Margaret Atwood seems to have a knack for bringing out new novels just as some catclysmic event in real life makes her book seem all the more immediately relevant. So it should come as no surprise that her latest book, a non-fiction companion to a Toronto lecture series, is called “Payback: Debt and the Shadow Side of Wealth.”
Tag: 10.07.08
Former Simpsons’ Writer Wins Thurber Prize
“Larry Doyle, a former television writer-producer for “The Simpsons,” was named Monday the winner of this year’s Thurber Prize for American Humor. He was cited for the novel I Love You, Beth Cooper… Previous winners include Jon Stewart, David Sedaris and Christopher Buckley.”
Will Aging Visionaries Save Us From Ourselves?
It’s a young man’s world, especially in the entrepreneurial arts, but Clive Thompson says that, given the crises we’re currently facing, we would do well to turn our attention to what the venerable figures of the business world are saying. “Young founders hack information; old founders hack atoms. But we’re moving to a world where we need more and more of the latter.”
Design Museum Announces Major Renovation
“Having already finished more than half of the fund-raising, the Cooper-Hewitt National Design Museum plans to begin work in January on the renovation and expansion of its ornate [Manhattan] mansion. The project is aimed at energizing the Cooper-Hewitt, regarded in recent years as a somewhat sleepy institution, by carving out space for more ambitious shows and the display of works from its permanent collection.”
Remixing Obama/McCain ’08
A trio of artists in Boston is presenting live “remixes” of the presidential debates at the city’s new Institute of Contemporary Art. “For the members of Sosolimited, their remix, called “ReConstitution 2008,” is an act both of political engagement and mischief, examining the language of politics while gently mocking its repetitious nature with a kind of scorecard.”
Paul Taylor Company Loses Long-Term Lease On Its Home
“The company is scrambling to find new space that a nonprofit organization can afford. The search is complicated by the special needs of a dance company. Dance studios need to have wide-open areas without columns, and the ceilings must be at least 14 feet high, to preserve the foreheads of dancers being lifted into the air.”
Saatchi Opens Another Big Ambitious New Gallery
“Saatchi has clearly spent a small fortune – one which he refuses to put a figure on publicly – and has been involved in all aspects of the building and the art in it. He was there yesterday despite the presence of so many of the types he normally tries to avoid: journalists. But exactly where, was another question.”
British Novelist Feels Pressure To “Dumb Down”
Margaret Drabble, one of Britain’s leading novelists and biographers, believes her publishers are pushing her to “dumb down” her work to appeal to a larger readership.
Geneticist: Human Evolution Has Stopped
Human evolution is grinding to a halt because of a shortage of older fathers in the West, according to a leading genetics expert. “Quite unexpectedly, we have dropped the human mutation rate because of a change in reproductive patterns.”