Paul Auster, a prolific, prize-winning man of letters and filmmaker known for such inventive narratives and meta-narratives as The New York Trilogy and 4321, has died at age 77. Auster’s death was confirmed on May 1 by his literary representatives, the Carol Mann Agency, which did not immediately provide additional details. Auster had been diagnosed … Read more
On the surface, Viet Thanh Nguyen’s The Sympathizer is the perfect target for adaptation. First off, it’s a novel — one of the more lucrative source materials for an industry perpetually hungry for existing IP and a built-in audience. Second, it’s a Pulitzer Prize winner, a badge of honour that already proved a boon for similar adaptees like Spotlight, Driving Miss … Read more
We have a sense, I think, of the false border sequestering art from theory. And so to remark on Maggie Nelson’s facility in mating the two is to say the least about how she does so—which is with a hurtling gusto that nonetheless invites us to pause and think. For this, her books are beloved … Read more
Self published authors are growing their market share, according to sales statistics. Authors who publish their own books through platforms like Amazon KDP are growing every day. Hundreds of writers have published their own books – and some authors report making profits in the first week. Should you choose this route? Writers say yes. Stories … Read more
A novel with the title “Martyr!” arrives on the scene preloaded and explosive. The word is fraught, even more so now than when the book’s author, the Iranian American poet Kaveh Akbar, chose it. There’s humor in the exclamation mark, but there’s something else, too. It signals that Akbar is fascinated with words in action, … Read more
In a remembrance, the poet Sergei Gandlevsky, one of the people who knew Rubinstein best, called him “implausibly sociable.” He was not indiscriminate—he didn’t suffer fools, careerists, and narcissists—but he had a vast range of social possibilities. He accepted every birthday-party invitation, most dinner-party invitations, and many invitations to go grab a drink. He was … Read more
This tech job can generate a lot of income, experts say. Artificial intelligence prompt engineer — the person who formulates questions and instructions to get the most refined answers and images from programs like ChatGPT — is a highly in-demand position that pays upwards of $300,000. “They just know how to write,” Greg Beltzer, head … Read more
Last month, a pair of climate activists attacked a painting known as “The Rokeby Venus,” by the Spanish master Diego Velázquez, which hangs in London’s National Gallery, using hammers to smash the protective glass covering the work. It is Velázquez’s only surviving nude and features the Roman goddess of love, her dazzling back turned toward … Read more
