“Naked Lunch @ 50 is a comprehensive and exciting study of varying critical perspectives on all aspects of William S. Burroughs’ masterpiece Naked Lunch. Oliver Harris and Ian MacFadyen do an excellent job of providing the reader with an essential handbook to which they both add significant contributions… Readers interested in Burroughs, American literature, Naked Lunch, or The Beats should consider this beautifully crafted book to be as essential as an English Dictionary, to which they will return continuously over the years.” — Rami Shamir, Evergreen Review (view site)

“Naked Lunch @ 50 is an essential work, comparable in importance to the annotated Howl or the Viking Press publication of the scroll version of On the Road… As a cultural resource of the first order, Oliver Harris and Ian MacFadyen have provided, with their interstitial commentaries and the scholarly essays they have chosen to include, the most revealing and penetrating analyses of Burroughs’s masterwork.” — John Tytell, American Book Review (read review)

“This handsome volume succeeds admirably as a Criticism Hoard, comparable to Burroughs’ own Word Hoard: helpful for struggling novice readers and an exhilarating source of inspiration for scholars, teachers, Beat studies specialists and admirers of Naked Lunch and William S. Burroughs.” — Katharine Streip, Beat Studies Association (view site)

“What is it that is so good about this book? Well to begin with, except here and there, it completely eschews an academic approach to its subject. What we have instead are personal documents registering the impact Naked Lunch has had on its contributors - many of whom are creative figures in their own right. And there is such a wide variety of these that it in fact becomes a pleasure to turn the pages of this book and go from one writer to the next, knowing that what you’ll get is something different from what you’ve just had.” — Richard Livermore, Chroma (view site)

“Absolutely essential for any self-respecting reader of William Burroughs.” — Colin Cooper, Beat Scene (view site)

“The people who have come here to mark the Burroughs anniversary and to remember Beat culture, are attending a host of events and exhibitions. But for many of them, the highlight is the pilgrimage to a thin street on the Left Bank, to that beat-up refuge of creativity, the Beat Hotel itself.” — Christine Finn, BBC (view site or listen to podcast)

“This year marks the 50th anniversary of the original publication of Naked Lunch, by William S Burroughs. Given the book’s ongoing influence it goes without saying that this is a significant milestone… It’s this that makes it required reading for literary hipsters 50 years after it first hit the stands. This is also why the anniversary of its publication, be it that of its original appearance in France or its more important US debut, is such a worthwhile event to commemorate.” — Rob Woodard, The Guardian (view site)

“This July, in Paris, nakedlunch.org will host events celebrating the 50th anniversary of Naked Lunch; come autumn New York joins in as well.” — Alex Needham, New York Times (view site)

“Fans of the US beat writer William Burroughs gathered in Paris on Wednesday to mark the 50th anniversary of his explicit cult novel The Naked Lunch, unveiling a plaque at the former Left Bank flophouse where he wrote it. Conferences and readings in his honour, drawing ‘Burroughsians’ from several countries, were to follow the unveiling at the Hotel du Vieux Paris.” — Agence France-Presse (view site)

“When Jack Kerouac and Allen Ginsberg were studying at Columbia in the early 1940s, they didn’t learn much from its world-class faculty. Instead, they sought their education from an older, wiser, narcotics junkie: William S. Burroughs. On Friday afternoon, in a nice twist of irony, Burroughs and his two ex-Columbia mentees were celebrated at Columbia’s Faculty House…” — Columbia Spectator (view site)

“‘As time passes, the list of people still living who actually knew Burroughs one on one is dwindling. It so happens that a great concentration of those people are found in Lawrence,’ says James Grauerholz, personal secretary and longtime companion of Burroughs.” — Lawrence Journal-World (view site)

“Fifty years ago this month, the William Burroughs novel Naked Lunch was first published in Paris. It was unlike anything many readers had ever encountered, and controversy soon followed. Today: how Naked Lunch’s frank subject matter, unusual storytelling technique, and dark humor influenced artists like Laurie Anderson, Sonic Youth, and Joy Division. Guests include author Michael Azerrad and artist DJ Spooky, who once collaborated with Burroughs and contributed an essay to the new book Naked Lunch @50: Anniversary Essays.” — WNYC (view site)

“Conferences commemorating the book are planned for early July in Paris, where a collection of essays about Naked Lunch will be released by eminent Burroughs scholars Oliver Harris and Ian MacFayden. This will be followed by an October conference in New York City. Slowly but surely, the book is drifting away from being only in the realm of fan fiction into full-fledged inclusion in the literary canon.” — Dave Teeuwen, PopMatters (view site)