Smatterings, the Holiday Weekend Edition

Which is to say after this roundup, nothing until Monday.

Tuesday was Canada Day, the anniversary of the birth of my native country, and the Globe and Mail’s James Adams gets some “new canon” lists from distinguished literary types. I am pleased as punch to see Elizabeth Smart’s stupendous prose poem BY GRAND CENTRAL STATION I SAT DOWN AND WEPT included on several of these lists. (via)

Cody’s may have closed but that didn’t stop Matt Richtel from giving a reading in front of the shuttered bookstore.

More job slashing to come at the LA Times.

The Chicago Tribune wants reader feedback on the books section.

Current literary sensation Uwem Akpan is profiled by Charles McGrath.

Richard Yancey talks with the Knoxville Metropulse about his variegated literary career, which includes a number of mystery novels.

The Harvard Crimson’s Juli Min learns to appreciate genre with the help of Stephanie Plum.

Nilanjana Roy looks into Tamil pulp fiction, which makes me ask: what about pulp fiction of other non-English speaking countries? I totally want to gobble all that up right now.

J.K. Rowling opposes that idiotic move by UK publishers to age-band their books.

Color me confused: if you’re trying to sell off a magazine division, it’s because you want to get more money. So coming up with a loan package in order to get someone else to buy means…spending money. How is this advantageous? In other words, Reed is so screwed.

Finally, this is not what you want to happen at an awards ceremony.