Haruki Murakami is donating his manuscripts and other items to his alma mater, Waseda University. According to Japan Times, the donation includes translated versions of his work and his record collection. “I don’t have any children, and it would cause trouble for me if those materials became scattered or lost,” Murakami explained in a press conference.
Alice Quinn is resigning from her position as executive director of the Poetry Society of America.
Time magazine editor in chief Edward Felsenthal has been chosen as the company’s CEO by new owners Marc and Lynne Benioff. Felsenthal will continue to serve as editor in chief.
Jonathan Lethem talks to CrimeReads about his new novel, The Feral Detective.
Ottessa Moshfegh talks to Guernica about Kurt Cobain, sadness, and why she set her most recent novel, My Year of Rest and Relaxation, in 2000 instead of the present day. “I didn’t realize I had set it then until it became apparent that I was describing a New York pre-9/11, when there was still a sense of optimism,” she explained. “The more practical reason was that if I’d set the story now, the character’s decision to go into hibernation would be a very obvious response to what’s happening in her environment politically and socially.”
Tonight at the New York Public Library, Ruth Franklin, Wayne Koestenbaum, and John Williams gather to celebrate the work of Lucia Berlin.