For all those Concerned Citizens who have been up at night worrying about The Censorship of Woody Allen—yes folks, they’re out there, I get emails—take heart: Allen’s memoir, dropped earlier this month by Grand Central after employees walked out en Read more >
“Lena Dunham is writing a novel” would be a thoroughly unsurprising (if ill-timed) announcement. But “Lena Dunham is writing a serialized, Choose-Your-Own-Adventure-style novel” is slightly more interesting! According to Vogue, which will publish the daily installments, the project is “in Read more >
This week, actor Michael Gaston started #readasonnet, challenging his friends and colleagues directly to share sonnets with the world. Now actors are performing sonnets (and not just by William Shakespeare) in their homes and putting them online to soothe us Read more >
As a result of the spread of COVID-19, every responsible person in this country (and honestly, in the world) should be practicing serious social distancing right now. It’s not easy, of course—but it’s a little easier when you know you Read more >
This year’s female-dominated Windham-Campbell Prize recipients illustrate the richness of literature’s diversity and depth among authors whose work explores urgent topics across identity, culture, power, and class. In poetry, British-Indian poet Bhanu Kapil is known for exploring questions of trauma, Read more >
In a strange but delightful turn of events, actress Jennifer Ehle, beloved for her turn as Elizabeth Bennet in the 1995 BBC Pride and Prejudice series, was spotted reading from the opening of the novel on Instagram live. Omg, Jennifer Ehle has Read more >
There is some truly wonderful news coming out of New York City this afternoon. The New York Public Library’s Schomburg Center for Research in Black Culture, one of the world’s leading institutions to document African American history and culture, has Read more >
In my pre-pandemic life, I rolled my eyes at the franchising of absolutely everything (except, of course, The Fast and the Furious, because you can’t argue with entertainment). Now, though, I’m finding comfort in familiar universes. Is this a flimsy Read more >
Are you desperately searching for proof that there is, in fact, still goodness in this crazy, mixed-up, pandemic-cowed world? You are? Well then, might I direct your attention to this Chicago neighborhood street corner? Seen in my Chicago neighborhood. Sign Read more >
Today, The Paris Review launched a new way to make good use of some of that extra alone time: by browsing the Author Index, which is exactly what it sounds like. They call it “a comprehensive resource featuring every author Read more >
We’re on the lookout for Nice Things at the moment, and “beloved chefs helping you make the most of your socially distanced pantry” is the perfect combination of heartwarming and actually useful. While the grocery stores in my neighborhood remain Read more >
Bookshop.org, an alternative to Amazon that shares proceeds from book sales with independent bookstores, will give more money to those stores in response to the coronavirus pandemic and its impact on small businesses. Bookshop announced today that it would increase Read more >
Never let anyone tell you a period of global anxiety isn’t a great time to pick a fight over plagiarism. After author Anne Giwa-Amu recently put a video on YouTube accusing Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie of plagiarizing her 1996 novel Sade for Adichie’s 2006 hit Half of Read more >
With many of us holed up in our homes indefinitely, and the list of school closures growing daily, two online initiatives are rallying authors and celebrities to post videos of themselves reading children’s stories out loud. This week, Romper launched Read more >
If you’re feeling alone and listless, or even if you simply have a few extra hours a week all of a sudden, I’ve got some good news for you. Starting tomorrow, Wednesday, March 18, brilliant novelist Yiyun Li will be Read more >
So, things are really weird and horrible right now, but as Jonny Diamond wrote in his editor’s note, “Books are how we bear witness to life, even as they divert us from its darkest days.” Amazingly, books are still coming Read more >
About a month after a flurry of reports revealed that Amazon had started to remove more Nazi propaganda from its bookstore, the company has announced an official ban on most editions of Mein Kampf along with other Nazi-themed books. Jim Waterson, Read more >
It will be a long time before we know the full effects of the coronavirus pandemic, but it’s already clear that its impact has been immediate and uniquely horrific for freelance artists, writers, and other gig workers in the US, Read more >
Though most bookstores are closing their doors to the public, you can still buy books from them! And because you believe in our shared responsibility to preserve the wellbeing of those most vulnerable among us, you’re staying home and reading Read more >
Day one of “in the house school” for my three year old began (at 7am) with him playing teacher, asking me what I had for breakfast (nothing, because somehow at eight months pregnant I’m still morning sick) and then him Read more >
