Brooklyn Books It
There are people in Brooklyn who write books, according to an article in this week’s Observer, a phenomenon that has resulted in a “literary community.” The piece, which is actually thoughtful, includes a “somewhat arbitrary” “Brooklyn Literary 100” broken down by neighborhood. According to the list, the most literary neighborhood is the Slope, which boasts…
There are people in Brooklyn who write books, according to an article in this week’s Observer, a phenomenon that has resulted in a “literary community.” The piece, which is actually thoughtful, includes a “somewhat arbitrary” “Brooklyn Literary 100” broken down by neighborhood. According to the list, the most literary neighborhood is the Slope, which boasts 20 writers/editors/assorted other literary types, followed by Fort Greene (19 bookish folks named, including Jhumpa Lahiri, Jennifer Egan and Colson Whitehead), and Boerum Hill, where 13 men/women of letters, including Jonathan Lethem, reside. We find it ironic that the most literary neighborhood in Brooklyn, by this account, is also the one that’s seen the shuttering of two independent bookstores over the past year.
The Brooklyn Literary 100 [NY Observer]
Photo by mdash
Ok, 12:39, here again, and how about this: I’m an senior editor at a major literary publishing house. And anyone who knows anything about the salaries in publishing and the advances that the lion’s share of authors get will tell you that white collar professions like, say, lawyers, doctors, and bankers, make at least three times what the average person working in publishing does. It is not a profession known to be particularly lucrative. But 12:46 your language seems to indicate that somehow you know better–what’s your connection to publishing?
Vogue?!
GQ?!
Please.
“literary professional” has to be one of the vaguest terms for identifying what you do for a living. congrats, though, on not being “white collar.” yeah, right.
Actually Gabby it’s way more than two. I’m a literary professional who lived in the Slope before B&N and there have been three that closed in the wake of their arrival (one that shuttered before the B&N even opened becuase it was essentially across the street). 20 writers and random literary types in a neighborhood are not going to keep a bookstore afloat. It’s the rest of the 1000s of people who live there who choose to shop at a giant chain store over the indies that are really having the effect. And I agree with 11:50, the Slope is way less literary/bohemian now than it was 15-20 years ago. You have white collar types moving in now, not the creative class. And most of the writers who live there have for a very long time.
“The piece, which is actually thoughtful” — That is funny coming from Gabby, who has yet to pen a ‘thoughtful’ piece of her own to date… glad she at least has the wherewithal to be condescending. You go, Girl!
The writer of that story is an ex-Gawker editor, so beyond the obviously very famous writers who must be there, this article gives bloggers and magazine people extra weight.
If the focus is only on the big famous published writers then this is actually a list of most wealthy neighborhoods in Brooklyn. Not most literary. The neighborhoods with the famous writers are the ones now attracting more bankers and lawyers than newly emerging writers and artists.
agree with 11:23, must be a slow newsday
Oh my god – I have to say this is the most arbitrary selection of literary personae. If you’re going to include as “literary” editors of Vogue and freelancers for Slate, you can at least triple this list. In any case, my money’s on Prospect Heights since one of my favorite writers, George Packer, is there.