Real Journalism written by people
By Casey Mahoney For those familiar with the exquisite essays of Siri Hustvedt, Memories of the Future will be comforting terrain. Hustvedt’s latest circles her more pressing themes of female erasure, the fallibility of memory, and the bizarre fact that imagination always plays a role in our sense of the “present.” The situations in this novel are also familiar, namely, artists behaving oddly, cruelly, or bravely. While readers of Hustvedt’s […]
At 6 p.m. on Monday, April 8th, author Veronica Chambers, best known for her 1997 memoir Mama’s Girl, will be speaking in the library at P.S. 15, Patrick F. Daly Magnet School for the Arts, located at 71 Sullivan Street. Hosted by Friends of P.S. 15, the event is free and open to the public. Chambers, born in Panama, was […]
Like the majority of people these days, New York Senator Kirsten Gillibrand has announced her candidacy for President of the United States in 2020. According to most polls, zero to three percent of Democratic voters would choose Gillibrand among the slate of likely primary candidates. Her unpopularity may seem strange to prognosticators who initially saw the senator as a plausible […]
“Does anyone remember the counselor…?” began the post on my old summer camp’s social media page. I did not know the former camper who was asking, nor did I recognize the vague description of the young adult being accused of allegedly taking advantage, but I was spooked to realize that while I was playing dodgeball and enjoying free swim, someone […]
“The House Children,” (April 2019) author Heidi Daniele’s debut novel, tells the story of the unlucky and illegitimate child, Mary Margaret, renamed Peg by the stern but not unkind nuns of the industrial school where she is sent. This is Ireland, and the year is 1937. As we hear, again and again, there was no choice for Mary Margaret’s mother, Norah Hanley, to give […]
“If you can dance through this, Esme, you can dance through anything.” In The Lily in the Light by Brooklyn author Kristin Fields, the “this” to which the teacher of 11-year-old aspiring ballerina Esme Johnson refers is the disappearance of her 4-year-old sister, Lily. Don’t expect, however, a whodunit-cum-Law & Order episode where Queens, where the Johnsons reside, goes out […]
The novelist Rachel Cline wrote the first page of what’s now described as a MeToo novel nine years before Christine Blasey-Ford testified. “At last everyone is seeing how ubiquitous this experience is,” Cline, who was born and raised in Brooklyn Heights, says. “It was a moment that had to happen and needs to continue to happen.” The good, painful, and ambiguous consequences […]
The first shots were fired the day Millie was born. “You’ve finally got yourself a beauty,” was the word in the Kaplan’s Brooklyn neighborhood, where older sister Ruth would be known solely for her intellect. As grown women during the Second World War, the two main characters in The Wartime Sisters (St. Martin’s Press; January 22, 2019; hardcover), prove that […]
Of the very few bookstores in Red Hook, Pioneer Books stands out for its smart curation and clear visibility along Van Brunt. Here are a few titles currently stocked at the humble storefront that we couldn’t help reviewing. Pioneer Books hosts regular events and book clubs. Check out their website, swing by 289 Van Brunt St, or call (718) 596-3001 […]
2018 has proven itself to be a monumental year, reeking of political devastation far more significant than ever deemed possible. Yet in light of these events, there has been an unmistakable amount of positivity surrounding a particular political figure. On Nov. 23, former First Lady Michelle Obama released her first book, “Becoming.” The memoir is a coming-of-age story about Michelle’s […]
Brooklyn Heights artist Samantha Dion Baker published her first book last August. She is a BASIS Independent Brooklyn parent, and has been holding student workshops there. “Draw Your Day: An Inspiring Guide to Keeping a Sketch Journal” is an instructive guide that delves into Baker’s creative process and provides ways to develop and master a […]
That the American, Jewish, lesbian poet Adrienne Rich is the epitome of brilliance is obvious. As a college student in the late 40s to her death in 2012, Rich delivered masterful poems commonly looked at as the work of genius. What may be less obvious but no less surprising to readers in 2018 is just how equally well-crafted and trenchant her prose is. A politically-engaged writer for most of her life, her piercing […]
Head to the Park Slope Barnes & Noble and Discover How to Get Published in 5 Weeks “Everybody has a story. But few know how to tell it well, where to send it, or how to convince an editor to pay for their words,” writes Professor Susan Shapiro in her latest book, The Byline Bible: Get Published in 5 Weeks, which is the print […]
