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Poet Donald Hall Reflects on Love, Death and New Hampshire
“Love, death and New Hampshire,” Donald Hall once said when asked what he writes about. It remains true in the former U.S. Poet Laureate’s newly published book of poems, “The Back Chamber.” At 83, Hall...
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Transtromer, Swedish Poet With ‘Tinge of Modernism, Surrealism,’ Wins Nobel
The 2011 Nobel Prize for Literature has gone to Swedish poet Tomas Transtromer, the first poet to win the award since 1996. Judges selected Transtromer because, they wrote, “through his condensed,...
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Al-Bassam Theatre Takes Inspiration From Shakespeare and the Arab Spring
Kuwaiti playwright and theater director Sulayman al-Bassam adapts Shakespearean plays to the modern Arab context to explore issues of religion and society in the contemporary Gulf. Art Beat talked...
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Susan Orlean Charts the Rise of America’s Most Beloved Dog, Rin Tin Tin
After nearly a decade of research, animal lover and famed author Susan Orlean has written a comprehensive biography of arguably America’s most loved dog, Rin Tin Tin. Found by a young American...
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In ‘The Death-Ray,’ Clowes Takes on the Powers of a Teenage Superhero
Click on image for larger view. You may not yet recognize artist, writer and cartoonist Daniel Clowes by name, but there’s a growing chance that you’ve been exposed to his work. Clowes is among the...
View Article‘Margin Call': Calm Before the Storm of 2008 Financial Crisis
The 2008 financial collapse is a complex phenomenon to fathom. It’s an even harder phenomenon to recreate in a cinematic narrative. ‘Margin Call,’ a film that opens in theaters Friday, takes on that...
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San Francisco Symphony Celebrates 100 Years
Michael Tilson Thomas conducts the San Francisco Symphony. The San Francisco Symphony turned 100 this year. With a busy touring schedule and listeners around the world, the symphony has won some of...
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Conversation: Doris Duke Charitable Foundation to Grant $50 Million to Artists
Last month, the Doris Duke Charitable Foundation announced a major new program to assist artists. The Doris Duke Performing Artists Initiative will provide $50 million in grants to 200 artists in...
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Weekly Poem: ‘Olives’
By A.E. Stallings Sometimes a craving comes for salt, not sweet, For fruits that you can eat Only if pickled in a vat of tears— A rich and dark and indehiscent meat Clinging tightly to the pit—on...
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Conversation: Julian Barnes, Winner of the 2011 Man Booker Prize
The Man Booker Prize is given annually to a novel by an author in Britain, Ireland or one of the Commonwealth nations. It is highly prestigious, as well as often highly contentious and controversial....
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Ward, Finney Are Among 2011 National Book Award Winners
The 2011 National Book Awards were announced at a ceremony in New York Wednesday night, and the winners are… Jesmyn Ward’s “Salvage the Bones,” a novel about a community and family devastated by...
View ArticleCrystal Bridges: a New Home to American Art
The Crystal Bridges Museum opened last week in Bentonville, Ark. The building was designed by Moshe Safdie, and the collection was amassed by Alice Walton of the Wal-Mart fortune. Earlier this week, I...
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Conversation: Doc Watson
Doc Watson at the 2009 Musicfest ‘N Sugar Grove. Photo by Appalachian Encounters via Flickr. At 88, Doc Watson is a legend of folk and bluegrass music, but he hasn’t yet lost the drive to hit the road...
View ArticleCliburn, Checker Among New Additions to National Recording Registry
Van Cliburn‘s triumphant Cold War performance in Moscow, the mambo music of Cuban bassist Israel “Cachao” Lopez, and Chubby Checker’s “The Twist” are among the 25 sound recordings newly inducted into...
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Oscar-winning ’20 Feet from Stardom’ gives voice to back-up singers
Jo Lawry, Judith Hill and Lisa Fischer singing back-up in “20 Feet From Stardom.” Courtesy: RADiUS-TWC It was the middle of the night in 1969. Merry Clayton, a respected back-up singer, receives a call...
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