Today is novelist Jonathan Franzen‘s birthday.

To celebrate, we explored the GalleyCat archives to recover some of the stories Franzen and Freedom inspired on this blog. Enjoy this trip down memory lane, from Glassesgate to Franzen’s first book video (embedded above).

Jonathan Franzen Criticizes Author Videos in New Author Video
Jonathan Franzen Goes to Washington & Meets President Barack Obama
Jonathan Franzen Tops Bad Sex in Fiction Award Nominee List

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Granta em português has just launched the search for “The Best of Young Brazilian Novelists.” The Portuguese edition of Granta is published in Brazil by Alfaguara, an imprint within Objetiva Publishing House.

Here’s more from the release: “To qualify, the writers must be under under forty and must have at least one published work or a contract to publish a novel. To apply, candidates must submit an unpublished short story or an extract of an unpublished novel. Non-fiction essays or poetry will not be considered. Submissions will be accepted from 10 July 2011 to 30 September 2011.”

The Brazilian judges include Objetiva’s publishing director Isa Pessôa, Alfaguara publisher Marcelo Ferroni, comparative literature professor Samuel Titan, literature professor Italo Moriconi, author Cristovão Tezza and writer Manuel Da Costa Pinto. The final judge will be selected by the publishers of Brazilian and British Granta.

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Deirdre Foley-Mendelssohn will join The Paris Review as senior editor.

According to a post at The Paris Review, current web editor Thessaly La Force is leaving for the Iowa Writers’ Workshop.

Currently, Foley-Mendelssohn serves as an assistant editor at The New Yorker. She has worked with several celebrated authors including Pulitzer Prize-winner Jennifer Egan, National Book Award-winner Jonathan Franzen, and novelist Zadie Smith. (Photo Credit: Maria Lokke)

For a limited time, The New Yorker will give Facebook fans free access to a Jonathan Franzen essay about his relationship with the late David Foster Wallace. Follow this link to access the essay.

Here’s an excerpt: “The people who knew David least well are most likely to speak of him in saintly terms. What makes this especially strange is the near-perfect absence, in his fiction, of ordinary love. Close loving relationships, which for most of us are a foundational source of meaning, have no standing in the Wallace fictional universe.”

What do you think about the provocative essay? Last week, we found a number of tax tips hidden inside The Pale King–Wallace’s unfinished novel about the lives of IRS agents.

Today A Visit From the Goon Squad by Jennifer Egan has won the 2011 Tournament of Books at The Morning News–a round robin competition that pits books against books every March.

A team of literary judges decided each round of the competition, and all the judges voted on the final two books: Jonathan Franzen‘s Freedom and Egan’s novel. Egan earned nine votes; Franzen earned eight.

Andrew Womack concluded the contest with this vote: “How fortunate to find two books in the championship so comparable—both spanning decades (or beyond) and heavily centered on music. For me, this decision comes down to pacing, and Franzen is the Pink Floyd to Egan’s Sex Pistols; by the end of Freedom I couldn’t take another meandering guitar solo, while I was dazzled by how much Goon Squad packed into such a compact space.”

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How many books in your Kindle library can be shared with Amazon’s new lending program? So far, Macmillan and Scholastic seem to lead the field.

This GalleyCat editor did a quick search of his own Kindle library (pictured, click to enlarge), discovering that out of ten randomly chosen titles, only two books could be shared. Both sharable titles were published by Macmillan: Freedom by Jonathan Franzen and Travels in Siberia by Ian Frazier.

Titles published by Random House, Penguin, Hachette, Pantheon, and Bellevue Literary Press can’t be shared at this time. We also checked Just Kids by Patti Smith, a HarperCollins title that can’t be shared. The complete list follows below, listing title, author, and the publisher behind the title.

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Since we last we spoke with debut author Teddy Wayne (pictured, via), we wanted to find out more about his debut novel, Kapitoil. So, we went back for a longer interview about his work and the books he recommends for aspiring writers.

Q: I do not intend to talk about your first novel, but how did you land the deal for your second novel, Kapitoil?

A: That first novel you’re not intending to talk about, which I wrote when I was 25, never saw the light of day, fortunately, but it did get me my current literary agent. For Kapitoil, it took a dispiriting round of rejections and a major revision before it garnered offers from a few different publishing houses. It was, I think, the first time in my life that adversity inspired me to work harder. I promise it will never happen again.

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In February, a team of writers will throw The World’s Most Literary Rent Party Ever to support novelist Charles Bock and his family. UPDATE: This PayPal link has been troublesome, so follow this link and click on the graphic to donate via PayPal.

Here’s more from Edward Champion: “I have learned that Charles Bock, author of Beautiful Children, and his family are now facing serious hardship. Bock’s wife, Diana, is now in the hospital with leukemia. They have a two year old daughter. The costs — physical, emotional, and financial — are quite high. Difficult even for a writer who has experienced some success. In an effort to help the Bock Family out, the literary community has come together for a special benefit that is set to go down on Sunday, February 6, 2011. At PS 122 in the East Village. Tickets are set to go on sale on January 10th.”

As you can see from the poster embedded above, Bock’s supporters include everybody from Gary Shteyngart to Rivka Galchen to Jonathan Franzen to Rick Moody. Editor’s Note: This post has been updated to include PayPal information.

In a new web video promoting the winter issue of The Paris Review, the literary journal gets an explosive makeover–complete with an announcer that should be narrating monster truck shows.

What do you think of the web video makeover for the celebrated journal? If you liked it, you should also check out the magazine’s Jonathan Franzen mash-up video.

Here’s more about the video, from the site: “A trailer for The Paris Review’s winter issue by Paul Opperman and Aaron Mirman of the Duotone Audio Group; and Chad Sipkin and Todd Stewart of Consulate Films.”

Oprah Winfrey picked a classic double header for her latest book club selection, choosing Charles Dickens‘ Great Expectations and A Tale of Two Cities.

During her announcement, Winfrey noted: “I’m going old, old school … Normally I only choose books that I have read, but I must shamefully admit to you all that I have never read Dickens.”

Winfrey will use Penguin’s new $20 paperback containing both books and nearly 800 pages. Amazon noted yesterday they have free Kindle editions of both titles. Penguin offers a $7.99 digital edition that includes illustrations, author background, and historical information.

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