
Spies, Lies, and Exile, The Extraordinary Story of Russian Double Agent George Blake
For fans of John le Carré and Ben Macintyre, an exclusive first-person account of one of the Cold War’s most notorious spies. Read more
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How To Handle and Store Rare Books
One of the questions rare booksellers get asked a lot is how best to handle and store books. From climate-controlled vaults to the ubiquitous white gloves that we often see on our screens, the handling of works on paper is misrepresented and over-complicated in popular culture, and this has give rise to the idea that specialist training and environments are needed to house a rare book collection. While it’s certainly true that some items of extreme fragility require specialist environments and care, most books can, with care, be safely stored in ordinary homes. Read more
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HBO developing drama based on E. Lynn Harris’ Black, gay classic novel ‘Invisible Life’
Invisible no more, E. Lynn Harris’s groundbreaking novels about Black LGTBQ+ men in 1990s New York City will be finally brought to screen. Read more
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Generating Hope: Jack Zipes Republishes Anti-Fascist Children’s Book from the Early 20th Century
IN THE DARK DAYS leading up to the 2020 election, Jack Zipes, professor emeritus of German and Comparative Literature at the University of Minnesota and one of the world’s foremost experts on fairy tales and books for children, started in his retirement a new publishing house, Little Mole & Honey Bear, that aims to bring back from obscurity out-of-print children’s books that address political issues, such as the rise of fascism. Such books, often published in the 1930s and 1940s, are strikingly resonant with our contemporary political turmoil. But these are not dourly pedagogic books. As Zipes says in the mission statement for his press, these are books that “celebrate the poetic power of fantasy and illustrate how writers and illustrators have used their art to generate hope in their readers.” Read more
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Lucille Clifton’s House is Now an Artists’ Retreat
40 Years Ago, Poet Lucille Clifton Lost Her House. This Year, Her Children Bought It Back. Read more
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Much More Than Muffins: The Women Scientists Who Invented Home Ec
Women trained in home economics wrote recipes for food manufacturers, invented clothing care labels and defined the federal poverty line. They set nutritional standards, demonstrated electrical appliances to rural residents, designed clothing patterns for female defense workers and pioneered radio programming. They served as military dietitians and endured captivity as prisoners of war. One of their number, Bea Finkelstein, developed food for the Project Mercury astronauts. Read more
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