- Amalie Noether, little-known mathematical genius: "For her part, Noether left little record of how she felt about the difficulties she faced as a woman, or of her personal and emotional life generally. She never married, and if she had love affairs she didn’t trumpet them. After meeting the young Czech math star Olga Taussky in 1930, Noether told friends how happy she was that women were finally gaining acceptance in the field, but she herself had so few female students that her many devoted pupils were known around town as Noether’s boys."
- A new story by the fabulous Nancy Hightower, "Evangelical Wonderland."
- Every time I hear more about The Diviners, I seriously can't wait. Libba Bray interviewed at Booklist online: "Coming very soon is The Diviners (September 18th, 2012), the first book in a four-book, supernatural series set in 1920’s New York City. This one has jazz babies, speakeasies, shadowy conspiracy, a creepy museum, ghosts, Follies showgirls, rakish pickpockets, political intrigue and all manner of things that go bump in the neon-drenched night." Yes, please.
- Jane Friedman talks to Avery Monsen and Jory John about book publicity.
- Justine's delightful "I'll know I've made it as a writer when…" is, well, delightful. And so true. Oh, our neuroses, they contain multitudes.
- Lev Grossman on public speaking.
- E. Lockhart saves The Sisters Brothers. Yay! A very entertaining decision to read, plus bonus excellent conversation from the commentators, joined by Max and Carolyn, who talk about what makes a book jump out of the reviewer stack. (I so agree–it's the promise of surprise, something (at least a bit) different than the rest.)
- I certainly hope this is true too (for *cough* Blackwood's sake *cough* since it's both).
- Holly posts her daily word counts from the writing of the new middle grade novel she just finished, Doll Bones. I love these posts so much. In fact, I love the whole idea so much I just started keeping a daily word count file for the new book I'm writing. Hard to cheat or live in denial when you have to look at it every day and explain why if it's lower than it should be.