Giancarlo DiTrapano, the mastermind behind the New York Tyrant literary magazine and Tyrant Books, passed away last week at age forty-seven. A singular, generous, adventurous, and beloved editor, he published work by Gary Lutz, Megan Boyle, Atticus Lish, and many others.
For The Guardian, novelist Viet Thanh Nguyen, author of the The Sympathizer and The Committed, has written an essay on the history of violence against Asian Americans in real life and popular culture. “The systemic violence of a US foreign policy designed to kill Asians in large numbers, or threaten to kill them, from the Philippines to Japan, from Korea to Vietnam, from Laos to Cambodia, reinforces the domestic, everyday racism and sexism with which many Asian Americans are familiar,” he writes. “The acceptability of microaggressions, racist jokes, casual sexual fetishisation lays the groundwork for an explosion of racist and sexist violence that can be literally murderous.”
She Said, Jodi Kantor and Megan Twohey’s book about breaking the Weinstein story at the New York Times, is being adapted by Ruby Shamir into a guide for young readers who want to become investigative reporters.
Book deals: Michelle Tea—the author of Valencia, Black Wave, Rose of No Man’s Land, and other books—has sold a new memoir titled Knocking Myself Up to Dey Street. According to the publisher, Tea’s book recounts the “raucous journey to get pregnant as a 40-year-old, single, queer, uninsured woman, venturing into the very straight world of prospective motherhood and artificial reproductive technologies.” National Book Award finalist Solmaz Sharif sold her new poetry collection, Customs, to Graywolf. Customs, Graywolf notes in a statement, “is engaged with both the border checkpoints where one proves—or doesn’t prove—national belonging and the cultural customs of particular nations and communities.”
Readings: this week, Rachel Kushner will participate in virtual conversations about her new essay collection, The Hard Crowd, with Hal Foster (Tuesday at 2 PM EST), Dana Spiotta (Wednesday at 9 PM EST), Hari Kunzru (Thursday at 7:30 PM EST), and Ben Lerner (April 13 at 6 PM EST). On April 14, Kushner will appear live with Kim Gordon at Skylight Books in Los Angeles.