Round and round we go

And we’ll start with the plight of Jane Hardy, a freelance writer with several steady gigs–until an illness felled her. She explains to the Observer how being ill totally changed her life, especially because you’re just not supposed to be sick and let so many people down.

Sisterspace and Books, a store devoted primarily to African-American fiction, was evicted from its longtime U Street location yesterday in Washington. The store had been unable to renew its lease and therefore had no legal right to stay in the building. Not surprisingly, many longtime customers and neighbors were unhappy about the situation.

Harold Pinter has won the Wilfrid Owen prize for the best poetry related to war or some kind of major conflict, specifically for his anti-Iraq war collection, WAR.

Catfight! Rachel Donadio reports on the Breslin v. Washington Post skirmish for the New York Observer. Yes, we’re only paying attention now, but boy, it’s a real mess of things, isn’t it?

January Magazine contributor George Benko offers an intriguing–and slightly squirm-worthy–look at foreign authors who had the temerity to set books in the United States. Some efforts worked; others failed rather spectacularly.

Crime Time, which also updates with a couple of new reviews, reprints Jason Starr’s introduction to the work of James McKimmey that precedes the reissue of his 1962 novel SQUEEZE PLAY.

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Maud Newton interviews A.L. Kennedy]9 about approaching religion honestly in fiction, the divide between the US and the UK, and why getting Irish residency is cool (no kidding–they don’t charge any tax to writers and musicians! Lucky devils…)

PamelaWatch–aka the evolution of La Anderson as a novelist–continues at USA Today. Maybe it’s me, but every time I read one of these profiles, my brain cells suddenly fill up with imaginary silicone…

Barbara Baker of Scunthorpe (which we agree is a ridiculously cool name for a town) is one of 50 finalists for the End of Story competition. She elected to finish Ed McBain’s story, obviously undaunted (unlike some people) by the task of messing with the 87th Precinct canon. (link from TEV, who ventured forth on the whole Scunthorpe-digging business first.)

And finally, NYTBR editor-in-chief Sam Tanenhaus–who recently caused quite the discussion after responding to TEV’s open letter—answers some pointed questions lobbied at him by David Hirschman at Mediabistro (link from the Literary Saloon, who has a hell of a lot more to say about it. As for me, I just think it’s bloody hard to please all people at all times, so instead I’ll go for the shallow comment: nice headshot!)