Interview

A quick wit may come naturally to the 42-year-old native New Yorker Nathan Englander, but that doesn't mean he doesn't work hard. 2012 is an object lesson in Englander endurance, when three of his years-in-development writing projects are slated to hit shelves, stages, and Seder dinners (respectively). First comes his latest-short story collection What We Talk About When We Talk About Anne Frank, out this month from Knopf. Then in March, Englander ambitiously teams up with writer Jonathan Safran Foer on a translation of the Haggadah, the ancient Jewish text recited at Passover.  ARTICLE PUBLISHED: 02/08/12

Sharp and perfectly developed, Paula Vogel's Pulitzer Prize-winning play How I Learned to Drive sets driving lessons between a young woman named Li'l Bit (Elizabeth Reaser) and her Uncle Peck (Norbert Leo Butz) as the foundation for an inappropriate affair.  ARTICLE PUBLISHED: 02/07/12

Dan Chaon writes about coping with tragedy in his new collection of short stories, Stay Awake.  ARTICLE PUBLISHED: 02/07/12

Fans of BBC America or anyone who's ever lived in England will probably remember Jack Davenport as Steve from Coupling or Miles from This Life. To everyone else, he's best known for his role as Commodore Norrington in Pirates of the Caribbean. With his new role on NBC's Smash, however, Davenport has the potential to become a household name.  ARTICLE PUBLISHED: 02/06/12

Here's our compendium of pop-culture news you may have missed while you were doing more important things over the weekend.  ARTICLE PUBLISHED: 02/06/12

After suffering through years of fourth-place finishes, NBC primetime has set its sights on the invigorating Smash to save the network from ratings purgatory.  ARTICLE PUBLISHED: 02/03/12

Last night we attended a screening of Rachel Zoe's new PSA video for the Abzyme Research Foundation at the Crosby Street Hotel. If you are wondering what uber-stylist Rachel Bananas Zoe is doing in a PSA, we were, too; the Abzyme Research Foundation is the first charitable cause to which Zoe has lent her name, and it is an admirable cause indeed.  ARTICLE PUBLISHED: 02/03/12

Writer Ramona Ausubel defies the harnesses of history with her debut novel, No One is Here Except All of Us. During World War II, an isolated Jewish village in Romania decides to ignore the horrors of the real world and start over from scratch.  ARTICLE PUBLISHED: 02/03/12

With a background in theater, soaps, and indies, Peter Vack's major TV comedic debut is a slight change of pace for the USC grad and native New Yorker, who was reciting Shakespeare with seasoned actors while his high-school peers toiled away with the Sparknotes.  ARTICLE PUBLISHED: 02/02/12

On flights into New York City, Dennis Mangone has a direct view of his résumé: the Time Warner Center, Trump World Tower, One Beacon Court, 15 Central Park West.  ARTICLE PUBLISHED: 02/02/12