Lit up

Today's basket of literary-themed material:

Big Zadie Smith interview with the AP, courtesy GalleyCat, which seems suddenly to have taken a drug that has multiplied the number of postings.

It shocked the Northern Calif. literary world when Kepler's, a venerable indy bookstore, closed last month. Now fans and investors have managed to reopen the Peninsula institution, which serves not only the local community around Stanford but much of Silicon Valley as well.

In the U.K., a well-known children's author was speaking to a school group of 11-12 year olds and used the word "bum," meaning butt. Next thing he knew, he was given the bum's rush. Style points subtracted for the author comparing the school's reaction to Orwell's 1984.

U.K. litmag Granta sold to a wealthy philanthopist.

For another author's tale of how she got published, see this entry in Alex Chee's blog.