Press.
PRINT:
THE NEW YORK TIMES BOOK REVIEW: Essay on Pseudonymity by Carmela Ciuraru on Sunday, 6/26.
Oprah magazine: June, “Titles to Pick Up Now” (an excerpt from the book available on their iPad app)
VANITY FAIR: July, “Hot Type” by Elissa Schappell
THE DAILY BEAST: “This Week’s Best Reads”
SAN FRANCISCO CHRONICLE: review of NDP by Jane Juska
LOS ANGELES TIMES: Review of NDP
BOSTON GLOBE: “New & Recommended Books”
LOS ANGELES TIMES: Guide to essential summer reads
THE NEW YORKER (July 11 – 18): NDP mention in “Pseudonymously Yours: The Strange Case of Benjamin Black” by Joanna Kavenna
THE CHRISTIAN SCIENCE MONITOR: Review of NDP
The New York Post: “Required Reading”
THE DAILY (for the iPad): review/feature
BOOKFORUM: review of NDP
USA TODAY: feature
SAN FRANCISCO CHRONICLE – NDP included in list of “100 Best/Recommended Books of 2011″
THE NEW YORK DAILY NEWS: Guest Columnist – Editorial 7/5/2011
NEW YORK JOURNAL OF BOOKS: review of NDP
LOUISVILLE COURIER-JOURNAL: “The One Question Interview” with Carmela Ciuraru
SAN FRANCISCO CHRONICLE: Editor’s Picks/Recommended Books
PHILADELPHIA CITY PAPER: review of NDP
THE BOSTON GLOBE: review of NDP
THE WEEK: “Six Favorite Books” by Carmela Ciuraru
SAN FRANCISCO CHRONICLE: NDP in Holiday Gift Guide 2011
THE DECCAN HERALD: NDP review in Bangalore, India newspaper
EL MUNDO: (Spanish-language) feature
O ESTADAO de SAO PAULO: NDP/Author feature (in Portuguese) by Lucia Guimaraes in one of Brazil’s largest daily newspapers
ALASKA DISPATCH: Review of NDP
PlumHamptons (premiere issue): feature
CHELSEA NOW: review of NDP
Publishers Weekly: Show Daily at BEA (5/25/2011 edition)
NDP wins Honorable Mention, New Millennium Writings Award for Nonfiction
CARMELA CIURARU has been awarded a 2011 Nonfiction Fellowship from the NEW YORK FOUNDATION FOR THE ARTS (NYFA)
*
ONLINE:
* *NDP WINS DESIGN OBSERVER AWARD: TOP 50 BOOK DESIGNS Of 2011** : http://designobserver.com/50Books50Covers/2011covers.html
SALON.COM: excerpt from NDP
THE DAILY BEAST: “This Week’s Best Reads: The Daily Beast picks the best journalism from around the web”
BOOKFORUM.COM: review of NDP by Phoebe Connellly
THE NEW YORKER: NDP mention on Jon Michaud’s blog
THE PARIS REVIEW: “Staff Picks”
GUERNICA: A Magazine of Art & Politics: excerpt from NDP
THE DAILY BEAST: “Favorite Books by Pseudonymous Authors” by Carmela Ciuraru
SHELF AWARENESS: Author interview with Bethanne Patrick
FLAVORWIRE: Q & A with the author
BULLETT: Author interview
READER’S DIGEST: brief writeup and link to NYTBR essay by Carmela Ciuraru
HUFFINGTON POST: “Nine Reasons To Use a Pseudonym” by Carmela Ciuraru
BYLINER.COM: Recommended Read – “Editors’ Pick”
ARTS & LETTERS DAILY: Recommended Read – “Articles of Note”
BROOKLYN BOOK FESTIVAL: Promotional video
LOS ANGELES TIMES: Review of NDP
FOYLES UK: Review of NDP
THE PROGRESSIVE READER: feature
INREADS.com: Author Q & A with Drew Toal
THE MAGAZINE OF YOGA: “On the Lit Mat” – Author Q&A with Corinna Barsan
BARNES & NOBLE REVIEW: “Great Writers Under Cover”
THE FORWARD: review of NDP
THENERVOUSBREAKDOWN.COM: Featured Artist: “21 Questions With Carmela Ciuraru”
THE LONGEST CHAPTER: Review of NDP by Kassie Rose (also recorded for NPR’s WOSU 89.7)
POWELLS.COM: Guest blogger / Author essay (forthcoming)
BLURB IS A VERB: Author essay (forthcoming)
CONSTRUCTION: Interview and excerpt (forthcoming)
THE WEEK: feature – “Carmela Ciuraru’s 6 Favorite Pseudonymous Books”
THE LITERARIAN: Dawn Raffel interviews Carmela Ciuraru
THE MORNING NEWS: Erik Bryan interviews Carmela Ciuraru
THE DAILY BEAST: “The Dish” by Andrew Sullivan
POETS & WRITERS: NDP trailer
PBS.org: author Q&A
BOOKSTALKER BLOG – Author Q&A w/Julia Bartz
ALLISON GAUDET YARROW Blog: feature
HUNTINGTON NEWS: review of NDP by David Kinchen
A PERFECT COMMOTION: June 15, 2011
BOOKSTALKER blog by Julia Bartz (also here)
