How Authors Came To Cast Themselves In Their Fiction

“[H]ere we were, writing in an era obsessed with celebrity and reality shows, where the first question readers and journalists nearly always threw at us was, ‘How much of this novel was based on your own personal experiences?’ At which point we faced the contemporary writer’s dilemma–we could be only one of two possible things: a liar or a bore.”

Russian Curators Avoid Imprisonment

“The case of Yuri Samodurov and Andrei Yerofeyev has been closely watched by human rights activists. The decision by a Moscow court could sidestep the possibility of an international outcry over imprisoning the two respected art-world figures, but is unlikely to stem concerns about the growing influence of the church and the specter of Soviet-style censorship returning.”

Our Culture Is Changing. No Wonder We’re Disoriented

“I think our difficulty, as consumers and commentators, is that this is a period of astonishing, and disorienting, change. A cultural road map at least 100 years old has been torn up in the past decade, and we are still trying to navigate without it – or with the piece of it we happen to be clutching. Making sense of cultural change is hard to do at the best of times. With not even a functioning atlas, it’s doubly hard.”

San Francisco’s ACT Names Ellen Richard Exec. Director

“Richard comes to ACT after having led New York’s relatively small Roundabout Theatre Company from bankruptcy to Broadway. During her 22 years as general manager, the Roundabout grew to become one of the nation’s largest and most successful nonprofit theater companies, with three theaters – including Broadway’s American Airlines Theatre – and assets in excess of $67 million. She received six Tony Awards.”