Amanda Hesser. Photo by Marissa Bell Toffoli (2010).
An introduction to the editor of The Essential New York Times Cookbook: Classic Recipes for a New Century (WW Norton & Company, 2010), and author of the award-winning Cooking for Mr. Latte. Amanda Hesser is a food columnist and editor for the New York Times. She is also the co-founder of food52.com, an online community and recipe database for food lovers and cooks. Read the rest of this entry »
Mike Madrid. Photo by Marissa Bell Toffoli (2010).
An introduction to the author of The SUPERGIRLS: Fashion, Feminism, Fantasy, & the History of Comic Book Heroines (Exterminating Angel Press, 2009). Readers of Mike Madrid’s The SUPERGIRLS will note that the discussion moves forward chronologically by decade, from the 1940s through “2000 and Beyond.” As pop culture editor for the Exterminating Angel Press online magazine, Madrid divulged, “I tend to always think of things in terms of other things. For instance, movies in terms of music, comics in terms of movies, or comics in terms of fashion, and how these things reflect certain decades.” He added, “everything seems to be referencing something else. Images in magazines are someone shot to look like someone from the fifties, celebrities get described as ‘the new so and so,’ and things like that. People don’t seem to want surprises anymore, and I find that sad.” Whether in the role of writer or editor, Madrid is a critical thinker, which makes his first book an entertaining and educational read.
Christopher Aslan Alexander. Photo courtesy of CA Alexander.
An introduction to the author of A Carpet Ride To Khiva: Seven Years on the Silk Road (Totem Books, 2010). Christopher Aslan Alexander originally traveled to the walled city of Khiva, Uzbekistan to write a guidebook. He fell in love with the city, and stayed to work with UNESCO to develop a traditional, fair trade carpet-weaving workshop. In this interview Alexander mentions, “I had no prior experience with carpet weaving or carpet history before I went to Khiva, and yet, somewhere along the line, I became an expert.” A Carpet Ride to Khiva chronicles his adventure.
Brian Switek. Photo by Tracey Switek (2010).
An introduction to the author of Written in Stone: Evolution, the Fossil Record, and Our Place in Nature (Bellevue Literary Press), which releases this November. Brian Switek is also the author of the science blog Laelaps and Smithsonian magazine’s Dinosaur Tracking.
Mary Roach. Photo by Marissa Bell Toffoli (2010).
An introduction to the author of Stiff, Spook, Bonk, and most recently, Packing for Mars. Mary Roach began her career as a freelance copy editor, and went on to research and write articles for magazines and journals. While writing is her business, she admitted it can be a lonely one: “Writing can be such a solitary pursuit. Sometimes I go to writing conferences just because I think it would be fun to spend time with other writers.”
Oren Harman. Photo by Marissa Bell Toffoli (2010).
An introduction to the author of the new book The Price of Altruism: George Price and the Search for the Origins of Kindness (WW Norton & Company). Harman is also the chair of the Program in Science, Technology, and Society at Bar Ilan University in Israel. Read the rest of this entry »
Logan & Noah Miller. Photo by Marissa Bell Toffoli (2010).
An introduction to the brothers who wrote the book Either You’re In Or You’re In the Way about writing, directing, editing, and starring in the independent film Touching Home. Read the full interview with Logan & Noah Miller on Suite101.com. (First published on Suite101.com in April 2010.) Read the rest of this entry »
My name is Marissa Bell Toffoli. A writer and reader, I spend lots of time with books, and then more time thinking about those books and the words that fill their pages. I am interested in what writers are working on, how they think about writing, and how writing fits ... Continue reading
Words With Writers 