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A first-time novelist at 87, UMass professor Joseph Zaitchik talks shop with his grandson, writer Alex Zaitchik

Writing in the family
Once a year, Joseph Zaitchik tells his favorite joke.

By: ALEXANDER ZAITCHIK | November 16, 2011

A new book says 'smaller' cities could be the way of the future

Thinking small
This month sees the publication by MIT Press of Small, Gritty, and Green: The Promise of America's Smaller Industrial Cities in a Low-Carbon World by Catherine Tumber.

By: JON GARELICK | November 17, 2011

Interview: John Hodgman is pleased to serve

You're welcome
Brookline native, Apple pitchman, podcast host, and Daily Show correspondent John Hodgman has made a career out of hilarious pedantry.

By: EUGENIA WILLIAMSON | November 14, 2011

Papercut Zine Library & the Lucy Parsons Center re-open

Radical reading
Zinesters perused hand-stitched books and photocopied pamphlets on topics ranging from punk politics and parenting to feminism and freeganism, while local musicians played folksy tunes on acoustic guitars, mandolins, and cello between floor-to-ceiling shelves of used books.

By: LIZ PELLY | November 09, 2011

Tapping into the world of Chuck Palahniuk

Bookclub of the Damned
Chuck Palahniuk inspires the kind of trembling adulation reserved for Morrissey and Robert Pattinson. His official Web site is called "The Cult."

By: EUGENIA WILLIAMSON | October 26, 2011

He's all Dwight

Remembering Dwight Macdonald's work
Throughout the 1940s, 50s, and '60s, Dwight Macdonald was one of the nation's most provocative and original literary, political, and cultural critics.

By: PETER KADZIS | October 20, 2011

Interview: Karen Russell talks to the animals

Frustrated vet
Florida native Karen Russell burst on the scene in 2007 with an unbelievably likeable and charming book of short stories, St. Lucy's Home for Girls Raised by Wolves .

By: EUGENIA WILLIAMSON | October 13, 2011

Russell Banks bares the soul of a sex offender in Skin

Minor problems
When it comes to reprobate or ostracized characters, Russell Banks has no fear.

By: PETER KEOUGH | October 12, 2011

Interview: Talking The Wire with Robert F. Chew

A bold Proposition
Like many cast members on HBO's The Wire, Robert F. Chew is originally from Baltimore and therefore has firsthand experience with much of the urban decay the show depicts.

By: RYAN STEWART | October 12, 2011

Interview: Jennifer Egan's anti-nostalgic look back

Time traveler
Forget Jonathan Franzen. For those counting, Jennifer Egan may be a better contender for the greatest American author of her generation.

By: THOMAS PAGE MCBEE | October 12, 2011

Interview: Chuck Klosterman Made Visible

An interview with the essayist-cum-novelist
Over the past decade, Chuck Klosterman's five books have earned a huge and devoted following — and a much smaller (though no less vocal) band of haters who feel he's biggest douchebag in the world.

By: STEVE ALMOND | October 12, 2011

Kate Beaton's twisted take on the world — with more butts

Bizarre history
I see the world in a different way after looking at a Kate Beaton strip. I think she's a genius.

By: KELLY LINK | October 12, 2011

A conversation between Richard Russo and Andre Dubus III

Blue-collar poetry
The novelists Richard Russo and Andre Dubus III might have first met each other at the Newburyport Book Festival in 2006, but they might not have — they hit it off so well that neither of them can quite remember. They've been friends ever since.

By: EUGENIA WILLIAMSON | October 12, 2011