Articles by Open Letters Monthly
Roger Ebert
Open Letters Monthly mourns the death of indefatigable everyman movie critic Roger Ebert, who saw everything, mainstreamed a profession, and championed more than a few losing battles – including, ultimately, his own. Rest in peace.
Ruth Prawer Jhabvala
Open Letters Monthly mourns the death of Ruth Prawer Jhabvala, whose exquisite literary adaptations helped give new kinds of immortality to E.M. Forster and Henry James, and whose own fiction, delicate and sometimes dauntingly enigmatic, will …
Book Review: Scenes from Early Life
A talented novelist writes the story of his husband’s family’s experiences in war-torn Bangladesh – but is it life, or art?
Our Year in Reading 2012
In this special feature, we look back at some highlights of the reading we did in 2012.
Our Year in Reading 2012 Continues
In this special feature, we look back at some highlights of the reading we did in 2012.
2011 in reading: revisitation
As this year winds to a close we take another glance at the still-worthy books that moved us in days of old.
Elliott Carter
Open Letters Monthly mourns Elliott Carter, whose gentle heart and endless good humor made him a warm glow of firelight in any room, and whose music was the brilliant, tangled sonogram of the 20th Century.
Book Review: Designing Nature
Japanese Rinpa-style artwork takes center stage in a stunning new book and exhibit from the Metropolitan Museum of Art
Comics: Essential Thor Volume 6
Marvel’s resident thunder god-superhero Thor goes through some epic adventures in the latest volume of “Essential” reprints.
Guest Movie Review: Resident Evil – Retribution
Paul Anderson returns to the director’s chair for the new “Resident Evil” chapter – but does he still have that old zombie-fighting magic?
Photographic Fictions
“A few years ago I started sleepwalking, and (while inconvenient) this is kind of exciting to me, because it’s pretty much exactly the mood I’m going for in anything I create.” — a chat with cover artist Adrianne Mathiowetz
Summer Reading 2012
As the haze and heat of summer kick into full swing, the folk of Open Letters break out their annual Summer Reading recommendations!
Summer Reading 2012 Continues
Our feature continues, as more Open Letters folk share their annual Summer Reading recommendations!
From the Archives: Summer Reading 2011
In last year’s special feature, our team of avid readers offered some suggestions for books a little off the beaten path of summer blockbusters.
From the Archives: Summer Reading 2011 Goes On
More of last year’s special feature, where we offered some less predictable ideas for books to tuck into your beach tote or suitcase.
An Interview with Kim Newman
An interview with Kim Newman, author of the fantastic “Anno Dracula” series of novels!
An Interview with John Summers of The Baffler
An interview with The Baffler‘s new Editor-in-Chief, John Summers.
“highly contrived and stylized”
“Spending a summer night alone in Hannibal, watching the Mississippi River, staying in a rundown motel, and getting drunk by yourself … that’s a solid way to spend a day.” — A conversation with poet and cover artist Joshua Ware
New Edition: The Barnes & Noble King James Bible
A gorgeous new edition of the King James Bible arrives on bookshelves, packed with illustrations by Gustave Dore and, of course, some of the most beautiful poetry in the English language
Flexible and Ephemeral
” Paper is a ubiquitous material but it also can be alarmingly elegant. It has religious (holy books, Joss paper) and socio-political (money, contracts), and quotidienne (butcher paper, toilet paper) connotations.” — a conversation with cover artist Megan Heeres
Last Month’s Issue
The forgotten Brontë, a new Iago, coterminous terrorists, Prince Albert in 5 volumes, how to listen to music online, DeLillo, Bostonia, brand new editor, Tagore Redux and plenty more …
For Singular Consideration
A conversation with Maureen Thorson, Open Letters’ new poetry editor, founder of NaPoWriMo, and publisher of Big Game Books
Graphomaniacal
“I’ve never been terribly attracted to pretty things in general. Pretty and bland seem synonymous to me, and there’s certainly a lot of that in the art world already.” — a conversation with Bill Amundson
Last Month’s Issue
A new history of China, the year’s reading highlights, who was Terence Rattigan?, who was Horace?, mainstream perfumes!, a new James Bond, new fiction, and the end of the end of A Year with the Windsors
Our Year in Reading
In this special feature, we look back at some highlights of the reading we did in 2011
Last Month
Alan Hollinghurst’s latest; an essay from Douglass Shand-Tucci; Sargent’s El Jaleo reconsidered; António Lobo Antunes’ thrillers; Ben Lerner’s latest; vintage scents; Akilah Oliver’s final volume and far more….
