Christopher Hitchens: “One should try to write as if posthumously.”

by Maria Popova

Hitch on death, public opinion, and freedom from inhibition.

Exactly a week ago today, the world lost Christopher Hitchens and cried a chorus of mourning. On June 4, 2010, three days before he became gravely ill, Hitchens took the stage at The New York Public Library’s excellent LIVE series (one of the many reasons I support NYPL monthly) to discuss his newly published memoir, Hitch 22. In this excerpt from his conversation with NYPL’s Paul Holdengräber, hair-raising in retrospect, Hitchens discussed the duality of his relationship with death, both a fiend of fear and a frontier of freedom.

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Lifestyle Bundles & High Speed Printing: The Future of Book Publishing Roundtable

Today we joined a small group of industry leaders and  journalists at the Future of Book Publishing Roundtable at the New York Public Library. The guest list ranged from publishing executives to bookstore professionals to self-publishing experts to authors.

Hosted by Chris Verlander, Kodak’s director of book segment marketing (pictured), the panel discussion was moderated by Jim Milliot, the editorial director at Publisher’s Weekly. Here are some highlights from the wide-ranging discussion….read more