EVERY PERSON IN NEW YORK: Artist Jason Polan draws Roz Chast, Maira Kalman, Carmela Ciuraru, et al. at the Strand Bookstore
GUEST OF A GUEST: NDP in Hamptons calendar
THREE GUYS ONE BOOK blog: Interview with Carmela Ciuraru
LIT CHAT: Carmela Ciuraru is guest host on Twitter – Wed., July 27th at 4pm
*
RADIO:
-Live interview, NPR – KQED Forum, “the nation’s most-listened-to locally produced public radio talk show”: July 11, 2012
-Live interview, WYPL, Memphis NPR: “Book Talk,” June 27, 2012
-Interview, Public Radio Ireland (Raidió Teilifís Éireann): “Culture File,” June 14, 2012
-KUCI-FM interview, “Writers on Writing” – Jan. 25th
-NPR interview Jan. 17th
-Interview w/ WQCS / NPR Florida, Dec. 13th
-Interview on HASH HAGS – the weekly NPR show hosted by authors JULIE KLAM, ANN LEARY AND LAURA ZIGMAN, Nov. 28th
-Live interview on Bloomberg Radio Network, Tom Chenault, Nov. 21st
-Live-streaming video interview from Miami Book Fair – BookMarc, Nov. 19th
-Interview with Carolyn Burns Bass, LitChat at the Miami Book Fair, Nov. 19th
-Live interview with Neil Hailey, Total Education Radio Show, at the Miami Book Fair, Nov. 19th
-Interview on “Out of Bounds” with Tish Pearlman, Oct. 20th
-Live interview on Extension 720, WGN Radio (Chicago) on September 20th
-In-studio interview on THE CALLIE CROSSLEY SHOW, WGBH-FM Radio (Boston) on Aug. 25th
-Interview on WFMU – “too much information” with host Benjamen Walker
-In-studio interview on The Focus Group Radio Show (Sirius XM OutQ, 108) on August 13th
-Interview on “Everyday People” Talk Radio (News Talk 980 WSUB and on www.wxlm.fm) on August 10th
-Interview on “Inquiry”/WICN Radio (Boston) on July 28th
-In-studio interview on the Forward’s “Yid Lit” podcast (previous guests have included authors Nicole Krauss, Gary Shteyngart, Ben Greenman, and Darin Strauss)
-Interview on New Hampshire Public Radio on July 13th
-Interview on “Viewpoints” on July 8th (program syndicated on 400+ radio stations around the country)
-Interview on MINNESOTA PUBLIC RADIO on July 4th
-In-studio interview on the LEONARD LOPATE SHOW – WNYC – on June 24th
-Live interview by the award-winning radio presenter Seán Moncrieff for Ireland’s independent station NEWSTALK – on June 15th
-Interview on THE COLIN McENROE SHOW on Connecticut Public Radio – WNPR – on June 7th
-NPR’s “ALL THINGS CONSIDERED”: “Three Books to Satisfy Your Alter Ego”(segment forthcoming)
[more radio coming soon]
*
“Imagine this: You are on the second-to-last page of Carmela Ciuraru’s “Nom de Plume: A (Secret) History of Pseudonyms” and wishing you weren’t because this book is such great fun…. Ciuraru has chosen for herself a difficult task: telling the truth about 18 writers who, by virtue of their art and their own circumstances, are liars. To uncover the mysteries and tell the truth, she has done prodigious research: The bibliography runs to seven pages. She avoids judgment, psychologizing and tedium. She writes in a voice that is intelligent, confident and trustworthy. We do not doubt for a minute that what we are reading is as close to the truth as we’re likely to get.” --Jane Juska, The San Francisco Chronicle
“Ciuraru has a wry sense of humor that lightly steps in at just the right moments…. In unraveling their psychoses, their fetishes and their impulses to relate the stories of each personage, both real and created, Ciuraru has created a book that is not just a reference, but one that also details the evolution of writers’ conflicts with finding their places in the world of publishing. Ciuraru builds each history as its own personal story, then builds the literary charm and genius behind the pathos, the desperate need or the business savvy for each individual case, creating a history of pseudonyms that becomes a tale of literary genius all its own.” –Los Angeles Times
