Nicholas Delbanco— I have in front of me a black, spring-loaded binder titled ART. A smaller version of the title has been pasted on the spine. The sturdy pebbled folder measures 11 ½ by 9 ½ inches, and the whole is an inch thick. Inside are fifty-two pages (one for
Devorah Baum— In his amazingly pleasurable new book, In Writing, psychoanalyst and writer Adam Phillips describes writing, in his experience, as an “amazing pleasure.” Lucky him. He sits down to write, he says, and the writing just happens—he’s never “trying” to write and meeting some sort of internal resistance or
Wayne Franklin— It’s a good story, but will it sell? It’s the rare young writer who doesn’t fantasize about the best seller that would make her career. The truth of the matter, though, is that very few published writers actually support themselves by what they write. When I was a
Anne Milano Appel— Translating Claudio Magris’ Blameless was not the first time I had the honor and happy privilege of working with this magnanimous author (a word I use in the Aristotelian sense, which, according to its Latin etymology—magnus as “great,” and animus, “soul”—connotes a true generosity of spirit). An earlier conversation with
What drives us to learn? How do books help us understand the world? How does language fail us? We sat down with reader and writer Alberto Manguel to satisfy our, well, curiosity. Yale University Press: How much do your personal experiences affect what you write about? Alberto Manguel: I’m not a scholar,
Happy National Poetry Month! Check out the new site, Youngerpoets.org! Yale University Press had the pleasure of interviewing Eryn Green, whose collection, Eruv, won the Yale Series of Younger Poets competition in 2013; his book is out this month. Here, we discussed about the life of a poet and the relevance of poetry in
Happy National Poetry Month! Check out the new site, Youngerpoets.org! Yale University Press had the pleasure of interviewing Will Schutt, whose collection, Westerly, won the Yale Series of Younger Poets competition in 2012 and was published last spring. Here, we discussed about writing poetry and the relevance of poetry in today’s modern society.
In continuing the centennial celebration of Marcel Proust’s Swann’s Way, it is sometimes difficult to remember that this work was not always considered worthy of such fanfare. When Proust first attempted to find a publisher for his first volume of In Search of Lost Time, he was met with rejection
Dwight Garner’s Twitter account, regularly full of humorous gems, profound observations, combining books with his dogwalking, has tweeted a few lines ( 1… 2… 3…) inspired by Alfred Kazin over the past few days. This morning’s issue of the New York Times, featured Garner’s review of the “remarkable” Alfred Kazin’s