Important Artifacts and Personal Property from the Collection... by Leanne Shapton

The idea for the wooden books started with J&L Books, the nonprofit press I created with my friend Jason Fulford. It’s not a Hemingway thing, it’s more like I have to get this done, because the elevator is coming up. Sheila said she had this image of me standing up-you know how you stand up and eat when you’re really hungry? Well I stand up and work. Last night, I wrote myself an e-mail that said, “Tough girls with dark pink skin, England air, etc.” Now it’s sort of coming back to me, but when I woke up and read it, I was like, “What? What did I drink?” Lots happens in these little spaces between work and eating and sleeping. I also use my Blackberry to write myself notes. I have so many backs of envelopes with notes written on them in my pockets or stuffed into the side door of a car. I can work for hours at a time, but I get a lot of stuff done in these weird starts and stops, which makes it a little bit harder to track. Sometimes I feel I get a lot done waiting for something else, with my shoes and coat on, with the car running. I was talking to Sheila Heti about how and where we work.

I’ll pretty much start working right off the top, depending on what I need to do, on deadlines. I wake up, walk the dog, or let the dog out. Leanne served tea and sweets, and we talked long after I turned off my tape recorder. I can still remember her dog, Bunny, running to greet me. I visited her studio space north of Manhattan last spring. Or buy issue 196, whose cover she painted. Open any of the last four issues to glimpse her beautiful illustrations of Roberto Bolaño’s The Third Reich.

She’s also a contributor to The Paris Review. The former art director of The New York Times ’ Op-Ed page is also the author of several books, including Was She Pretty? and Important Artifacts and Personal Property from the Collection of Lenore Doolan and Harold Morris, Including Books, Street Fashion, and Jewelry. It’s no secret how much I admire Leanne Shapton.

Important Artifacts and Personal Property from the Collection... by Leanne Shapton