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The New York Times has a nice article in which Haruki Murakami discusses his childhood and explains his musical inspiration for his writing

I never had any intention of becoming a novelist — at least not until I turned 29. This is absolutely true.

Practically everything I know about writing, then, I learned from music. It may sound paradoxical to say so, but if I had not been so obsessed with music, I might not have become a novelist. Even now, almost 30 years later, I continue to learn a great deal about writing from good music.

Guardian profiles Chinua Achebe, one of the most widely read authors of the 20th century and often regarded as "the father of modern African literature".

Through his early years this goodly Christianity was life as he assumed it should be. Villagers in Ogidi who remained aloof from the church were considered "lost" by his family. "We called them the people of nothing," says Achebe.

But as he grew older he puzzled over the fact that others, especially an uncle who resisted conversion, were leading different lives. They would hold "heathen" celebrations and offer food to "idols", as his parents...

Rayyan Al-Shawaf, a writer and freelance reviewer takes an exhaustive look at Beirut and its connection to books and literature

That the atmosphere in Lebanon is significantly freer makes all the difference insofar as the annual book fair is concerned, as well as that of the general state of publishing. Not only are censorship laws relatively lax, but cultural norms tend toward the liberal on the subject of freedom of expression. Direct criticism of Islam and Christianity and their respective symbols is theoretically prohibited, and a few specific works that question the orthodox religious historiography of either religion or assail...

The New Criterion profiles Paul Valéry

(...) on the night of October 4, 1892, in Genoa, Valéry had a vision, an epiphany, one doesn’t quite know what to term it, but on that night he decided to forego a standard literary career and instead concentrate his intellectual power on what one can only call pure thought. (He later wrote that “there are few poets who do not go through a fundamental crisis between the ages of twenty and thirty, one in which the destiny of their gift is at stake.”) He wanted to know how thought works, what it is...

We have moved continents with our treasured books and would balk over any suggestion to get rid of books but I am sure there are a lot of people out there who have a lot more books than us and who may feel the need to get rid of some of them occasionally. New York Times has a good piece on how to get rid of books in a less painful manner.

Used-book stores are another good choice. Fred Bass, who has run the Strand bookstore in Manhattan for the last 45 years, said business was booming. He does not...

John Hartley Williams profiling Malcolm Lowry, describes him as the " unsurpassed chronicler of humanity's lower depths."

More than most writers, the circumstances of Malcolm Lowry's death are peculiarly relevant to a consideration of his work, since excess of every kind was both his method and his subject.

Was it advanced alcoholism that eventually killed him? His great, tragic novel Under the Volcano, recounts the last day in the life of a drunkard, ending with his murder and the contemptuous disposal of his corpse into a ravine in Mexico.

Tim Dowling writing on the fraught business of the dedication at The Guardian states

The dedication began life as a display of fawning gratitude towards a patron, sometimes in direct exchange for cash. Shakespeare is said to have received £1,000 for two particularly obsequious dedications to the Earl of Southampton. As writers came to rely less on patronage, the personal dedication - to peer, mentor or loved one - became fashionable. Boswell's dedication to Sir Joshua Reynolds in the first volume of A Life of Johnson ("My Dear Sir, Every liberal motive that can actuate ...

I get odd looks once in a while when people see the SF book that I carry with me ever so often. I guess they must be wondering as to what a "grown up" man is doing with such a book. From my point of view, it is they who are missing out on a great book if they have preconceived notions on what should not be read just because it is branded a particular genre.

Recently some SF admirers and self-appointed protectors of the 'genre' have been waging a 'holy war' against authors whose books they think are SF materials...

Nick Antosca has penned a nice article on writing the first novel and more importantly publishing it independently.

Here is what having a first novel published is like: it’s like having a child via particularly complicated headbirth and feeling proud but then forgetting the child exists until, several years later, you notice a small cluster of people standing around it cooing and saying aw, while all around them other crowds have gathered to admire other children. At least that’s been my experience.

Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie writing in Washington Post, remembers the desks where she learned to write

In 1997, I left home to attend college in America. When I returned four years later with the final page proofs of my first novel, my parents had put a desk in my room. It was square and sturdy, and I spread out my page proofs and edited and marked them there. Two years later, when I returned to work on my second novel, my parents had installed an air conditioner; the lights blinked when I turned it on. I transcribed interviews and edited old...