Interview with Virginia Henley
Romance author Virginia Henley talks with Open Letters about history, human nature, and a certain four-letter word
Author Interview: William Martin
We talk with William Martin, author of the newly re-released “Citizen Washington”
Sane and Insane
“In fact, many religions use the mandala type form to represent “Controlled Chaos.” Stained glass windows are an example I have a closer relationship to … they intrigued me for hours.”
laying down record player
A conversation with cover artist Julie Schustack about LA, worlds under glass, Frankenstein devices, and building a house just to take it apart.
tumultuous atmospheric spaces
“I learned about ‘letting go’, painting over areas in a piece that I might have loved at first (which often happens in my process, some of my first marks are my most adored), but which no longer worked.” A conversation with Carol Browning and Karen Roehl
Open to Love
“I find that you can get someone to do something outlandish that they would never normally do if you ask them in public as if it’s the most normal request ever.” — a talk with cover artist Rebecca Vaughan
Dross of a Passing Dream
A conversation with Open Letters’ new curator, Katie Caron, and an exploration of her upcoming show, “Displaced”
The 2010 Bestseller Feature
It’s that time of year again, when our writers gird themselves and review all ten books on The New York Times bestseller list. This time around the quarry is bestselling Nonfiction.
Wonders of the Field
A conversation with the editors of The Rose Metal Press Field Guide to the Prose Poem
An Authorless Chorus
“I wanted to emphasize the creation of new space as something, rather than just an absence.” — a conversation with our cover artist Skye Gilkerson
Axes Piling Up
Open Letters talks with Adam Golaski about the earlier translations of Sir Gawain, the original MS, and his own “Green”
Emotional Contagion
A Conversation with Carissa Halston and Randolph Pfaff about his images for their short play “Patsy”
Cat’s Owls
“Owls are majestic creatures. Their stolid quality is exactly what attracts me to them. I purposefully chose those images based on the ability that this animal has to move with such grace and poise, as if always in perfect control.”
Bad Books, Good Hooks
They don’t work as books, but they do work their way on us – insistently, insidiously. We throw them across the room, but we keep picking them up again.
Katie Caron on Dominium
“It is so easy to create illusions with film, but how can you create an engrossing visual experience with an object? I am obsessed with human nature’s interest in being fooled.”
David R. Slavitt on Young John Milton
Long before he wrote some of the most powerful poems in English, John Milton, as a brainy teenager, wrote verse in Latin. Celebrated translator David Slavitt tells us a little about them.
2009 Bestseller Feature
In our second annual Fiction Bestseller List feature, our writers temporarily put aside their dogeared copies of Hume and Mann, roll up their sleeves, and dig into the ten bestselling novels in the land as of September 6, 2009 – in the tranquil days before a certain Dan Brown novel began tromping all over that list like Godzilla in downtown Tokyo. Before you spend your hard-earned money at the bookstore, join us in a tour of the way we read now.
Photography Album and Q&A with Michael George
Open Letters talks shop with cover photographer Michael George
4 Questions for cover artist Michela Emeson
OL: You’ve lived in both Mexico and Europe. Do you think this has influenced your work away from the American grain?
Michela: Even though I have strong European influences, I am American with a range of work that …
2008 Bestseller Feature (complete)
It’s been over 30 years since Gore Vidal wrote his penetrating and acerbic essay on the bestseller list, and we thought it was time to give that infamous mainstay of the literary world another look. Open Letters has cracked into the bestseller list and invites you to join us in discovering what’s really there…
Q & A with Linda Porter
An in-depth addition to our Year with the Tudors: Open Letters chats with a writer equally hip-deep in the subject, Linda Porter, author of The First Queen of England: The Myth of “Bloody Mary.” Our first Q & A!
June 2008 issue
Lori Parkman is an attorney, flâneuses, and photographer who’s work can be viewed at http://www.flickr.com/photos/loriellenp/. She lives in Brooklyn.
Gladly Possessed
Joy Division was post-punk at its ecstatic, abrasive best. Peter Law reviews Control, the soundtrack to the documentary that briefly brought the emblematic band back on the stage.
June 2007 Issue
The Cover Photo for June, “Tree,” was taken by Liam Frankland. Much more of Liam’s work can be seen at www.liamfrankland.com and www.flickr.com/photos/lyrical.
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