Kurt Vonnegut is 83 today. He's been on my mind lately in part because this week I'm teaching Galapagos in class, which is one of his most unfairly underappreciated novels, and which I've really been enjoying rereading.

It's gonna be a sad day when he finally does climb up that long blue tunnel into the Afterlife. Let's hope it's a long way off. Let's hope I didn't just jinx it.

We'll celebrate's Vonnegut's birthday the Backwards City way:

The Holy Books of Bokonon

Kurt Vonnegut on the Daily Show

Vonnegut on Maher

Reviews of Books by Kurt Vonnegut from The New York Times Archive

Gerry Reviews Man without a Country

Saunders on Vonnegut.

'God Bless You, Mr. Vonnegut'

Vonnegut in In These Times (1, 2)

Two Interviews with Kurt Vonnegut

Kurt Vonnegut 1, Evolutionary Biology 0

'Requiem for a Dreamer': Kurt Vonnegut's Last Conversation with Kilgore Trout

One-Star Amazon Review of Slaughterhouse Five

And for the first time online, "Where Do You Get Your Ideas From?" from Backwards City #1: