The much anticipated heart-to-heart between Mark Zuckerberg, Sheryl Sandberg, and some wary Republicans seems to have gone beautifully: the New York Times, paraphrasing some of those in attendance, described it as “mostly collegial, sympathetic and inquisitive.” Zuckerberg himself confirmed his free-to-be-you-and-me stance directly after the meeting: “Our community’s success depends on everyone feeling comfortable sharing anything they want.” For his part, Glenn Beck was impressed by Zuckerberg’s “manner, his ability to manage the room, his thoughtfulness, his directness, and what seemed to be his earnest desire to ‘connect the world.’” Beck saved his opprobrium for the other conservatives in the room, whose desire for Facebook to ensure greater representation for their views (by hiring less liberal staff, for instance) struck him as undignified: “It was like affirmative action for conservatives. When did conservatives start demanding quotas AND diversity training AND less people from Ivy League Colleges. . . . What happened to us? When did we become them?”
Meanwhile, since Zuckerberg is no longer running his book club, readers may like to know that New York City’s first lady, Chirlane McCray, with the help of the writers James Hannaham, Jacqueline Woodson, and A.M. Homes, is holding one at Gracie Mansion.
The Village Voice is preparing for a major relaunch next year and has hired a new publisher, Suzan Gursoy, currently of Adweek, to oversee it.
Page Turner has published an intriguing fragment of a correspondence between Elena Ferrante and another Italian novelist, Nicola Lagioia, the full version of which will appear later this year in a book titled Frantumaglia. Remarking that “someone who is truly rooted in life doesn’t write novels,” Lagioia asks Ferrante how she sees writing, and she responds, in part: “Writing is an act of pride. I’ve always known that, and so for a long time I hid the fact that I was writing, especially from the people I loved. I was afraid of exposing myself and of others’ disapproval. Jane Austen organized herself so that she could immediately hide her pages if someone came into the room where she had taken refuge. It’s a reaction I’m familiar with: you’re ashamed of your presumptuousness, because there is nothing that can justify it, not even success. However I state it, the fact remains that I have assumed the right to imprison others in what I seem to see, feel, think, imagine, and know.”
This Saturday, Karl Ove Knausgaard will participate in the Norwegian-American Literary Festival at Santos Party House (celebrating the work of Tarjei Vesaas) and will read from his own work at BookCourt.