This week marked the 150th anniversary of Charles Dickens’s death. It was nice to learn that a fancy version of one of Dickens’ most beloved novels, Oliver Twist, will be coming out soon, but man. I wish I didn’t know he’d Read more >
Dr. Ibram X. Kendi pointed out on Twitter last night that books about racism (including two of his own, How to Be an Antiracist and Stamped from the Beginning) are making up a significant portion of the New York Times bestseller lists. Read more >
The late illustrator Maurice Sendak would have turned 92 today, and I imagine he’d have had the same contagious attraction to childhood wonder that made him such a compelling storyteller. Well before his success with projects like Where the Wild Things Read more >
Poetry Foundation President Henry Bienen and Willard Bunn III, chair of its Board of Directors, have both resigned following heavy criticism from the poetry community over its response to ongoing anti-racist protests. A June 6 open letter to the Poetry Read more >
It’s been a good week for Shirley Jackson fans. First, we got a new film starring Elisabeth Moss as Jackson and now the nominees for the annual Shirley Jackson Awards are in. Since 2007, the Shirley Jackson Awards have honored the Read more >
Well, all right, let’s be honest: it’s always the perfect day to start reading Octavia Butler’s Kindred, especially if you’ve never read it before. But today, June 9th, is the day I think of as Kindred day: the day that Read more >
Another week, another brand-new batch of books to order from one of these black-owned independent bookstores! * Sam Lansky, Broken People (Hanover Square Press) “With humor, verve, and cut-to-the-bone revelations, Lansky takes readers on an enthralling adventure.” –Publishers Weekly Jennifer Worley, Neon Read more >
If you were on Twitter this weekend (and are reading this) you probably came across the #PublishingPaidMe hashtag, a place for writers to reveal what they were paid by publishers for their books. Started by author LL McKinney, #PublishingPaidMe is Read more >
For a decade, the Sunday Times Audible Short Story Award has been the most prestigious prize for a single short story. Previous winners include Kevin Barry and Yiyun Li. The honor also comes with a whopping £30,000 purse, making it Read more >
As antiracist protests continue across the country, more than 1,300 book workers are taking part today in a labor strike and day of solidarity to protest systemic racism within and outside the publishing industry. Employees of Macmillan, Simon & Schuster, Read more >
On Saturday, Denver’s beloved independent bookstore Tattered Cover released a statement “about recent events,” asserting their support for Black Lives Matter, but also defending their silence and explaining that to align the bookstore with any “public debate” is a “slippery Read more >
Over the weekend, hundreds of poets and supporters signed an open letter to the Poetry Foundation and Poetry Magazine condemning the Foundation’s “non-substantive, four-sentence statement” regarding the ongoing protests of anti-Black police violence and white supremacy, and demanding that it Read more >
Yesterday, riding my much-cheaper-than-a-Peloton bike and bobbing to Killer Mike and El-P on Run The Jewels 4, you could say I was in a mood. On the heels of Killer Mike’s speech in response to the George Floyd protests in Atlanta, Read more >
Nancy Bass Wyden, owner of New York City’s Strand Bookstore—one of the largest independent bookstores in the country—purchased stock in Amazon three times between April 6 and May 1, totaling somewhere between $115,000 and $250,000, according to Barron’s. If you’ll Read more >
Authors Kwame Alexander, Jacqueline Woodson and Jason Reynolds are leading the online Kidlit Community Rally for Black Lives, which will be streamed by The Brown Bookshelf tonight on Facebook Live and Zoom. Students ages kindergarten through 12th grade are welcome Read more >
Ibram X. Kendi, a leading scholar of antiracism and author of How to Be an Antiracist, will join Boston University to lead the BU Center for Antiracist Research. Kendi was previously a professor of history and of international relations at American Read more >
Even with their physical locations shuttered, libraries have been an invaluable resource to everyone stuck at home and desperate for new reading material. According to Time Out New York, the NYPL has seen a 864% increase in digital library card sign-ups Read more >
If your local bookstore is all sold out of its books on anti-racism, good. Finally. Backorder them for yourself. But in the meantime, the audiobook version of Ibram X. Kendi’s Stamped from the Beginning: The Definitive History of Racist Ideas Read more >
Listen to Claudia Rankine read her essay “Open to Arrival“ about the Paul Graham photograph, “Woman with Arms Outstretched (Memphis),” 2000. “Does a photograph reflect the moment before the moment realized in the title? I am beginning to wonder if Read more >
This afternoon, President Barack Obama will deliver his first on-camera address about the death of George Floyd and the ongoing protests in America and around the world in a town hall meeting hosted by My Brother’s Keeper (MBK) and entitled Read more >
