You can recognize a Bossip headline instantly. For starters, they’re usually ten words too long, rife with clever alliteration and celebrity nicknames (that’s Ms. ‘soft-boiled ostrich egg’ Taylor Swift to you, okay?), and easily some of the most intriguing headlines you’ll ever want to click on. And The New York Times…
Charles J. Shields, author of 2006's Mockingbird: A Portrait of Harper Lee, believes that he’s uncovered a previously unknown article by the famously reclusive author, who passed away earlier this year. Shields told The Guardian that archival evidence suggests that Harper Lee was the author of an uncredited article in…
Brit Bennett is so bracingly talented on the page and so low-key lovely in person that I’ve never heard an untoward word about her, throughout and after the MFA program we entered at the same time—a period during which success (as marked by, say, a major book deal and a string of prestigious publications) goes from an…
At an April 2 conference held at Boston University, literary journalist Gay Talese remarked to his audience that he could not name a single woman writer who inspired him. Wow guy!
Two months ago, I quit the best job I ever had. At least, I’m sure that’s how it looks. Writing is one of those professions that automatically elicits people’s opinions about your work, and since quitting, I’ve encountered enough split-second pauses to develop a strong feeling that the decision makes me look either…
Shortly after 8 AM on Sunday, August 29, 2005, the levees protecting New Orleans from the water that surrounds it failed. By 9 AM, the city’s Lower Ninth Ward was underneath six to eight feet of water.
The Daily Beast’s John McWhorter–linguist, professor, political commentator—has written a concerned meditation on the future of writing composition in America, hinged loosely on the fact that Kim Kardashian’s tweets are not as literate as letters penned by Civil War soldiers.
Tao Lin, alt-lit mainstay, author of seven novels and contributor to Thought Catalog, Vice, The Stranger, and other publications has been accused of statutory rape and abuse by the person he dated when she was only 16 and he was 22.
Thought Catalog is a publishing platform that operates under the idea that "all thinking is relevant." Even disgustingly transphobic thought; even incoherent racist ramblings; even classist screeds; even dangerous pseudo-science; even pages upon pages of offensive, troll-y misogyny.
Have you given up on your dreams of writing the great American screenplay because the chances of being discovered by Hollywood are about as likely as finding Jimmy Hoffa working at your local Starbucks? Well, maybe you should dust off that typewriter (HA!) and give that story about a plucky young cop with a heart of…
Brilliant badass Alice Munro has won the 2013 Nobel Prize in Literature, the Nobel Committee announced today. The 82-year-old Canadian short story virtuoso was incredibly Canadian about the honor, remarking that she hopes her win will draw attention to other talented Canadian writers. Classier than Lena Horne serving…
"I occasionally do uncredited 'secret' rewrites on scripts. I like that, because then people who would ordinarily avoid my projects are tricked into buying tickets for films I’ve worked on. I entertain frat guys without their consent!" — Diablo Cody reveals seven things no one tells you about being a screenwriter.
If you're into books written by women (HAHAHAHAHAHAHA what's that) don't take University of Toronto professor David Gilmour's fiction class; he's "not interested" in teaching women authors (except Virginia Woolf, who somehow manages to entertain him). "What I teach is guys," he says. "Serious heterosexual guys." Got…
THE U.S. NAVY ANNOUNCED TUESDAY THAT THEY WILL NO LONGER TRANSMIT INTERNAL COMMUNICATIONS IN ALL-CAPS. LOWERCASE MESSAGES, THEY SAID, "PROVIDE A MORE READABLE FORMAT" AND ARE "HERE TO STAY." LOWERCASE MESSAGES ARE THE FUTURE. ALL-CAPS CAN SUCK IT.
One weird thing about being a professional writer is that a lot of people seem to think your job is fake. Up until a couple of years ago, people said shit like this to me all the time: "Oh, you do your little jokes in the newspaper, right? Maybe you can help me write some jokes for my favorite geology professor's…
A worth-your-while New York Times profile of Shonda Rhimes — creator of Grey's Anatomy and Scandal — is chock-full of awesome.
After recently opting to read part of Paradise Lost instead of her own (relatively) brand-new novel, See Now Then, at PEN’s World Voices Festival of International Literature, Jamaica Kincaid talked to The American Reader about her career, as in, how it has been so awesome that she can get up onstage and read a little…
Want to write about someone taking a steamy dump on your chesticles? Well, you're in luck, because E.L. James is set to release a journal/how-to book that schools you in the fine art of leaving it all on the page. You'll scribble down the desires of your inner goddess in an instructional novela that's sure to set your…
In a lengthy, worth-your-while essay, Amy Boesky reminisces on the six years she spent ghostwriting Sweet Valley High books. Boesky was a poet and a graduate student in literature at Oxford before she attended a life-changing dinner party and was introduced to SVH creator Francine Pascal.
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