Archive - Non-fiction
2007
November 11, 2007
Mention Mary Gaitskill, and people start thinking about sex.
November 11, 2007
From the Philadelphia suburbs of his childhood to adolescence in the jazz haze of 1950s Paris to New York City, Steve Geng gained fame on the streets as "Record Steve." While he was mastering the art of boosting records and living the life of an outlaw, his older sister, Veronica Geng, was making her name as a brilliant editor a
November 11, 2007
These are the notes that I took in preparation for, and during, the Brooklyn Book Festival's National Book Critics Circle Panel, which took place in the lecture hall of the Brooklyn Historical Society on September 16.
2008
February 2, 2008
Steve Erickson's many novels (Days Between Stations, Rubicon Beach,
May 5, 2008
It was the hottest day in New York in over fifty years and the legendary Morgan Entrekin, president and publisher of Grove/Atlantic, seemed right at home in the heat.
May 5, 2008
Jhumpa LahiriI met Jhumpa Lahiri when she read from her novel, Th
June 6, 2008
Etgar Keret Depending on your point of view, Tel Aviv-based writer Etgar Keret is a charming prankste
June 6, 2008
We Are ScientistsThe highly anticipated second album from We Are Scientists,
June 6, 2008
On the eighth floor of 55 Washington Street in DUMBO, Richard Eoin Nash, Publisher of Soft Skull Press, fires off an email from his desk. The office is an open, white-walled loft, and Richard's desk is a cozy four-feet away from the door.
July 7, 2008
The Dalkey Press crewMartin Riker is the assistant director of Dalkey Archive Press.
July 7, 2008
Jay Ryan has risen as one of underground poster art's most prolific and talented artists. His hand-drawn, silkscreen posters have announced Chicago's top concerts for the past decade and his work has been featured in galleries across the U.S. and Europe.
July 7, 2008
For more than fifty years a synagogue has stood at the northeast corner of West End Avenue and West 100th Street in Manhattan.
July 7, 2008
Full disclosure: I have known Janice Erlbaum for over a decade. I first met her in the mid-nineties while she was performing with the all-female poetry group The Pussy Poets.
August 8, 2008
Ken Foster and friendsNot a Sunday night goes by when I don't think of Ken Foster.
2011
January 1, 2011
“The serious answers to serious questions are in my books,” Jáchym Topol, the noted Czech writer, tells the audience at Manchester's annual literature festival, where he is giving a reading from Gargling with Tar, his latest novel to be published in Engl
February 2, 2011
The world is dying. With avatars replacing humans and the birth rate non-existent, the human race is almost extinct. In the end, it comes down to.... Jeff Somers.
February 2, 2011
Perhaps it's ironic. The morning I'm to drive out to Long Island and meet with Carl Safina, one of the leading voices sounding the alarm on global warming, I'm stranded by snow.
April 4, 2011
I met Sean Ferrell (www.byseanferrell.com), author of Numb (Harper Perennial) at Old Town Bar on Eighteenth Street in Manhattan on a rainy Friday evening.
May 5, 2011
“Poetry is nearer to vital truth than history.” ~PlatoWhile we didn't have a chance to meet up with Plato (can't even find him on Facebook!), KGB was able to track down a true renascence man, Kevin Burke, a poet, lyrical artist, and musician, to discuss his work, the rigors of self-publishing, and all things creative.
May 5, 2011
If you did not grow up just like Seamus O'Grady - the self-immersed, angry and ultimately lovable hero of Kyle Smith's novel 85A- then you must have known someone who did.
June 6, 2011
Roy Kesey, author of Nothing in the World, All Over, and Pacazo, was kind enough to take the time to answer a few questions for KGB Bar Lit.
September 9, 2011
KGB sat down with Howard Kogan, a social worker and psychoanalyst, who is directing his energies of late on poetry and creative writing. His new book of poems, Indian Summer, recently released by Square Circle Press, is garnering high praise.
October 10, 2011
Douglas Light is rolling, and not just on his Triumph. His first novel, East Fifth Bliss, a coming of age story about a man (Morris Bliss) who should have come of age years ago, has been made into an upcoming feature film starring Michael C. Hall. His second novel Where Night Stops received a 2010 NoMAA Grant.
