“Think of The Joy of Sex [the original 1971 version] and chances are your mind will drift to an image of a man with a bushy beard and a woman with hairy armpits. It’s not a photograph, but the nearest thing to it in pen and ink.” The story of how those drawings were created is more complicated, and more amusing, than one might guess.
Category: publishing
Here’s A Challenging Job: Updating The Lonely Planet Guide To Libya
A writer for the travel book franchise recounts her experiences working through the Revolution.
Describing The Economy In Haiku
The Kauffmann Foundation added a little challenge to its last quarterly survey of economics bloggers: capture the current state of the economy in a haiku. The Economist offers us the results.
Found Poetry: Occupy Wall Street Meets Craigslist
“The following poems about the romantic repercussions of the demonstrations were ‘found’ this month in the Missed Connections section of newyork.craigslist.com. They are printed verbatim, with only line and stanza breaks added; the titles are the subject headings.”
Joseph Heller Enjoyed WWII More Than Yossarian Did
“Fans of Joseph Heller’s novel Catch-22 may be surprised to learn that the American author actually enjoyed his military service during the second world war – at least according to a letter about to be auctioned in the US.”
Tolkien’s Own Drawings Of Middle Earth Released
“A swath of JRR Tolkien’s original illustrations for The Hobbit are to be published for the first time this week as part of celebrations to mark the 75th anniversary of the book’s publication.”
E-book Piracy’s A Bad Thing, Except When It’s Perfect For Authors
“If I can buy all my books second-hand, grab them at the library or borrow them from my friends, then why would I ever pay full price for the same product? Why would anyone? And yet the indisputable fact is that people – and I’d even go so far as to say a majority of people – do.”
Will Jane Austen Spin-Offs, Knock-Offs, Spoofs And Homages Ever Go Away? Don’t Be Ridiculous
A mash-up of “The Thin Man” and “Pride and Prejudice?” Yes, please, says Scott Simon of NPR in an interview with writers Frank Delaney and Diane Meir.
Writers’ Workshops Do Too Matter, Says Iowa Director
In an MFA program, says Lan Samantha Chang, “you have more time to think, and you have time to think about your life. And to think about the lives of other human beings. That is a privilege, but it is something that a lot of people need and want. It’s a privilege and a basic human need. Our society pushes us toward productivity in a way that is antithetical to our basic needs.”
Ugly Characters Need (Publishers’ And Readers’) Love, Too
Lionel Shriver (“We Need to Talk About Kevin”): “Do we always want to read about characters who conform to current political conventions–who don’t smoke, never say anything bigoted, and always recycle their yogurt pots?”