Want to see your name alongside names like Michael Connelly, Denis Lehane, George Pelecanos, Gary Shteyngart, Fay Weldon, Julia Glass, and AM Homes? Good. Plunk it down right here.

As you may have noticed, newspaper book sections are shrinking, shriveling, and disappearing in Los Angeles, Atlanta, Chicago, and other cities around the country. The National Book Critics Circle is mad as hell and they’re not going to take it anymore. They recently launched a Campaign to Save Book Reviews, and they’re reaching out to everyone who cares about books and thoughtful literary criticism. (more…)

You guys tend to be a quiet crowd, reading and submitting by the thousands but leaving comments only occasionally. So sometimes we seek our validation in the next best place: writer’s resource magazines! Although it doesn’t appear to be online yet, word has it that Writer’s Digest’s latest edition of 101 Best Websites for Writers shouts out Six-Word Memoirs and Writers and Editors grooves on our personal storytelling vibe. Thanks, guys!

Abby Ellin, author of Teenage Waistland (and the awesome outtake we published on Memoirville), had a run-in with the power of feedback recently too. Alternet, which has millions of users, sometimes picks up SMITH pieces, and hers caused readers to weigh in (heh heh) like crazy. I can honestly say she outclassed and outsassed her detractors, pointing out that obesity and teen body image are essential national issues, not the self-involved province of gloomy high school girls.

For more on what happens when readers talk back, check out this Salon piece on user comments (and inexplicable internet vitriol). And because it can’t be said too many times: I love Rebecca Traister.

Most New Yorkers know that Gothamist is the place to go for updates on weather, local sports, city politics, accidents, protests, and other news you can use. I imagine the same is true for the “ist”s in other cities, from Austin to Shanghai.

But my favorite part of Gothamist is the frequent interviews with notable New Yorkers on all levels of the fame spectrum; anyone with a passion and a project is fair game. Past interviews include lots of folks we know and love, as well as the kind we’d like to, from iPod filmmakers to Scrabble champs.

If you click here, you might just see a familiar face, a chap called Larry Smith who spoke with Rachel Kramer Bussel about his vision for a storytelling magazine that blends user-generated content and light editing to tell every kind of story in every way imaginable.

We’re awfully proud to join the ranks of Gothamist interviewees, and awfully proud of the accomplishments and aspirations revealed in the Q&A. Got opinions, suggestions, or submissions? Tell SMITH.