November 11, 2011
I am always interested in the distinctive characteristics of people native to American cities, especially on the East Coast, where metropolises such as Boston and New York, only a soft drink and peanut-snack plane ride apart, may as well be in separate countries, so different are their residents in dialect, food tastes, politics and sporting cul
2012
January 1, 2012
I recently had the opportunity to connect with Dan North, a man who is a natural paragon for environmentalists, as well as being an accomplished writer and published author. Dan's new book, The Slow Walker, is a series of short essays capturing what he sees, senses and feels during his regular hikes in the Hudson River Valley.
June 6, 2012
To borrow a baseball phrase (the season is upon us, you know, and the Yankees AND the Mets are winning!) Jill Dearman is the “triple threat” of the literary world – acclaimed author, innovative editor and dynamic writing coach. Oh, she also can see into the future!
July 7, 2012
Richard C. Morais, author of the international bestseller The Hundred-Foot Journey, is the Editor of Barron's Penta in New York. An American raised in Switzerland, he was Forbes's European Bureau Chief in London for 18 years. Buddhaland Brooklyn, his second novel, is being published by Scribner on July 17, 2012.
2013
February 2, 2013
Jesse PrinzJesse Prinz, Philosopher Extraordinaire, cognitive scientist and aesthetician, is currently a Distinguished Professor of Philosophy at the Graduate Center, CUNY.
February 2, 2013
Last October, City Lights Books published Don Bajema's collection of 46 stories, Winged Shoes and a Shield.
April 4, 2013
Ken Kalfus's last novel, the National Book Award-nominated A Disorder Peculiar to the Country, opens with a husband and wife on 9/11, each wondering about the other's fate. You might have heard that story before; the difference is that here the husband and wife are each hoping the other has died.
May 5, 2013
Diane SpodarekIt is one of my great pleasures to meet and work with many talented writers.
May 5, 2013
Telling Tales: - One Writer + One Focus = One Story
September 9, 2013
KGBBAR.LIT appreciates writers who not only are devoted to their craft, but also to helping others succeed in this often isolating and difficult business.
September 9, 2013
At 27, I bought a one-way ticket to India. I had no idea what I'd do when I landed, but in the past my most rewarding experiences came when I let intuition be my guide.
September 9, 2013
An occasional look into pivotal moments in writers' lives."The spaces I have been privy to are phenomenally unusual." - Nomi Stone
November 11, 2013
Adam Berlin is the literary equivalent of the boxer who relishes the craft, the pugilist who respects the “sweet science” to such a degree that he willingly pays his dues, is patient to wait his turn and hone his skills, until the moment comes when a championship bout is offered, and with it the opportunity to step into the ring
November 11, 2013
In the literary universe, I find that poets are usually the most humble of writers, with subtle, dry wits, an admirable penchant for solitude, and a dogged dedication to their craft.
November 11, 2013
Jennifer Militello is the author of three collections of poetry: Body Thesaurus (Tupelo Press, 2013), Flinch of Song (Tupelo Press, 2009), winner of the Tupelo Press First Book Award, and the chapbook Anchor Chain, Open Sail.
November 11, 2013
Telling Tales: One Writer + One Focus = One Story
2014
April 4, 2014
It is always inspiring to meet writers who are as interested in helping others craft, publish and promote their prose or poetry as they are their own.
April 4, 2014
Chris Ross beat the odds: he escaped Indiana. But he didn't stop there. He went on to study writing at the City College of New York, where he earned his Master's Degree. Born & Raised, his first novel, follows Sean as he forges his way through the 1980s, striving to understand himself, his family, and his fellow Hoosiers.
May 5, 2014
"The art of good business is being a good middleman."
June 6, 2014
One writer + One focus = One story - An occasional look into pivotal moments in writers' lives.
September 9, 2014
It's the end of the world and Ben H. Winters feels fine. The best-selling author has just released World of Trouble, the final book in his critically-acclaimed Last Policeman trilogy, which documents a young detective's final days before a giant world-destroying asteroid hits Earth.
September 9, 2014
One of my favorite recent reads was Iris Has Free Time, by Iris Smyles. Eclectic, funny, fast-paced and also reflective, there was something on every page I liked and found memorable.
September 9, 2014
Marc Olmstead Recently I had the pleasure of speaking with poet/filmmaker Marc Olmsted (photo right).
November 11, 2014
After reading Lorna Owen's book Mouse Muse, you will think twice before setting out mousetraps, sprinkling poison pellets or calling the exterminator to solve your mouse problem.
2015
January 1, 2015
Shane Lindemoen is boldly going in the direction of great Sci-Fi authors before him.
February 2, 2015
Elaine EquiNietzsche, Clones, “A Guide to the Cinema Tarot,” oh my!