elliott holt

danchaon: Nina Katchadourian’s Sorted Book Project via io9

Mon, 20 May 2013 19:12:00 -0400

Nina Katchadourian’s Sorted Book Project via io9

Spy Games Make Hollywood Blink

Sat, 18 May 2013 10:14:00 -0400

Joel Fields, an executive producer of “The Americans,” talks wigs, compasses and spy craft, and how the arrest of an American in Russia looks a lot like the espionage portrayed on the television show.

Author Elliott Holt says: 'Go West, Young Woman' : NPR

Sat, 18 May 2013 09:22:00 -0400

Author Elliott Holt says: 'Go West, Young Woman' : NPR:

In this Q&A, author Elliott Holt discusses her six favorite novels about expatriates. She also talks about what it’s like to be in your 20s, and the importance of travel and exploration.

My original list of “expat fiction” had ten titles including GIOVANNI’S ROOM by James Baldwin (highly recommended if you haven’t read it) but NPR.org edited it down to six books. And it’s funny reading a transcript of a phone interview because I can see all my weird conversational tics!

Sorry, writers: turns out loneliness can kill you.

Fri, 17 May 2013 20:16:32 -0400

Sorry, writers: turns out loneliness can kill you.

Man, I’ll miss Stefon. Bill Hader — who is leaving...

Fri, 17 May 2013 15:11:45 -0400

Man, I’ll miss Stefon.

Bill Hader — who is leaving Saturday Night Live after eight years this weekend — on his audition for the show:

I remember getting in the elevator for my audition and there was a guy next to me who had a backpack full of props and wigs and things, and I went, ‘Oh, my God, that guy is so prepared, I have nothing, I have no props.’ And that was Andy Samberg. And Andy Samberg said he was looking at me going, ‘Oh, that guy has no props. He doesn’t need props.’ And that was the first time we met, was in that elevator.

"‘When you think of Russia, what do you think?’ she said. ‘What do you mean?’ I said. ‘First thing..."

Thu, 16 May 2013 19:59:00 -0400

“‘When you think of Russia, what do you think?’ she said.

‘What do you mean?’ I said.

‘First thing that walks into your mind when I say Russia.’

‘The KGB,’ I said.

‘Kak interesno. This is what most Americans say,’ she said. ‘People come here and expect to see the spies. This is brand association.’

‘It’s not a brand,’ I said. ‘It’s your country.’

‘USA is a brand,’ she said. ‘Your government is selling itself as Land of Free, da? Here in Russia we must—how do you call it?—reposition ourselves.’

…

‘You said I should come to Moscow to learn the truth,’ I said.

‘Ah, truth. You Americans love the truth.’ She leaned back in her chair and cracked her neck. ‘I think it is the favorite word—after freedom, of course. You want the truth, and you ask for it like the eggs you order for breakfast. Today I want my truth sunny side up! And tomorrow hard-boiled. And then sometimes it is scrambled. And you congratulate yourself for ordering this truth, because you think asking for it is what matters. But what is truth? Pravda? No, Pravda is a newspaper. We understand that there is not one truth. There is your truth and my truth….’”

- Elliott Holt, You Are One of Them

Maybe I’m a little obsessed with thoughts of the American Dream lately. Maybe this character is right, though, and maybe this book is excellent.

(via mllehazelwood)

Throwback Thursday contest

Thu, 16 May 2013 10:04:00 -0400

My forthcoming novel You Are One of Them is set in the 1980s in Washington, D.C., and the 1990s in Moscow.

In honor of our collective nostalgia for those decades, I’m giving away 10 free copies of the book. To enter the contest, just post a photograph of yourself from the 1980s or the 1990s on twitter, tumblr or instagram and tag it #tbt (that’s short for Throwback Thursday) and #youareoneofthem.

Post your pictures between now and next Thursday, May 23, when I’ll share my five favorite photos here on my tumblr. And ten people will win free copies of You Are One of Them.

(The photo above is of my mother and me in Ethiopia in 1988.)

