Work in Progress: Farrar, Straus and Giroux Launches Online Lit Mag

In What's the Buzz by Edward Nawotka

By Edward Nawotka

On a hot and balmy night in NYC last Wednesday, venerable US publishing house Farrar, Straus and Giroux, hosted a party at the Lower East Side’s Lolita Bar to mark the unveiling of “Work in Progress,” the company’s new literary site. It is something that is “more than a newsletter and less than a magazine,” says FSG’s online marketing manager Ryan  Chapman, who is curating the site.

The inaugural issue offers a conversation between editor Jonathan Galassi and author Jeffrey Eugenides, a look at the current state of book jacket design with Susan Mitchell and Charlotte Strick of FSG and  Henry Sene Yee of  Picador, a video of David Means giving reading, a contest giveaway and more.

Beyond being merely a vehicle for promoting the company’s titles, Chapman (pictured above right) promises to troll FSG’s archives for choice ephemera. Case in point: Already featured on the site is this Susan Sontag interview at the 2000 Prague Writer’s Festival with Robert Stone and William Styron, which is offered along with other sundries from Sontag’s nearly 50 year career with FSG.

Check it out: FSG’s Work in Progress

About the Author

Edward Nawotka

A widely published critic and essayist, Edward Nawotka serves as a speaker, educator and consultant for institutions and businesses involved in the global publishing and content industries. He was also editor-in-chief of Publishing Perspectives since the launch of the publication in 2009 until January 2016.