Today we visit New York City. Our guest post comes from Stephen Jabaut, a Manhattanite who is currently a blogger and also working on a few novella length projects. We can’t wait to see his works on Kbuuk in the future, but today he briefly touches on some of the literary history of his beloved city. If you are a New Yorker and would like to share your thoughts on literature and the city, we’d love to see your comments below!

Words from Gotham

New York City has long been thought of as the epicenter of all things cultural within the United States. It produces more different schools of thought than any other place in the world. It is a melting pot mecca with a piece of all worlds within. That is what makes it such a great venue for human expression.

One form of expression can be found on every avenue corner, subway stop and park pathway. It is the written word. This is evidenced by the simple fact that people are reading all over the city. (New Yorkers love to read.)

New York has produced some of the world’s most popular contributors to the written word. Hotel Chelsea, a famed little hotel in the west 20s of Manhattan has sheltered many artisans and writers in its arms over the years. Arthur C. Clarke’s 2001: A Space Odyssey, Jack Kerouac’s On the Road and many of Bob Dylan’s songs were but a few classics written in the famed Hotel Chelsea, including one of my favorites “Sara”.

Earnest Hemmingway wrote The Snows of Kilimanjaro in his apartment addressed 1 East 62^nd Street. Brooklyn has also played a role in the cities literary history. Arthur Miller completed what is thought to be one of his best plays, Death of a Salesman, at 31 Grace Ct in Fort Green.  Truman Capote wrote the much loved Hepburn claim to fame Breakfast at Tiffanies and the morbid In Cold Blood at 70 Willow St.

Where there is a market for people who read, forward thinkers will produce words to be read. New York boasts some of the largest consumer literary journals and magazines found anywhere in the world. With companies like Hearst and Conde Nast standing tall in the midtown skyline, New York holds true as a literary giant on a global scale. To continue to reach their audiences, these large companies and now small online based startups are on the rise, with many new online publications popping up within the last several years. With the advent of tablets and smartphones, many publications are branching out online to distribute their word.

There is no question that New York is one of premier creative hubs of the modern world. Its contributions to language and the written word are staggering. The works that come out of the 5 boroughs boast magazines, novels and journals that are read by people the world over. There is staggering evidence of the deep relationship New York has to the cultivation and dissemination of thought-provoking literature. And it all started right in the Big Apple.

- Stephen Jabaut

Now you too can have the opportunity to achieve the same status and notoriety of the people in the land of the published. If you have the words and the creativity within you, and the desire to actively share your work with the world, there is nothing stopping you from becoming the next Clarke, Kerouac, or Capote. Happy reading and writing, and if you’ve found your inspiration in New York, we’d like to invite you to create your Kbuuk account and start publishing today.