This past weekend thousands—yes, thousands—of literature lovers descended upon the University of Southern California’s campus to celebrate 2012’s LA Times Festival of Books. In its second year at the USC location, the event proves that Los Angeles isn’t the pariah of the book world that many would make it out to be. In fact, the…
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The three works that lost out on this year’s Pulitzer Fiction Prize: the dazzling debut Swamplandia! By Karen Russell; posthumously published The Pale King by David Foster Wallace; and noteworthy novella Train Dreams by Denis Johnson. A rare occurrence in Pulitzer history took place this week, with the panel electing not to award…
Read More "Close, But No Pulitzer: How Three Novels Lost Out on This Year’s Fiction Prize"
We are fascinated with the lives of our favorite authors, always wanting to know more about the enigmas who grab us with their telling of the stories that keep us up at night, turning page after page. We read their private correspondences and official biographies, thirsty for some insight into each one’s private life and…
China celebrates one of its many public holidays today, though this one sounds of the more macabre sort. Qingming Festival, as it’s known in China and other parts of Southeast Asia, where it’s celebrated, also goes by the names “Tomb Sweeping Day” and “Bone Polishing Day.” Don’t worry; it doesn’t entail dusting off femurs or…
Read More "Ashes to ashes, Bones to iPhones: Qingming Festival in Modern Culture and Classical Text"
