This post was written by Friday guest blogger Annie Reid.

Vanessa Redgrave to do a one-woman show of Joan Didion’s Year of Magical Thinking! A thoroughly swoonable combination.

 

Peter Carey is inteviewed at the Independent, and snaps at yet another reporter asking about his ex-wife.

 

Joseph Bednarik, marketing director of Copper Canyon Press, wonders how we might turn an ever-proliferating pool of MFAs into a resource to bolster the ever-diminishing market for literary fiction (Via Bookninja).

 

Over at the Guardian, Matthew Pearl presents his top ten books inspired by the writing of Edgar Allen Poe. No word yet on the eagerly awaited list of top ten pizzas inspired by Edgar Allen Poe.

 

Pen names: sometimes it’s not good when your cover gets blown. Like when you’re a children’s author who starts writing hard-core erotica.

 

Janet Maslin on why some books – including The Da Vinci Code – don’t necessarily make good movies. Or good books, even. But great tools for making a bazillion dollars, anyway.

 

• The life expectancy of bestsellers has plummeted in recent decades (Via BoingBoing).