300 Reviews is a curious, trenchant, and charming criticism website that publishes 300-word reviews of everything from the gender binary to cats. It may remind you of The Rumpus’s Ted Wilson Reviews the World, which we’ve already expressed public love for, but 300 Reviews is a bit more serious and varied compared to Wilson’s loopy digressions. Plus, 300 Reviews has a diverse cast of reviewers—and is always looking for new contributors. Maybe you want to review your wicker chair? Or perhaps your Grandmother? Maybe that’s just me.

Image by zenera, licensed under Creative Commons.

As editor of Granta, Bill Buford had a specific editorial vision: British writing was crap and American voices needed to be published more in England.  So, the first issue of Granta that he published was called “New American Writing” and included writers like Susan Sontag, Paul Auster, and Louise Erdrich.  And the third issue went out under the title “The End of the English Novel.”  This fascinating bit of history comes from John Freeman, the current Editor of Granta, during a PEN World Voices Festival of International Literature event (Literary Magazines: Here and Abroad, Now and in the Future) that took place earlier this year.  Along with Freeman, the panel of participants discussing the history, future, and international differences of literary magazines included Rodrigo Fresán, Rob Spillman, M Mark, and Peter Stamm, with David Haglund moderating.

Early on, Spillman, editor and co-founder of Tin House, tells about a publishing class in Santiago, Chile trying to create a literary magazine “out of nothing,” because that country’s literary tradition doesn’t have such a thing and has been more concerned historically with poetry broadsides and chapbooks.  The students, Spillman says, were excited, but also frightened by the challenge.

Other topics that come up during the discussion include publishing processes, translations, online versions of magazines (as well as what reading online can do to a story), and much more.  If you’re a fan of literary magazines or just a fan of literature in general (and if you’re on this blog, you probably are) then this is a discussion you won’t want to miss.  And, if you don’t have a full hour and a half to give to it, the conversation jumps around a lot, so you can just click ahead and catch up on the fly, in order to get a taste of multiple topics.

Source: PEN America, Granta, Tin House

Writer Natasha Vargas-Cooper has just published a book called Mad Men Unbuttoned, which serves as a set of spiffy annotations to the lauded television show. The Paris Review asked Vargas-Cooper a few questions, and she gave some snappy answers, as is her wont. When asked why Mad Men inspires such frothing-at-the-mouth praise, she remarked:

We’re watching the foundation of our modern taste come together—that’s fascinating! The show lends itself to a gleeful analysis. Its use of culture is deliberate. References to pop culture or politics aren’t thrown in to be cute or suggestive, but to enhance the themes of the show or our understanding of the characters. I think the audience appreciates not being treated like a mope so they get jazzed about it.

Source: The Paris Review 

HTMLGIANT has posted two essential videos—a two-part interview with the Wu-Tang Clan about their writing/rapping style.

Source: HTMLGIANT

If you’re exactly like me (and let’s hope to god that you’re not, because I hate cloning), you might enjoy reading some love letters to various punctuation marks, coming to us courtesy of the blog Emdashes.

Here's a sample:

Dear Exclamation point!

Mel Gibson has lately placed you in the forefront of the news. Too many times you have been used and abused by expletives. I don’t think you would have chosen to be at the end of Mr. Gibson’s sentences. His angry ranting sentences acted like they were entitled to have you at the end of every one of them! Why can’t his raging phrases calm down and give you a rest? I’m wishing a change for you; one that’s peaceful and calm. May you follow this word instead. Serenity!

Gently,
Darcy

(Thanks, Columbia Journalism Review.)

Source: Emdashes

Image by takomabibelot, licensed under Creative Commons.

The Publisher's Weekly blog PWxyz put out a call for readers to nominate America's most underrated writers and picked 15 favorites from the list. It's a good time. "Now all that’s left to do is give these writers their due," writes Craig Morgan Teicher, "go buy their books, talk ‘em up to your friends and enemies, and make them the literary titans they deserve to be!"

Who would you add to the list?

(Thanks, The Rumpus.)

Source: PWxyz

Image by @sahxic < twitter, licensed under Creative Commons.

"On a day that will find many gay rights activists celebrating," write the good folks at the L.A. TimesJacket Copy blog, "we look to the books that have provided a richer understanding of the joys and challenges particular to gay life."

Proceed directly to this fabulous list: 20 classic works of gay literature.

(Thanks, The Rumpus.)

Source: Jacket Copy

Image by Allan Warren, Licensed under Wikimedia Commons.