One of the double-edged swords of my personality is that I try really hard to find common ground with people. On the one hand, seeking common ground forges connections; it recognizes shared experiences and our ultimate shared humanity. It makes me an agreeable person on the whole. But sometimes the ground isn’t common. It’s a […]
Culture
What is your highest and best use?
I know these are challenging economic times, but if you have any money to spare I hope you’ll join me in donating to We Need Diverse Books, an organization dedicated to ensuring that all children can see themselves in print, something we badly need in these troubled and confusing times. I will never know the […]
Caring about quality in a flash in the pan world
This is a lonely time for people who want to do things the slow way. Attention spans are short. Our chaotic, social-media driven world rewards brevity and simplicity. Purity tests are rampant; shades of gray are in short supply. What if you want to write a blog post instead of a tweet? What if you […]
How are we feeling about Game of Thrones?
The one thing that I always loved Game of Thrones, especially the books, is the extent to which it had a clear-eyed and deeply cynical view of power. The key players in Westeros always knew the source of their strength. The Lannisters were rich and paid their debts. The Starks were loyal and held the […]
How writing changes the world
We can all think of books that changed the world. Religious texts like the Bible and Koran. Novels like Uncle Tom’s Cabin, The Jungle, 1984. Nonfiction books like Silent Spring, The Feminine Mystique, Dreams from My Father. And how could any such list be complete without groundbreaking tomes like Bachelor host Chris Harrison’s novel The Perfect Letter, a sultry romance about an […]
Bestseller Angie Thomas on writing, bestsellerdom, and diversity in publishing
I’m incredibly, incredibly psyched to bring you this interview with Angie Thomas, the author of the (pick your adjective) incredible, game-changing, #1 massively bestselling, movie-in-the-works young adult novel The Hate U Give. If I tried to list all the accolades T.H.U.G. has received you might faint from the task of reading them all. Nathan: First things […]
