Press

Call this a scrapbook or a grotto I made to myself. Either way, this is mostly recent press and reviews from my most recent book. There are links to other, more ancient coverage at the God Save My Queen page and the front page as it comes along.

Two-part interview with Canadian writer/teacher Allyson Latta, June 2011.

“When you hate your manuscript” interview at writer/teacher Lynette Benton’s Polish and Publish website, June 2011.

“The Questionless Book Interview,” with Open Book Toronto‘s George Murray, April 2011.

“Six Questions with Daniel Nester,” interview with January O’Neil for Caleb J. Ross’s AWP Washington, DC blog, February 2011.

Blogger profile/interview for my now-defunct Times Union blog.

Virginia Konchan’s review of HTBI in the May 2010 issue of Rain Taxi.

The Chronogram calls How to Be Inappropriate “”dryly hilarious.”

“Me Talk Inappropriate One Day,” Jill Dearman‘s interview with me, at the Barnes & Noble Book Club site.

“[M]y choice for humorous essay collection of the year, starring a writer unafraid to put himself in tawdry, humiliating positions to be able to personally describe them and the feelings created by them.”—Chris Estey, Three Imaginary Girls, “Great Reads of 2009.”

“Daniel Nester is the rarest of humorous essayists: he’s actually funny. He also happens to be a fine poet, and a keen authority on popular music, and his writing in How to Be Inappropriate radiates the kind of intelligence and insight that inspires a reader to conduct his own self-examination vis-a-vis inappropriateness.”—Steve Caratzas, NewPages

“Daniel Nester is the kind of writer who looks at his book as an opportunity to be honest with you, and hopefully make you laugh. Which I did.”—Emily Nonko, from her interview on Bomb magazine’s website.

“In How to Be Inappropriate, Daniel Nester collects many of his clever essays in one of the year’s funniest books. If you have been reading Nester’s pieces at The Daily Beast, you know how funny he can be, especially when casting his discerning eye towards pop culture.”—Largehearted Boy‘s intro to Book Notes.

Interview with Rigoberto Gonzalez at Critical Mass, the National Book Critics Circle blog.

“Laugh-out-loud…reminds the reader of a gritty, funnier version of Jerry Seinfeld, or perhaps Curb Your Enthusiasm.”—Bookishworm

Interview with Kathy Ritchie in Smith Magazine‘s  Memoirville books blog.

“Whoopee! Author Daniel Nester is most inappropriate”—title of Jeff Baker’s piece, with interivew, in The Oregonian.

A self-interview, along with an excerpt and other goodies, over at The Nervous Breakdown.

The Daniel Nester guest blog posts at the Powell’s Books site.

From R.D. Pohl’s Buffalo News ArtsBeat:

In the relatively new literary subgenre called “creative nonfiction” (like “flash fiction,” an invention of the college-based creative writing industry in the same way that “Sweetest Day” is an invention of the confectioner’s industry), Nester is the reigning court jester.  His “essays” combine James Thurber’s mild mannered escapist fantasies with Hunter S. Thompson’s closely observed grotesquery and pharmaceutically-assisted abandon.  He’s got a Norman Mailer sized id without the baggage of Mailer’s self-aggrandizing belligerence.  But, in truth, his lineage can be traced back much further.  Reading through the elaborate prologues to each of the pieces in How to be Inappropriate, one hears distant echoes of the great narrative embellishers of ages past: François Rabelais in Gargantua and Pantagruel, Laurence Sterne in Tristram Shandy, even the great Miguel de Cervantes in Don Quixote itself.

“Nester’s essays are hilarious in their approach to as specific a theme as inappropriateness, and they come highly recommended.”—Bookslut’s John Zuarino’s intro to Indie Heartthrob interview.

“Library Journal: Former McSweeney’s editor Nester (English, Coll. of Saint Rose), whose writing has appeared in The Best Creative Nonfiction, The Best American Poetry, and Poets & Writers, presents his debut collection of humorous nonfiction, amassing 41 years’ worth of experience in nonconformity. His stories are, as the title suggests, inappropriate, and they often engender squeamishness, discomfort, and laughter. But they are fresh and, at times, touching, qualities that make this an enjoyable read. Subjects include teaching curse words to Chinese ESL students, reimagining a Terry Gross NPR interview of Gene Simmons by substituting Gene Simmons with an AI computer, a collection of references to flatulence in English poesy, the history of mooning, and out-of-context comments he made as a college professor in order to clarify and expand upon his students’ writing. Nester includes photographs, illustrations, and a time line of his inappropriate acts from birth to the present. VERDICT Recommended for readers who enjoy memoirs and essays.”—Mark Alan Williams, Library of Congress, Washington, DC

“[A] deeply funny new collection of booger-flecked nonfiction”—Drew Toal’s four-star review of How to Be Inappropriate from Time Out New York.

“This guy is intelligent and funny, and so is his book.”—Rod Lott, Bookgasm.

Interview with Sage Cohen at Writing the Life Poetic Zine.

“Daniel Nester still isn’t sure if he was a starving artist that one time”—The L Magazine Online Questionnaire for Writer Types.

“Throughout the book, Nester has a self-deprecating charm that makes his writing seem like he’s just hanging out with you, telling you a good story. Whether it’s recounting the time he moved in next door to an ex-girlfriend while living in New York (“The Puerto Rican Lockhorns Reunion”) or detailing his adventures in self-tanning (“Yes I Tan”) Nester is funny, but never mean. Indeed, even when he could go for the jugular in two of the finest pieces in the book, he instead remains an observer, allowing the laughs to emerge from his subject’s behavior rather than any snarky remark he could have come up with.”—Scott Malchus, Popdose.

Tamara Sellman’s “Quick Q&A” at Writer’s Rainbow.

“Too much information” should be the tagline for this debut collection of humorous nonfiction pieces from Daniel Nester…Told through a series of essays, lists, rants, play scripts, and profiles, this part-memoir, part-random collection of nonsense is an entertaining look at defying the conventions of appropriate behavior.”—The Daily Beast, Hot Reads.

Interview with Kim Clune’s BrainDrain.

Review by Teresa Farrell in the Saint Rose Chronicle.

At Linebreak, the Daniel Nester guest blogger posts.

“Who Farted?” profile by Cecilia Martinez, Metroland.

The Onion’s AV Club mentions the How to Be Inappropriate whoopee cushion in “The year in swag: 27 ridiculous promotional items we received in 2009.”

Alvaro Villanueva’s cover of How to Be Inappropriate makes it own press in The Huffington Post (17 Coolest Book Covers of 2009), as well as The Book Design Review.