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The daily lowdown on books, publishing, and the occasional author behaving badly.

Amtrak has announced the inaugural class of its brand-new writers residency program. Out of a crop of some 16,000 applications, the railroad service has picked just 24 writers to ride the rails on a long-distance train — and to write while they do so.


The announcement has been nearly a year in the making, taking a steady but winding route from conception to completion. The residency began as a brief wish spoken by author Alexander Chee in 

 from Jessica Gross, soon ran as a test case — and an article in 

 — and finally arrived at the two-dozen applicants now chosen, partly by Chee himself, who served on 

.
The group ranges from a doctoral candidate at work on his dissertation (Korey Garibaldi) to a former spy for the CIA (Lindsay Moran), from a noted film critic (Lisa Schwarzbaum) to even a regular NPR contributor (Glen Weldon). You can see the full list of residents 

Neil Gaiman describes what it's like to arrive late to an interview with Terry Pratchett — and the simmering anger it exposed in the otherwise kindly, prolific writer. In his introduction to Pratchett's nonfiction collection 

, Gaiman speaks of Pratchett's distinctive style:


Zimiri Yaseen has a quiet, sweet — and brief — 

 about a son and his stroke-stricken father, just out in 

. It reads: "like a giant clam taking a deep sea breath, i imagine, his fingers slowly unfurled. then i would slap at his dry palm and the fingers would close, slowly."


Slate and the Whiting Foundation are collaborating to give second novels a bit of a boost. Citing the disappointment or neglect that often dogs novelists' sophomore efforts, 

 that the Slate/Whiting Second Novel List, also called "We Second That," isn't exactly another prize, so much as it is a means of encouragement and publicity: "Is this an award? No, not really. It's akin to being retweeted by your literary idol, or finding out that the classmate you have a crush on thinks you're cute. A mash note from the cosmos!"
The list of five novels will be announced Nov. 19, followed by a week of essays featuring each book in turn.  Copyright 2019 NPR. To see more, visit https://www.npr.org.

Colin Dwyer

Author

Out of a crop of 16,000 applications, the railroad service picked 24 writers to write while they ride a long-distance train.

Book news: Amtrak unveils writers picked for a residency on the rails

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