Posts From Author: Month: October 2017

Seriously Questioning…Julie Scelfo

Julie Scelfo is a former staff writer/current contributor to The New York Times, where her stories about society and human behavior reframe popular ideas and ask us to rethink our basic assumptions. Scelfo has contributed to The St. James Encyclopedia of Popular Culture, Ad Nauseam: A Survivor’s Guide to American Consumer Culture and her work has also appeared in Salon, Oprah’s O Magazine, Epicurious, Time Out New York and LitHub. Scelfo’s most recent work is The Women Who Made New York. On November 1, she will be speaking at House of SpeakEasy’s Seriously Entertaining show, Fear Itself alongside Rachel Eliza Griffiths, David Kilcullen, and Lev Grossman (tickets). We spoke to Julie ahead of the show…   Name: Julie Scelfo What is your earliest memory involving reading or writing? For a reason I can’t explain, I still remember a haiku I wrote in elementary school: A butterfly flies. Out goes its beautiful wings. It flutters away What advice would you give to aspiring writers? I would never advise someone to be a journalist unless they have no choice. You only do this because you have to. What writer, past or present, do you wish you could eat dinner with? James Baldwin. Duh! Anais Nin, Alice Walker, Gloria Jean Watkins […]
Read More

Seriously Questioning…Lev Grossman

Lev Grossman is the author of Warp, Codex, and The Magicians series, the first of which was one The New Yorker‘s best books of the year. The Magicians books have now been published in twenty-five countries. Grossman was both the lead technology writer and the book critic for Time magazine for fifteen years, from 2002 through 2016, and The New York Times described him as “among this country’s smartest and reliable critics.” On November 1, he will be speaking at House of SpeakEasy’s Seriously Entertaining show, Fear Itself alongside David Kilcullen, Julie Scelfo, and Rachel Eliza Griffiths (tickets). We spoke to Lev ahead of the show… Name: Lev Grossman What is your earliest memory involving reading or writing? The first thing I can remember reading is the immortal Ant and Bee Go Shopping. I wanted so badly to taste the plums they put in those neat clear boxes. I still do. What is your favorite first line of a novel? Off the top of my head, I’ll give it to M.T. Anderson’s Feed: “We went to the moon to have fun, but the moon turned out to completely suck.” What are you reading right now? I’m re-reading Hilary Mantel’s Bring Up the Bodies. Also Alan Moore’s Watchmen. If you […]
Read More

Seriously Questioning…Rachel Eliza Griffiths

Rachel Eliza Griffiths is a poet and photographer. She received the MFA in Creative Writing from Sarah Lawrence College. A Cave Canem and Kimbilio Fellow, she is the recipient of fellowships including Yaddo, Provincetown Fine Arts Work Center, Cave Canem Foundation, Vermont Studio Center, The Millay Colony, and others. In 2011, Griffiths appeared in the first ever poetry issue in Oprah’s O Magazine. Griffiths is the author of Miracle Arrhythmia (Willow Books 2010) and The Requited Distance (The Sheep Meadow Press 2011). Griffiths’ third collection of poetry, Mule & Pear (New Issues Poetry & Prose 2011), was selected for the 2012 Inaugural Poetry Award by the Black Caucus of the American Library Association. Her most recent full-length poetry collection is Lighting the Shadow (Four Way Books 2015), which was a finalist for the 2015 Balcones Poetry Prize and the 2016 Phillis Wheatley Book Award in Poetry.   On November 1, she will be speaking at House of SpeakEasy’s Seriously Entertaining show, Fear Itself alongside David Kilcullen, Julie Scelfo, and Lev Grossman (tickets). We spoke to Rachel Eliza ahead of the show…   Name: Rachel Eliza Griffiths What is your favorite line from your current work? “We can’t deserve more.” What is your favorite first line of a […]
Read More

Seriously Questioning…David Kilcullen

David Kilcullen is the Chairman of Caerus Associates. Before founding Caerus, he was Special Advisor to the Secretary of State from 2007-2009 and Senior Advisor to General David Petraeus in Iraq in 2007. He is the author of bestselling books The Accidental Guerrilla, Counterinsurgency and Out of the Mountains. His most recent book is The Blood Year: The Unraveling of Western Counterterrorism. On November 1, he will be speaking at House of SpeakEasy’s Seriously Entertaining show, Fear Itself alongside Rachel Eliza Griffiths, Julie Scelfo, and Lev Grossman (tickets). We spoke to David ahead of the show…   Name: David Kilcullen What is your favorite first line of a novel? “He lay flat on the brown, pine-needled floor of the forest, his chin on his folded arms, and high overhead the wind blew in the tops of the pine trees.” –For Whom the Bell Tolls, Ernest Hemingway, 1941 What advice would you give to aspiring writers? Write what you know, what you see first hand, and what people tell you, directly, in their own words. What writer, past or present, do you wish you could eat dinner with? William Gibson What are you reading right now? I always have a lot of books on the go at once, and always a mix […]
Read More