Article Archive: Feature

Five writers over the age of fifty whose debut books were released this year: Jimin Han, Laura Hulthen Thomas, Karen E. Osborne, Tina Carlson, and Peg Alford Pursell. Excerpts of their books are available in 5 Over 50 Reads 2017.

Salman Rushdie’s new novel, The Golden House, marks a triumphant return to realism for the titan of letters whose insights on everything from novel-writing and magical realism to identity and social media are as fascinating as the worlds he creates in his books.

This year’s debut fiction roundup features emerging writers Zinzi Clemmons, Hala Alyan, Jess Arndt, Lisa Ko, and Diksha Basu.

A roundup of new and emerging writers over the age of fifty whose debut books were published during the past year, featuring Desiree Cooper, Sawnie Morris, Paul Vidich, Paula Whyman, and Paul Hertneky.

Michael Wiegers, the editor in chief of Copper Canyon Press, talks about how he decides which books to publish (from the two thousand manuscripts the press receives each year) and what it’s like to edit the likes of Pablo Neruda, W. S. Merwin, and C. D. Wright.

Her books, for readers of all ages, have been published in thirty-two languages and sold more than eighty-five million copies worldwide, but Judy Blume, whose new novel, In the Unlikely Event, was published by Knopf in June, has always taken a simple approach to her work: “I do what I have to do to tell the story.”

In Ordinary Light, Pulitzer Prize­–winning poet Tracy K. Smith embraces a fuller sense of herself as a writer while cementing the connection between her children and her ancestors using the best glue she knows: words.

Donald Hall may not be producing any more new poems, but the eighty-six-year-old author of more than fifty books is still revising; still polishing his prose, including the pieces in his new book, Essays After Eighty; and still reminiscing about a golden age of American poetry.

The publisher of her eponymous imprint at Penguin Random House, Amy Einhorn discusses her early days as an assistant at FSG, the importance of titles, and how she pushes her authors to make their books the best they can be.