So then I go and I make another cup of coffee and two pieces of toast with raspberry jelly and now I’m going to call Allen Ginsberg at exactly noon. Because he does his meditations and they told me to call him either at 11 at night or after twelve. So it’s exactly 12 and I call him. And it’s busy. I go and put my red jacket on and I go down and get cigarettes. I break a ten-dollar bill. And I give her a penny because the cigarettes are 56 cents.

Linda Rosenkrantz’s Peter Hujar’s Day is a transcription of a conversation she had with the photographer, detailing everything that he did on one day in 1974. Colm Tóibín’s On Elizabeth Bishop explores the life and work of the poet, weaving in an account of Tóibín’s own life and influences. Chris and Suzanne discuss different approaches to portraiture (in books, films, and photography) — as well as some of the particular joys of smaller books.

Linda Rosenkrantz: Peter Hujar’s Day.

Colm Tóibín: On Elizabeth Bishop.

The end of the mass-market paperback.

Gertrude Stein: How to Write and The World Is Round (illus. Roberta Arenson).

Linda Rosenkrantz: Talk.

Chuck Close: Linda.

Peter Hujar’s Day (Ira Sachs, 2025).

Follow Chris or Suzanne on Letterboxd.

The Peter Hujar Archive, which includes an iconic photo of Susan Sontag, catacombs and some spectacular cityscapes. Oh, and his photo of Allen Ginsberg.

Peter Hujar: Portraits in Life and Death.

It was, indeed, pretty cold on 19 December 1974, with a high of 38°F, if this website is to be believed.

Elizabeth Bishop: Poems. (Ah, right, the latest edition is no longer called The Complete Poems, 1927–1979!)

Poems by Elizabeth Bishop mentioned:

Wuthering Heights (Emerald Fennell, 2026). Our episode on Wuthering Heights.

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