So I sat down with Charlene Elsby‘s Poor Damned Souls one evening and found myself reading a book about a relationship about to collapse. That quickly turned into something much bleaker, which evolved into a scenario that left me wondering how much worse things could get. It’s transgressive fiction at its best, and I chatted with Elsby to learn more about this book’s genesis.
Following an East Coast screening tour at independent bookstores, the pilot episode of new comedy sitcom Broadway Books was released in conjunction with National Bookseller Day last month. A charming alternative to the traditional film festival circuit, the literary-based television series is advertised both as a handmade antidote to the looming technocratic sprawl as well as a love letter to neighborhood bookstores everywhere. A former employee of the Upper West Side’s Book Culture — where the pilot was filmed on location — the series was created and directed by Carianne King and developed during a pilot writing class at the Upright Citizens Brigade. Originally a self-funded pandemic project, Carianne’s collaborative UCB experiences pushed the endeavor forward. In addition to King, the show’s skillful female creative production team comes courtesy of visual production company Mirmade.
You might know writer Mark Russell‘s comics work through his Second Coming, which riffs on both divinity and superheroes; or through his reimagining of The Flintstones for DC Comics. His latest book, The Forgotten Divine, is a collaboration with artist Russ Braun, and tells the story of Rodney, a traumatized veteran who begins having visions of another world.
Alfred, Lord Tennyson once wrote a poem so moving, so poignant in its depiction of grief and loss of love that the piece’s eventual impact would ripple far beyond the Victorian literary world of its time and straight into international legal code.
What does it mean to translate the work of a Nobel laureate? That’s a task that writer and translator Adrian Nathan West has had to consider: among his body of work are translations of two novels by the late Mario Vargas Llosa. The two books — Harsh Times and I Give You My Silence — are tonally very different: one is a grim look at an inflection point in Latin American history, while the other follows one musicologist’s Quixotic quest to tell the story of a reclusive instrumentalist. I spoke with West about his experience with both books, and what he learned along the way.
In her third poetry collection The Sky Will Hold, poet Elizabeth Hazen reexamines the gap between youthful dreams and middle-aged reality, exploring what it means to belong: to a family, a community, even within her own skin.
I’ve known Chris Kelso for a while now, and we’ve discussed everything from horror fiction to the ups and downs of the Scottish Premier League. This time out, our conversation was about the evergreen topics of books and movies: specifically, Kelso’s book about the film Possession and its lingering effects on him.
I’ve known writer Jeff Jackson for quite a while now, and one of the pleasures of that has been seeing his creative endeavors expand. To wit: the work that he and his collaborators in the band Julian Calendar have released in recent years: haunting post-punk with an expansive set of influences and a penchant for deconstruction. I spoke with Jackson about the group’s new album Speaking a Dead Language and their evolution since 2020.