The global creep of fascism continues apace with news of German far-right party AfD (Alternative for Germany) distributing racist coloring books at a rally last weekend. And lest you dismiss the AfD as a bunch of fringe asshats (I mean, Read more >
The Authors Guild, whose “mission is to support working writers,” and “advocate for the rights of writers by supporting free speech, fair contracts, and copyright” commissioned an in-depth look at what it means to be a professional writer in the Read more >
It’s hard to imagine how people wrote novels (or blog posts) before the advent of the cut and paste function. (Don’t @ me, Luddites.) Cut/paste is a gift to anyone who doesn’t necessarily want to kill every darling, but would Read more >
It’s an exciting year for the Los Angeles Times Book Prizes! This will be its 40th year of celebrating the literary community. The Times announced their 2019 Book Prize finalists today; the winners will be announced at a ceremony in Read more >
Is there anything LeBron James can’t do? Before you attempt to form a response, let me save you some time; the answer, of course, is no. Case in point: HarperCollins yesterday announced a two-book deal with the LeBron James Foundation. James’ Read more >
Early retirements, compassion fatigue, and burnout: these are the issues that are currently affecting public librarians as they attempt to take on the work of caring for their visitors’ mental health as well as their day-to-day jobs, according to School Read more >
From the archives: a clip from Ship’s Reporter, a talk show that aired from 1948-1952, in which Jack Mangan interviews Carson McCullers about The Member of the Wedding. . . on a ship. At the beginning of the interview, McCullers Read more >
Yes, as it turns out, Miss Havisham, the aggrieved and decrepit antagonist of Charles Dickens’s novel Great Expectations—the wealthy lady who has never taken off the wedding dress she wore when her fiancé jilted her at the alter a lifetime Read more >
The Aspen Institute has just announced the shortlist for their Aspen Words Literary Prize, an annual award honoring a work of fiction that highlights important contemporary issues. This year’s finalists were selected by Alexander Chee, Amy Garmer, Saeed Jones, Helen Read more >
Literary Hub is pleased to announce that submissions are now open for the fourth annual Honey & Wax Book Collecting Prize, which awards $1,000 to an outstanding book collection conceived and built by a young woman, aged 30 or younger, Read more >
Today would have been Toni Morrison’s 89th birthday, and if you can’t make it to one of the many celebrations going on in her honor around the country, you should at least indulge in reading her words—and also, perhaps, in Read more >
Deadline earlier today reported the truly stupendous news that Oscar- and Tony-winning playwright and filmmaker (and current squeeze of the all-conquering Phoebe Waller-Bridge) Martin McDonagh will soon be reuniting his In Bruges stars Colin Farrell and Brendan Gleeson for The Banshees of Inisheer, Read more >
According to Vulture, a juror in the Harvey Weinstein rape and sexual assault trial narrowly avoided being dismissed because of [checks notes] her positive review of the novel My Dark Vanessa. The juror had published a review of My Dark Vanessa—which Read more >
I am ready. I have repented my sins and soon I will be in heaven with Christ my savior. Now I must die like a man. –Marshal Rooster Cogburn, True Grit Charles Portis, the reclusive one-time newspaperman and author Read more >
Today, February 18th, 2020, would have been Toni Morrison’s 89th birthday. Though she lived a full life, her death last summer felt unusually abrupt for many people, myself included. I had seen The Pieces I Am, a moving documentary about Read more >
Every week, the TBR pile grows a little bit more. It’s getting precarious. It’s taking up your whole nightstand. It’s threatening to crush you in your sleep. Well, what are you waiting for? Get cracking. What are you reading this Read more >
A letter to the editor of a local paper in central Maine published this morning offers a snapshot of the barriers to reading that can still exist in communities with public libraries—and how those barriers are affecting one person who’s Read more >
Once, years ago, on a drive through rural east Galway, I heard a radio advertisement for a warehouse sale taking place that week. “Everyone’s talking about ceramic tiles and low cost wooden flooring!” it boasted. Well, the time of flooring Read more >
There comes a time in every parent’s life when they briefly think, “Wow, I bet I could easily write and publish a really great children’s book and make a lot of money.” Thankfully, most do not even try… Not so Read more >
Who says that two opposing impulses can’t be true, or that a country can’t be simultaneously defined by its patterns of inclusion and exclusion? Today, as The New York Times reports, the Trump administration is sending border patrol agents to sanctuary cities Read more >
