Monthly Archives: May 2022

George Plimpton

Moleskine notebooks, used by artists and writers alike (Vincent Van Gogh, Bruce Chatwin and Pablo Picasso among them) come with a premium price tag

Yellow Legal Pads have long been the starting blocks of many a great book. Maya Angelou loved them, saying “I have written 31 books, essays, plays and lyrics for songs – all on yellow pads.” In fact, she’s said a lot about the things, among them: “I see a yellow pad, and my knees get weak, and I salivate.” When American journalist George Plimpton interviewed her for The Paris Review, his opening gambits was: “You once told me that you write lying on a made-up bed with a bottle of sherry, a dictionary, Roget’s Thesaurus, yellow pads, an ashtray, and a Bible.”