“With skilled research and palpable empathy, Ciuraru chronicles the lives of secretive storytellers–those who wished to communicate without being known…. Through well-chosen quotes, Ciuraru lets the authors speak for themselves. By sampling extensively from letters and diaries, she shows the vast gulf that can exist between an author’s identity and his or her persona on the page…. Unwilling to sugarcoat or oversimplify, Ciuraru frankly describes the use and abuse of pseudonyms throughout history…. With description that captures the imagination, Nom de Plume is what nonfiction should be – accessible, thought-provoking, and highly entertaining.” –The Christian Science Monitor
“Nom de Plume is filled with tremendous insight into the minds of these writers and their ability to create not only works of fiction within the covers of their books, but fictional lives for themselves as well. It has been beautifully researched and is deftly written—pure pleasure from cover to cover…. [I]n Ciuraru’s talented hands, these assembled brief tales of authors’ lives—that which fills the narrative of her book, as each reaches for a new name and, perhaps, a new identity to match—make for what can only truthfully be called ravishing reading. –The New York Journal of Books
“This is a book you’ll not easily put down because of its highly entertaining, colorful and engrossing biographies. Ciuraru delightfully pulls back the curtain on literary eccentrics whose complicated lives drove them to publish under pseudonyms and — with unusual biographical details that bring the writers to life on the page — divulges the effects that rippled through their careers and personal lives…. What makes Nom de Plume a stand-out from mere encyclopedic rendering is Ciuraru’s enjoyment of her material, which resonates in each biography – delightful energy spiced with Ciuraru’s wit, her amusing asides and clever presentations.” –Kassie Rose, The Longest Chapter
“Ciuraru (Solitude Poems) includes 16 writers–from George Sand to George Orwell–in her lively literati masquerade party, recounting events that led to their pen names along with intriguing peeks behind their masks…this survey of authors who sought anonymity and privacy is well researched. Amid informative, illuminating profiles, Ciuraru successfully ferrets out curious literary charades.” ―Publishers Weekly
“Ciuraru’s writing is bright, lively, and smart, making Nom de Plume both informative and extremely enjoyable to read. She clearly has both deep regard for and a sense of humor about her subjects. Rather than making sweeping generalizations about pseudonyms, she enlightens us about the authors’ personalities and how and why their pen names were important to them individually.” -critic Jennifer Kaufman
“Ciuraru’s treatments of her subjects sparkle with rich, well-arranged detail and the sly wit of literary hindsight. With a central focus that remains urgent and appealing for 21st century readers even as it dissects the personal lives of authors long past, Nom de Plume is surely an important book — not because it breaks any new ground biographically, but because it helps place the development of authorial, social, psychological and sexual identity into a greater context. Ciuraru’s essays, the first of their kind, introduce a sense of “meta-identification” to the sources from which she’s pulled her facts; the pseudonymous artists’ personae are revealed and explained, but equally so are the public reactions, both positive and negative, that became so entwined with those mysterious personalities. Her sharp storytelling and her great eye for what was truly at work within the lives of these authors draw out a powerful message: that so much of how we decode and interpret our cultural narratives is based not on the `true’ identities of their creators, but on the perceptions of them that we, as readers, create.” -critic Sam Spokony
[more press coming soon]
BUY NOW: