“The research found that reading poetry in particular increases activity in the right hemisphere of the brain, an area associated with ‘autobiographical memory,’ enabling the reader to reflect on and review their own experiences in light of what they had read. The study’s academics believed this meant that the classics were more useful than self-help books.”
People at all points on the gender spectrum have always existed. However, the past ten years have seen dramatically increased visibility of transgender people in the public eye. Politicians, actors, film directors, and athletes have come out as transgender. In response, we’ve seen an increase in the number and diversity of materials on and about transgender issues. Autobiography is an ever-popular category, notable for being one of the few genres in which transgender people’s voices are heard.
A recent cartoon for the Guardian.
p.s. you can now follow me on instagram: https://www.instagram.com/tomgauld/
John Ashbery, born in 1927 (via theparisreview)
When I talked to Jim Shepard for The Atlantic’s “By Heart,” he offered to scan a page from his teaching copy of “A Good Man Is Hard to Find.” Here it is–and wow. It’s visually stunning, but if you squint at the notes there’s some great pearls of wisdom about the story.
For a closer look, see Jim Shepard’s copy of “A Good Man Is Hard to Find” on Flickr.
UM WE’RE HAVING AN EVERYTHING 20% off SITE-WIDE SALE (w/ code SITE)
As your friendly local distributor, we at SPD think it’s very important that we keep up with the times. So we’ve been toiling away in secret, squirreling away in the office to harness the power of technology (as well as the web skills of people other than ourselves!)
And so, without further ado, we are very proud to present to you a new, and improved www.spdbooks.org, as well as a gigantic SALE to celebrate
It’s books for days over here at the brand new SPD website. Happy browsing!
"I have never been so happy to meet anyone as I am to meet you in this dainty house by the bully sea." --Cal Bedient in the newest issue of Hunger Mountain
“Untitled (Destroying Flesh)” by Juliana Huxtable whose poetry collection is coming out from Wonder Books in the spring.
Produced for the New Museum Triennial and recently featured in Lamdba’s list of “Ten Poems by QPOC You Really Should Have Read This Year”
The creators of the popular podcast Welcome to Night Vale are now telling their tales of a strange desert town in novel form. Critic Amal El-Mohtar says it’s “a splendid, weird, moving novel.”
Last year’s hosts of the Firecracker Awards have adapted their outstanding podcast into this outstanding novel.
Proud to be a contributor to The Little Magazine in Contemporary America, just out from the University of Chicago Press. My essay is called “The Future of the Gatekeepers.”
Publishers and self-publishers, nominate your graphic novels for the 2016 Firecracker Awards by Oct. 31.
"Some people think that Kathy is a beatnik; others claim that she is an existentialist; but Kathy says that she is just plain Kathy.”
--from Kathy Acker’s yearbook. (via spdbooks)
I saw the best minds of my generation...
