I must have been in high school when I first spotted Gore Vidal’s name on one of the tomes that were his historical novels. Vidal: a man I vaguely knew as one of those figures who had loomed large decades before Read more >
Every year on “a Wednesday in mid-June,” the Royal Society of Literature celebrates the work and legacy of Virginia Woolf. This year, Dalloway Day falls on Wednesday, June 17th (the day after Bloomsday, if you want to make a week Read more >
Back in the Spring of 2018, having already conquered the worlds of music, film, TV, video gaming, and professional wrestling, 4x NBA champion and basketball’s largest greatest renaissance man Shaquille O’Neal—aka “Shaq” aka “The Diesel” aka “Shaq Fu” aka “The Big Daddy” aka Read more >
I am all for more silliness in literature, so I was absolutely delighted by the announcement that Hilary Mantel’s forthcoming collection of essays, book reviews, and memoir, which will be published in early October by 4th Estate Books and the Read more >
Internet Archive’s National Emergency Library initiative, which made more than 1.3 million books available online for free, will end early as publishers sue for copyright infringement. The nonprofit began offering free books during March as the coronavirus pandemic forced Americans Read more >
Think you’ve made good use of the COVID lockdown? Is your sourdough starter in decent shape? Did you achieve Inbox Zero? Has your home gym kept you fighting fit? Congratulations! Those are all admirable achievements and certainly nothing to be Read more >
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 >
