Freelance writer, editor; former Books Editor, Theater Critic, and Commentary Page Editor (Phila Inquirer); spouse of 1, dad of 2, musician, would-be poet
Lower half of New Jersey
Joined March 2009
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Thanks to everyone at Book Passage, Corte Madera, Marin County, California, which welcomed Poetry for Dummies and its humble author for a sparkling book event. Special thanks to event coordinator Cheryl Bronstein, and the whole events team — and many brothers and sisters!
R.I.P., Patrick Stewart. When he published the Shakespeare Sonnets CD, I had, I confess, a farewell feeling. My prophetic soul …
Daughter Pilar Timpane has directed and co-produced a new documentary series titled The Common Good, coming out in 2027. It’s a beautiful thing. Here’s a teaser for season 1: youtu.be/_0rkcnN-JfM?is=2vu2…
Sparkling evening last night (10/26) with novelist Bonnie Garmus, who is bringing Philly her new novel, Peck & Peck. My spouse Christi Keller and her sister Lisa, a Bonnie Garmus fan, came along. Thanks to Lynn Rosen and Barnes & Noble for inviting me to talk to Bonnie.
Monday, Philly! (10/26) Let’s go! I’m talking with Bonnie Garmus about her new novel, Peck & Peck. 7 p.m., First Unitarian Church. Hosted by Barnes & Noble. Get over there!
Hello, San Francisco/Marin-adjacent Xtraordinaires! Join me and my new book, Poetry for Dummies 2, this Saturday (10/24), 11 a.m., at Book Passage, 51 Tamal Vista Boulevard, Corte Madera 94925! We’ll tour the book, enjoy some poems, and engage in shameless commerce.See you there!
John Timpane retweeted
Intelligence must draw on memory. The mind must not simply compile data — as an algorithm now does more quickly than we can — but recall lived experiences, which contain depths of meaning that only the human soul can recognize, and connect more deeply with the goodness of these experiences. Everything that is good begins “with the Spirit” and thus possesses a breath, a dynamism and a sense of communion that, once experienced, are engraved upon the heart. vatican.va/content/leo-xiv/e…
John Timpane retweeted
Anne Carson’s Nobel prize win is brilliantly timed. Universities worldwide should think twice before they shut down classics, liberal arts, & language programs. Carson’s rigour as a philologist & her career as a classicist has been the foundation of her literary practice!
John Timpane retweeted
The death penalty is inadmissible because it is an attack on the inviolability and dignity of the person. The common good can be safeguarded and the requirements of justice can be met without recourse to capital punishment: effective systems of detention have been developed that protect citizens while at the same time do not completely deprive those who are guilty of the possibility of redemption. #NoDeathPenalty
In honor of Anne Carson’s Nobel in Literature, here’s my 2010 review of her singular book Nox. Do forgive the crazy typos in the headline and lede — nothing to be done about that now!!
inquirer.com/philly/entertai…
Lee Upton has long been one of our favorite poets — and now she’s one of our favorite novelists, too! Pod-partner Don Rooney and I welcome Lee Upton back to the Musical Innertube this week to discuss her novel The Withers. Join us!
musicalinnertube.com/volume-…
R.I.P., Wendell Berry. In his poetry, novels, his brave essays, even his farming, an enduring inspiration.
John Timpane retweeted
Here's a rare clip I found on one of the many tapes I digitized: Dolly Parton making her debut on The Porter Wagoner Show in 1967.
Rest easy.
John Timpane retweeted
This one is far from the celebrity you know but it is so much the Appalachia that many of us who lived before the cable television era knew, on multiple levels. Her mom’s timbre wakes up things I had inadvertently buried.
John Timpane retweeted
If you make this the last thing you listen to tonight before you go to bed I promise you won’t regret it
I’ve not seen the Odyssey yet. I will. But do not miss the film of the stage musical Hadestown. It projects the Orpheus and Eurydice story into a steampunk Americana mid-20th century setting, with a bracing political undercurrent. Fine performances! Much recommended! #classics
