For our latest installment in the Backstory series, we welcome Barb Johnson, author of More of This World or Maybe Another, her powerful debut collection of short stories revolving around Palmyra Street in New Orleans.  Continue reading...

Last month, the Harry Ransom Center at the University of Texas at Austin announced that it had acquired a dictionary owned by David Foster Wallace, as part of its extensive Wallace archive. Wallace's copy of the American Heritage Dictionary was full of words that the late writer had circled. The Ransom Center released a sampling of Wallace's circled words, but now Slate's Browbeat blog has revealed the complete list. It's a fascinating collection.  Continue reading...

After an extended hiatus, we are pleased to announce the return of the Backstory series, in which authors share the secrets that inspired their fiction. In this installment we welcome back Katharine Weber, previously featured in the Backstory series for her novel Triangle. Here Katharine tells the story behind her new novel, True Confections.  Continue reading...

Inspired by Elmore Leonard's "10 Rules of Writing," the Guardian asked noted authors for their own rules for writing. Everyone from Margaret Atwood to Zadie Smith chimes in. Read part one here and part two here.

The passing of the great J.D. Salinger has been met with an outpouring of online memorials.

Newsweek: The Gospel According to Holden

The Rumpus: Jason Roberts Remembers

Barnes and Noble: In the Margin

The prestigious National Book Awards have been announced for 2009. The winners are:

Fiction: Colum McCann, Let the Great World Spin

Nonfiction: T.J. Stiles, The First Tycoon

Poetry: Keith Waldrop, Transcendental Studies

Young People's Literature: Phillip Hoose, Claudette Colvin