This winter London is full of men called Ian who think they’re editing the New Yorker. In December, Ian Katz launched the Guardian’s page of little essays, Short Cuts. “Write as if you were doing something for Talk of the Town”, he said. So I did.
Yesterday, I was rung up by Ian Irvine, from the Independent on Sunday. He wants me, esentially, to write Guardian pieces for him: long essays and profiles, and, of course, short pieces for a new section of elegant essays “We’re aiming to be just like the New Yorker.“, he said. Unfortunately, because the Independent is broke, they don’t distribute the new magazine outside London, so he is sending copies specially to North Essex. I was, and remain, flattered. I assured him I would send him everything I write in that style which the New York New Yorker fails to publish.
Looking for links for this entry, I discovered some wonderful news: Posy Simmonds’ Literary Life cartoons are archived online. Here’s one about the war. And then there is one for New York Publishers.
Reminds me of Garrison Keillor, talking about his early days as a (largely unpublished) writer. People, he noted, would always ask him who he wrote for. “At the time I was writing for The New Yorker,” he said.”but they weren’t aware of it.”
argh