This site, having suffered obvious neglect for several months now, has merged with BrooklynHeathen.com, where literary topics will be discussed from here on. We hope you visit us there.

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Men’s restroom at Moe’s bar, Brookyln 2005 | Photo: Kenn Christ

“He suffered brain injuries after a recent fall at his Manhattan home, said his wife, photographer Jill Krementz.”

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Soft Skull’s FAQ informs that this indie press began as a guerilla operation out of Kinko’s when founder Sander Hicks was an employee there in 1992. Hicks has parted since, but with Richard Nash serving as the publisher beginning 2001, it has been printing over 40 titles a year.

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Francine Prose was at Strand to read and discuss her newest, Reading Like a Writer: A Guide for People Who Loves Books and For Those Who Want to Write Them. The book demonstrates how careful reading of great writers is an effective way of learning to write, but it also appears to be her long-due tribute to these masters. Though Prose is a prolific author with 14 novels, 4 non-fiction titles, and several children’s books published to date, she does not hold an MFA; “Can Creative Writing Be Taught?” is the question with which she opens her book. She explains that though great line-editing skills can be picked up from a fiction workshop, as can the feeling of a community, a writing class was not where she learned to write; it was from reading books that she polished her craft, and it is this way of learning for which the book provides encouragement and guidance.

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The Park Slope Barnes & Noble reading of Akashic authors Colin Channer and K. E. Silva proceeded with perhaps 10 people in attendance. The corner tucked beside the religious texts in the lower level is a reading area for about 8 customers when it’s not rearranged with rows of chairs for author events. It’s not a space that intends to command a turnout like Upstairs at Union Square does, especially when the streets outside are glistening under a Friday night shower, but it offers the intimacy and informality fitting for readings.

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A mix of young and old had begun to fill the reading space on the 4th floor of the Union Square Barnes & Nobles as early as 45 minutes prior to the reading scheduled at 7. Speakers of the night were Amy Goodman and David Goodman, authors of Static: Government Liars, Media Cheerleaders, and the People Who Fight Back. The siblings are presently on an 80-city tour, with the stunning turnout in Utah, according to David, reaching as much as a 1000. By 6:30 a spirited debate had commenced between two men in the audience though details were drowned by the murmur of about a 100 that had already gathered.

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