Sorry for the silence. I am trying to get all the LBC nominee’s read by the deadline next month, so I can’t report on those yet. Plus I am moving offices and training new people, while I move into a new job. All in all, it’s busy here. But check these links out in the mean while:

• Ed and I emailed back and forth about David Mitchell’s forthcoming Black Swan Green and now all of our correspondence is available. Here are part 1, part 2, part 3, and part 4.
• Bat Segundo spoke with Ron Hogan of Beatrice while he was in town promoting his book The Stewardess is Flying the Plane. Apparently mid-life crises and film are discussed.
• Read about Round 1 of the Tournament of Books: The Historian vs. Home Land.
• Also at the morning news, Robert Birnbaum speaks with author Alberto Manguel.
• I’ve been enjoying Nextbook’s various new columns a great deal. Read Shalom Auslander’s latest column where he muses on writing a memoir.
• Wordstock begins on April 21st through the 23rd. It’s Portland’s Annual Festival of the Book. Similar to Charlottesville, VA’s annual Festival of the Book, which kicks off this week. I was just there this, a weekend too early dammit. Both event have a stellar lineup of authors.
• Tireless Dan Wickett has started a short story contest. He’ll wittle down the contestants and the final 20 will be read and judged by Charles D’Ambrosio (his new short story collection is awesome by the way). The winner receives $500.
• Maud and Ed both posted this article on one of my favorite author’s Rupert Thomson from the latest Boston Review.
• Want to read some short stories? Here’s Short Story South’s list of the best of 2005. It’s a very long list.