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News, Notes, Talk

The Witches looks just as zany as any late-1990s Disney Halloween movie.

It would be difficult to dethrone Anjelica Huston as Campy Horror Flick Queen, but Anne Hathaway is giving it a shot in the upcoming film adaptation of Roald Dahl’s 1983 children’s novel, The Witches. The original tale was about a young Read more >

By Aaron Robertson

Here are the best reviewed books of the week.

Marilynne Robinson’s Jack, Nick Hornby’s Just Like You, Matt Haig’s The Midnight Library, and Mariah Carey’s The Meaning of Mariah Carey all feature among the Best Reviewed Books of the Week. Brought to you by Book Marks, Lit Hub’s “Rotten Tomatoes Read more >

By Book Marks

Irish poet Derek Mahon has died, but he left behind this lyric of hope.

Derek Mahon, one of Ireland’s greatest contemporary poets, has died at the age at the age of 78. A host of Irish writers, including the country’s president Michael D. Higgins, have today been paying tribute to Mahon, with perhaps the Read more >

By Dan Sheehan

Everyone's looking up "schadenfreude" in the dictionary today. Wonder why?

Today, Merriam-Webster observed that word searches for “schadenfreude” had spiked 30,500% after President Donald Trump announced his positive COVID-19 diagnosis—and the word was included in several news stories and headlines about the diagnosis and the global reaction. Merriam-Webster defines the Read more >

By Rasheeda Saka

A response: Aminatta Forna on why she signed the letter condemning the online abuse of JK Rowling.

I signed the letter condemning the online abuse of JK Rowling along with a number of other writers. I did it because I am sick of trolls and because most women in public life have been the subject of threats Read more >

By Aminatta Forna

See highlights from James A. Michener's enormous abstract art collection.

This weekend, the Blanton Museum of Art at the University of Texas, Austin is opening a new major exhibition, Expanding Abstraction: Pushing the Boundaries of Painting in the Americas, 1958–1983. The exhibition concentrates on the abstract, nonrepresentational forms and experimental Read more >

By Emily Temple

Ahem: Here is a poem about J.J. Abrams making a Dr. Seuss movie.

Congratulations! Today is your day! You’re off to great places! Like a galaxy far, far away! J.J. Abrams of Star Wars fame has arrived. And he is bringing you a big surprise! Oh, The Places You’ll Go! is coming to the Read more >

By Katie Yee

2020 is the year of enormous pink lady faces on book covers.

This year has brought a lot of things, and most of them have been bad. One good thing, though, is there has been quite been a lot of innovative, beautiful, and fascinating book cover design, including, I’ve recently noticed, a book Read more >

By Emily Temple

What could 2020 possibly have in store for the Nobel Prizes?

Hi. Welcome to Nobel Prize speculation season, which used to be a fun time when all us serfs in the kingdom of letters would curl up around our pumpkin-spiced vodka tonics and dredge up charming old world poets and Philip Read more >

By Jonny Diamond

Here's the shortlist for the Center for Fiction's 2020 First Novel Prize.

Today the Center for Fiction announced the shortlist for its 2020 First Novel Prize. The prize, first awarded in 2006, recognizes the best debut fiction of the year, and it comes with $15,000; each finalist receives $1,000. Previous winners include Read more >

By Rasheeda Saka

Jamia Wilson and Kevin Young just became two of the most powerful figures in the literary world.

Let’s start with the good news—incredible news, really. Poet Kevin Young and publisher Jamia Wilson, two influential African-American gatekeepers in the book and media sectors, are about to take on illustrious new jobs. Young, currently the poetry editor for the Read more >

By Aaron Robertson

Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez and Elizabeth Warren stand in solidarity with The New Yorker union.

Here’s a much-needed palate cleanser after last night’s debate, and a reminder that solidarity works: in a show of support for The New Yorker‘s union, which is in the middle of a contract dispute with management, Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez and Read more >

By Corinne Segal

"Any sort of drug distorts it." Truman Capote on writing under the influence.

Truman Capote—the man who created Holly Golightly, wrote the most famous true crime book of all time, sparred with Gore Vidal, and threw the party to end all parties—would have turned 96 today. Capote’s final years were spent in and Read more >

By Dan Sheehan

So you've watched all the TV there is. Now what should you read?

In March, when it became clear that we were all going to be in quarantine for a long while, I thought maybe I’d use the time to become an extremely well-rounded and productive person. Maybe I’d get really into running Read more >

By Katie Yee

Our terrible year of open letters continues: JK Rowling edition.

Pandemic? Depression? The rapid destabilization of one of the richest countries in the world? No, 2020 will likely go down in history as the year we had way too many open letters. Today sees an open letter in response to Read more >

By Jonny Diamond

Tremble, puny book awards, before the awesome power of Obama's memoir.

You may be one of the world’s most prestigious and coveted literary awards, with a half-century of iconic literary figures in you corner, but you—yes you, anthropomorphized Booker Prize statuette—are no match for the ungodly might of the Obama Publishing Machine. Read more >

By Dan Sheehan