I COME ACROSS THIS PHOTO, of a weekly paper I started in Cleveland, every now and then when I’m looking for something else. 1984 it says. First issue. Greg Paul who worked in design at the ‘Plain Dealer’ designed it. He designed ‘cityReader’ too. Tom Simon took the photos. The late Michael Drexler wrote the cover story. RIP.

 

I ALWAYS KEEP 2 cityReaders folded in my hip pocket when I go out in case I see someone I think might like it. Quixotic maybe.

 

Author Michael Rosen wins 2023 PEN Pinter prize for ‘fearless’ body of work

Writer of We’re Going on a Bear Hunt is a ‘passionate linguist, gifted humanist, national treasure and ambassador of gibberish’

https://www.theguardian.com/books/2023/jun/28/author-michael-rosen-wins-2023-pen-pinter-prize-for-fearless-body-of-work

 

Why we love The Novel Neighbor in St. Louis: A look inside the independent bookstore (from USA TODAY):

https://apple.news/ARB88F7E1TdCOQUD1jVTe6A

 

Bookforum Is Returning, Months After Its Closure Was Mourned in the Literary World

The literary magazine will be back in print in August, with a new publishing partner: The Nation.

https://www.nytimes.com/2023/06/22/books/booksupdate/bookforum-the-nation.html?smid=nytcore-ios-share&referringSource=articleShare

 

REREADING BOB DYLAN’S ‘Chronicles (volume one)’ after 25+ years, I noticed this comment about the Beatles:

…The radio was on from beyond a wall and the sound was coming through in static. The Beatles were singing, "Do You Want to Know a Secret." They were so easy to accept, so solid. I remembered when they first came out. They offered intimacy and companionship like no other group. Their songs would create an empire. It seemed like a long time ago.

"Do You Want to Know a Secret." A perfect '50s sappy love ballad and nobody but them could do it. Somehow there was nothing wussy about it…

‘I dread to think what they’d make of it on Dragons’ Den’: how poetry journals survive

Butcher’s Dog magazine was set to close this year, but readers have rallied to fund a year’s reprieve. It’s one of many to get by with few resources but love (from ‘The Guardian’):

https://www.theguardian.com/books/2023/jun/20/how-poetry-journals-survive