It’s officially Memorial Day weekend, AKA the unofficial start of summer, and I am feeling very much like I should be sipping a fruity drink on a hot porch somewhere, listening to sunny earworms and tanning my feet, as somewhere Read more >
In the opening pages of José Saramago’s 1995 novel Blindness, a man is driving home when he suddenly goes blind. The blindness has no apparent cause, physical or otherwise—but it quickly reveals itself to be contagious: soon everyone who was Read more >
Yesterday, the National Coalition Against Censorship released a letter to the Board of Education of Columbus County Schools in Whiteville, North Carolina, condemning their position on restricting use of Laurin Mayeno’s children’s book One of a Kind, Like Me / Read more >
A volume of 31 handwritten poems by Emily Brontë, with pencil corrections by Charlotte Brontë, is going up for auction at Sotheby’s along with other rare Brontë-affiliated manuscripts and other works collected by Alfred and William Law. Sotheby’s has valued Read more >
Yes, it might seem a little late in May for an Asian Pacific American Heritage Month reading list. This is partially due to my extreme procrastination, partially due to the fact that I kept wanting to add more names, but Read more >
I love Eric Carle, and like many others, I was saddened to hear he had died this past weekend. I own a lot of Eric Carle books. This is because we are an Eric Carle family. Before my son could Read more >
On this day in 2011, the groundbreaking American poet, author, and jazz musician Gil Scott-Heron died. He was 62. Born in Chicago in 1949, Scott-Heron became well known for his 1970 song, “The Revolution Will Not Be Televised.” The song Read more >
On Wednesday, the family of Eric Carle announced that the beloved author and illustrator died this week, in Northampton, Massachusetts, at the age of 91. Carle was, of course, best known for his 1969 classic The Very Hungry Caterpillar, which Read more >
The news out of Moscow/wherever Netflix is headquartered today is that the streaming giant has set a contemporary reimagining of Anna Karenina as its first-ever Russian original drama series. For the ignorant among you, Leo Tolstoy’s epic 1878 novel—considered by Read more >
Roxane Gay is not just an acclaimed writer, she’s a champion of writers: she’s edited The Best American Short Stories, founded Gay Magazine, and launched the Audacious Book Club to promote reading and discussion of powerful new literary voices. Now, Read more >
A Canadian scholar seems to think so. In what might be the discovery of the “world’s most valuable book,” Professor Robert Weir is claiming a pattern of evidence suggesting that a copy of Horace’s Odes, published in 1575, once belonged Read more >
Some literary award news from across the pond: the winners of this year’s Jhalak Prize—an annual award for a British or British-resident writer of color—have been revealed. At last night’s virtual ceremony, Ugandan novelist and short story writer Jennifer Nansubuga Read more >
Exciting news for Ragtime fans, or fans of glamorous apartments: the pre-war Midtown East co-op where E.L. Doctorow wrote his final three novels is on sale for $2.1 million. The 3000-square-foot apartment contains Doctorow’s office; two en-suite bedrooms with walk-in Read more >
Prolific author, radio DJ, and T-shirt designer Haruki Murakami has a reputation for being somewhat reclusive—but that doesn’t mean he’s managed to avoid controversy entirely. Though he’s been praised for his characterization of the female narrator of “Sleep,” every so Read more >
Raymond Carver was born 83 years ago, in Clatskanie, Oregon. Later, he would cement his position as one of America’s greatest and most beloved writers and poets, a true master of the short story form. Carver is one of those Read more >
If you were a kid in the 90s living in the US, you can probably trace your love of reading to the promise of free Personal Pan Pizzas. In case you’re not part of Twitter’s most vocal demographic, BOOK IT! Read more >
Eighteen new books coming in hot! Any book is a beach read if you read it on the beach, right? * Salman Rushdie, Languages of Truth (Random House) “Formidably erudite, engagingly passionate, and endlessly informative: a literary treat.” –Kirkus Steven Read more >
In the popular imagination, the LARPer is a figure of fun: a nerd transplanted from their Dungeons & Dragons game into a real-life clearing, dressed in wizard robes or elf ears, possibly a wand or foam sword in hand. But Read more >
Looks like Boris Johnson was inspired by Shakespeare’s quarantine productivity: according to The Sunday Times, Dominic Cummings—former aide to the prime minister, Brexit leader, and COVID-positive road-tripper—plans to claim in a COVID-related parliamentary inquiry on Wednesday that Johnson skipped numerous Read more >
Today marks the announcement of Ink & Blood, a new joint imprint from Kaya Press and the Diasporic Vietnamese Artist Network (DVAN), focused on the publication of diasporic Vietnamese literature in English. The first book to be translated in the Read more >
