Crimes Against the Reader
by Rick Moody
Looking back on the National Book Award and the ire it inspired.
“I Do Not Expect You to Like It”
by Stephen Burt
The passionate, tormented, propulsive, exhilarating, stagy, ambitious, profound, intuitive, and New Zealish poetry of James K. Baxter.
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How Far Can You Press a Poet?
by David Orr
Stevie Smith’s clowning rhythms, throwaway jottings, and ludicrous asides adorned her desperate, nakedly lyrical poetry.
Magical Passes
by Suzanne Snider
New Age author Carlos Castaneda is dead, but the sorcery of Don Juan Matus is alive and well in a dance studio in TriBeCa.
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Dr. Thompson’s Wars
by J. M. Tyree
An appreciation of the late Hunter S. Thompson, relentless opponent of the Nixonian mind-set—still very much with us today in Iraq.
Jacques Bailly
interviewed by Josh Fischel
The National Spelling Bee’s official pronouncer shares a few of his favorite words. And no, “geeldikkop” is not one of them.
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China Miéville
interviewed by Lou Anders
Are westerns inherently gay? Do political thrillers need monsters? Was Frankenstein really a golem? China Miéville has the answers.
Sarah Jones
interviewed by Miles Marshall Lewis
The poetry wunderkind takes on racism, autobiographical fiction, and the perks of being a spoken-word rock star.
Mick Napier
interviewed by Peter Grosz
If a man repeatedly dropping a peanut for no apparent reason makes you laugh, then improv director Mick Napier wants to be your friend.