"What is it we’re looking for in Moscow? During the Cold War, some 40 percent of the CIA was..."

Wed, 15 May 2013 15:47:56 -0400

“What is it we’re looking for in Moscow? During the Cold War, some 40 percent of the CIA was dedicated to spying on the Soviet Union. One old hand described meeting a woman whose full-time job at the Agency was tracking the canned-goods industry in the USSR. Since the end of the Cold War over two decades ago, counter-terrorism has become the priority, and Russia has become, for the most part, just another country. These days, we’re mostly concerned with Russia’s still well-stocked nuclear arsenal and their counterterrorism operations in the volatile North Caucasus.”

- The Spy Who Shot Himself in the Foot by Julia Ioffe (via thenewrepublic)

from Paper Mag’s May issue: “I have expensive taste...

Wed, 15 May 2013 09:49:00 -0400

from Paper Mag’s May issue:

“I have expensive taste in paper,” says writer Elliott Holt of the personalized stationery she orders annually from London. “I write thank-you notes. You have to pick your own font. Mine feels very ‘me.’”

But Holt also has an interest in more contemporary forms of communication: Already a winner of the Pushcart Prize for short fiction, she drew attention during last fall’s inaugural Twitter Fiction festival when she tweeted a murder mystery from three discrete fictional accounts. Her first novel You Are One Of Them comes out this summer and hinges on different forms of correspondence.

“Email was still a novelty in 1995,” Holt writes in You Are One of Them, before carefully re-creating the new technology’s strangeness. As she says now, “You could never have imagined the way our notions of connectivity would change with e-mail. International borders break down. And of course, our notions of identity changed, too. It’s a lot easier to impersonate someone online.”

annaverity: General Book Recommendation: You Are One of Them by...

Mon, 13 May 2013 21:04:30 -0400

annaverity:

General Book Recommendation: You Are One of Them by Elliott Holt, which will be published on May 30th.

Sarah Zuckerman and Jennifer Jones are best friends in an upscale part of Washington, D.C., in the politically charged 1980s. Sarah is the shy, wary product of an unhappy home: her father abandoned the family to return to his native England; her agoraphobic mother is obsessed with fears of nuclear war. Jenny is an all-American girl who has seemingly perfect parents. With Cold War rhetoric reaching a fever pitch in 1982, the ten-year-old girls write letters to Soviet premier Yuri Andropov asking for peace. But only Jenny’s letter receives a response, and Sarah is left behind when her friend accepts the Kremlin’s invitation to visit the USSR and becomes an international media sensation. The girls’ icy relationship still hasn’t thawed when Jenny and her parents die tragically in a plane crash in 1985.

Ten years later, Sarah is about to graduate from college when she receives a mysterious letter from Moscow suggesting that Jenny’s death might have been a hoax. She sets off to the former Soviet Union in search of the truth, but the more she delves into her personal Cold War history, the harder it is to separate facts from propaganda.

You Are One of Them is a taut, moving debut about the ways in which we define ourselves against others and the secrets we keep from those who are closest to us. In her insightful forensic of a mourned friendship, Holt illuminates the long lasting sting of abandonment and the measures we take to bring back those we have lost.

I started reading it yesterday, and I’ve been firmly engrossed ever since, and I’ll likely finish reading it tonight unless I fall asleep first. (Hiking has me feeling very tired.) As for what I’m loving about this book: the voice, the settings (geographic and historic), the mystery, the descriptions of Washington D.C. and of pre-teen friendship and of family, and the cover, which seems to be this strange optical illusion of looking like a Victorian era woman in a giant hat until I look more closely and see that nope, she’s definitely living in the late 20th century.

Thanks for reading!

“You’re going to have to answer to the Coca-Cola...

Wed, 08 May 2013 09:36:00 -0400

“You’re going to have to answer to the Coca-Cola company!”

One of my favorite scenes from Stanley Kubrick’s brilliant dark comedy, “Dr. Strangelove or: How I Learned to Stop Worrying and Love the Bomb.” (Related: I love Peter Sellers.)

