On this day in 1964, Shel Silverstein’s The Giving Tree was published. As children’s classics go, this one is divisive: it is about noble self-sacrifice? Generosity turned to martyrdom, run amuck? Millennial parent burnout??? Silverstein himself said of the book, “It’s about Read more >
Exclusive rights to the late Sue Grafton’s popular alphabet book series featuring private investigator Kinsey Millhone—A is for Alibi and so on—have sold to A+E Studios. Now, the studio can develop the entirety of the series for television. Steve Humphrey, Read more >
Congratulations to Tanzanian novelist Abdulrazak Gurnah, who was announced this morning as the winner of the 2021 Nobel Prize in Literature, for “for his uncompromising and compassionate penetration of the effects of colonialism and the fate of the refugee in Read more >
Parents and educators have tried many different tactics to get children to read—games, star charts, personalized books. Now, Roanoke County Public Library is trying something new, which seems both incredibly effective and a little dystopian: encouraging children to read by Read more >
Do you happen to have at least £40,000 ($54,216.32) at your disposal? Are you in need of a bridge that has literary significance? Well then, place your bid to buy Posingford Bridge, otherwise known as Poohsticks Bridge. The bridge, located Read more >
As Americans get vaccinated and pandemic restrictions are lifted, theaters are opening up and announcing new programming. Last week, LA’s Center Theatre Group announced the 2021-22 season for their two theaters, the Mark Taper Forum and the Kirk Douglas Theater, Read more >
If you thought the Kidney story was bad, imagine the long-form journalism that Robert Kolker could have written about Savinien de Cyrano de Bergerac, the actual guy whose life (real and imagined) is the subject of Edmond Rostand’s Cyrano de Read more >
If there was one band that dominated the soundtrack of a 1980s childhood on the wrong side of outer-suburban Toronto, it was Rush. Particularly if you had older brothers who smoked a lot of pot. To be honest, though, we Read more >
This week, SP Books, a press which primarily publishes manuscripts, will release facsimiles of the handwritten manuscript of The Grapes of Wrath. The manuscript, currently stored in the University of Virginia’s archives, reveals information previously unknown to casual readers about Read more >
Attention literary gamblers and other people who like losing money: the 2021 Nobel Prize in Literature will be announced this Thursday, October 7 at 7:00 EST, and the bookies are open. The winner will receive a Nobel Prize diploma, a Read more >
Literary Hub is pleased to reveal the cover for Freshwater and The Death of Vivek Oji author Akwaeke Emezi’s debut poetry collection, Content Warning: Everything, which will be published by Copper Canyon Press this spring. Here’s how Copper Canyon describes Read more >
Fatimah Nyeema Warner, otherwise known as Noname, has become a fierce advocate for literacy. The Chicago rapper, who generated buzz after appearing on Chance the Rapper’s 2013 mixtape Acid Rap, launched her synonymous book club in July of 2019. Noname Read more >
It’s a well known fact that an 18-year-old Mary Shelley (then still Mary Wollstonecraft, after her mother) wrote Frankenstein at Lord Byron’s house (actually a rented mansion on Lake Geneva) after the poet, during a streak of bad weather, challenged Read more >
Today, the National Book Foundation announced the twenty-five finalists for the 2021 National Book Awards—five each in the categories of fiction, nonfiction, translated literature, poetry, and young people’s literature. This year’s winners will be announced live on Wednesday, November 17th Read more >
Fall may be here, but October sure is coming in hot with these new books—including titles from Tracy K. Smith, David Sedaris, Miriam Toews, Eugene Lim, Claire Vaye Watkins, and (oh, yes) Jonathan Franzen. * Jonathan Franzen, Crossroads (FSG) “His Read more >
Today, Hulu announced that it has ordered a nine-episode limited series adaptation of Esi Edugyan’s Booker-shortlisted novel Washington Black. Sterling K. Brown (This is Us, Black Panther) will star in the series; he’s also executive producing under his Indian Meadow Read more >
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