You’ve seen their names on the front of your favorite books, but how exactly do you say those names? Read more
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Category: Authors
Umberto Eco: A Library of the World
The Italian journalist, critic, philosopher, professor of semiotics, medievalist, bibliophile, and best-selling novelist, Umberto Eco (1932-2016) takes us on a journey through his Milanese library of 50,000 volumes, and, more impressively, the library of his mind. Best known for his novel, The Name of the Rose, Eco is a vastly prolific, witty, and original thinker — and talker — who holds forth on topics as wildly diverse as the value of reading low-brow books, the origins of fascism, the psychology of conspiracy theorists, reading on paper versus digitally, the importance of discarding useless memories, truth versus lies, great fakes, and brilliant mistakes in history. “To be intellectually curious is to be alive. And believe me, a lot of people are not alive.” – Umberto Eco. Watch trailer
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Taking a Late-in-Life Victory Lap, Thanks to His Novel’s ‘Lunatic Energy’
Robert Plunket’s 1983 novel, “My Search for Warren Harding,” was out of print for decades — but remained stealthily influential. Its reissue has catapulted him out of retirement. Read more
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Elizabeth Gilbert Halts Release of New Book after Outcry Over its Russian Setting
Elizabeth Gilbert, the bestselling author of Eat, Pray, Love, announced that she is halting the release of her next book following a “massive” backlash about its setting in Russia. Read more
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Turning the World on to the Genius of Fungi
A vast fungal web braids together life on Earth. Merlin Sheldrake wants to help us see it. Read more
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The ‘Brazilian Ulysses’ Finally Gets a First-Rate Translation
Perhaps through Dodson’s masterful work, Andrade will finally be widely read alongside Joyce, Woolf, and Kafka, and Brazilian modernism will be cemented in a canon that has largely excluded authors from Latin America. Read more
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Where to Start With Kazuo Ishiguro
The Japanese-born British novelist Kazuo Ishiguro is one of the most critically acclaimed authors writing in English today: the now 68-year-old was twice selected in the Granta Best of Young British Novelists issue, in 1983 and 1993, before going on to bag the Booker prize, the Nobel prize in literature and a knighthood. Earlier this year, he picked up Bafta and Oscar nominations too, for his adapted screenplay of Living, starring Bill Nighy. David Sexton suggests some good places to start for those who haven’t yet dipped in to his work. Read more
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Martin Amis, Acclaimed Author of Bleakly Comic Novels, Dies at 73
In books like “Money” and “The Information,” he created “a high style to describe low things,” as he put it. He found more renown as a critic, and a measure of unease as his famous father’s son. Read more
The Essential Neil Gaiman
The man behind the landmark reboot of “The Sandman” comic (and Netflix series) is going strong after decades of writing in just about every format. Here’s where to get started with his books for adults. Read more
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5 Authors Who Took Things Too Far
Authors are strange figures, constantly having sex in graveyards, getting fooled by fairies and engaging in other such activities that remind us they’re all doomed to madness. Read more
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