You’ll find a little profile of me in the May issue of...

Tue, 07 May 2013 20:08:00 -0400

You’ll find a little profile of me in the May issue of Paper Mag. This is the cover.

papermag:

Introducing our May cover stars…The Lonely Island! Here’s why we think Andy, Jorma and Akiva still rule the Internet.

In the gazebo of the Bishop’s Garden at the National Cathedral...

Sat, 04 May 2013 15:13:00 -0400

In the gazebo of the Bishop’s Garden at the National Cathedral during Flower Mart.

Bronze Crowd, 1990-91, by Marina Abakanowicz. Nasher Sculpture...

Fri, 03 May 2013 23:26:51 -0400

Bronze Crowd, 1990-91, by Marina Abakanowicz. Nasher Sculpture Center Garden, Dallas.

Not a question, but just found out your book is the May Rumpus Book Club selection. Congratulations! Excited to read it. I always love it when a book I have tagged on my 'upcoming books to read list' is selected.

Fri, 03 May 2013 13:09:29 -0400

I hope you enjoy reading it! I look forward to the Rumpus Book Club chat (online) on May 28.

With A.M. Homes (one of my favorite writers and people) at the...

Thu, 02 May 2013 09:41:00 -0400

With A.M. Homes (one of my favorite writers and people) at the PEN Literary Gala at the American Museum of Natural History on April 30. (PEN is a wonderful organization, dedicated to protecting free expression around the world.)

This is the poem (by e.e. cummings) that I read at my...

Sat, 27 Apr 2013 16:05:00 -0400

This is the poem (by e.e. cummings) that I read at my mother’s memorial service 8 years ago.

Diederik Stapelâs Audacious Academic Fraud

Sat, 27 Apr 2013 15:42:00 -0400

Diederik Stapelâs Audacious Academic Fraud:

Diederik Stapel, a Dutch social psychologist, perpetrated an audacious academic fraud by making up studies that told the world what it wanted to hear about human nature.

“’It was a quest for aesthetics, for beauty — instead of the truth,’ he said.”

My mother died 8 years ago today. Here I am with her when I was...

Sat, 27 Apr 2013 11:18:00 -0400

My mother died 8 years ago today. Here I am with her when I was three.

Miriam Berkley took this picture of me and my dog (rest in...

Tue, 16 Apr 2013 23:48:00 -0400

Miriam Berkley took this picture of me and my dog (rest in peace, dear friend) last fall at the Brooklyn Book Festival.

http://www.miriamberkley.com/

elliott holt

danchaon: Nina Katchadourian’s Sorted Book Project via io9

Spy Games Make Hollywood Blink

Author Elliott Holt says: 'Go West, Young Woman' : NPR

Sorry, writers: turns out loneliness can kill you.

Man, I’ll miss Stefon. Bill Hader — who is leaving...

"‘When you think of Russia, what do you think?’ she said. ‘What do you mean?’ I said. ‘First thing..."

Throwback Thursday contest

"What is it we’re looking for in Moscow? During the Cold War, some 40 percent of the CIA was..."

from Paper Mag’s May issue: “I have expensive taste...

annaverity: General Book Recommendation: You Are One of Them by...

“You’re going to have to answer to the Coca-Cola...

You’ll find a little profile of me in the May issue of...

In the gazebo of the Bishop’s Garden at the National Cathedral...

Bronze Crowd, 1990-91, by Marina Abakanowicz. Nasher Sculpture...

Not a question, but just found out your book is the May Rumpus Book Club selection. Congratulations! Excited to read it. I always love it when a book I have tagged on my 'upcoming books to read list' is selected.

With A.M. Homes (one of my favorite writers and people) at the...

This is the poem (by e.e. cummings) that I read at my...

Diederik Stapelâs Audacious Academic Fraud

My mother died 8 years ago today. Here I am with her when I was...

Miriam Berkley took this picture of me and my dog (rest in...

Diederik Stapelâs Audacious Academic Fraud