Hua Hsu Remembers It All
On a spring morning the colour of an old grey Andrew Wyeth painting, a swirling wind kicking up dead leaves and New York street detritus, we meet Hua Hsu at Community Bookstore in Brooklyn’s Park Slope neighbourhood. The writer is easily recognisable, a shock of straight black hair, his face framed by small round glasses. After some smalltalk about the weather, the strangeness of Prince Harry's just-released memoir, and trousers, "You spend years trying to find the right pants," says Hsu, we find ourselves by a shelf stocked with copies of Hsu's 2022 book: Stay True, an orange and yellow cover punctuated by a gauzy film photograph of a young man in a white t-shirt, face obscured by a camera that points back towards the viewer, who remains out of sight.
A Postcard from Seoul
It takes a while for Seoul, the metropolis of nearly 10 million people, to present itself. On a grey and oppressive afternoon we land in Incheon, a transit hub outside of the city proper. Flat, arid, a bit bleak. The airport was voted the fourth best in the world in 2021 and, to be fair, It’s a good one. Enormous and pristine. A looped message rings out on the tannoy: an instruction, a greeting, or a warning.
A Sort of Brief and Sort of Accidental Guide to New York Dive Bars with Jon Coombs
“I’m not sure when or how I learned about Jimmy’s,” says Jon, “but I owe one to whoever clued me in. I’m not in that part of town very often, but it’s reason enough to visit. Of the many nights I’ve had there, a favourite was November 30, 2017 with Angel Olsen and her band after a sold out show at Town Hall. The venue is almost directly behind Jimmy’s on the same block. The high / low juxtaposition of a sold out Town Hall with, arguably, an even more sold out Jimmy’s was the perfect way to cap the night.”
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The Pulitzer Prize-winning author and The New Yorker staff writer lists some of his favourite tracks to walk around to as winter turns to spring in NYC. author and The New Yorker staff writer lists some of his favourite tracks to walk around to as winter turns to spring in NYC.
