For the past 20 years, the AKO Caine Prize for African Writing has encouraged and spotlighted the diversity and power of African writing. Every year, the prize goes to an African writer of a short story published in English. (Why Read more >
The Victorian writer George Eliot, whose true name was Mary Ann Evans, was the subject of much gossip during her lifetime, as well as after her death. She, the daughter of a land agent who rose to literary prominence in Read more >
Sarah Bernhardt was an actress in a category of her own. Mark Twain (quoted in the program for Bernhardt’s 1912-1913 American tour) famously said “There are five kinds of actresses: bad actresses, fair actresses, good actresses, great actresses, and Sarah Read more >
You may already know Te-Ping Chen from her short story “Lulu,” which was published in The New Yorker last year. Now, Chen’s debut collection, Land of Big Numbers, which is coming from HMH in February 2021, has a gorgeous cover, Read more >
On May 18th, 1897, one day before Oscar Wilde would finish a two-year prison sentence for “gross indecency” with men, the author took a cab with two warders from Reading Gaol to wait for a London-bound train. Were it up Read more >
Remember March? You know, a million years ago? During the month in which most places in the US began to shut down and enforce social distancing, book sales, unsurprisingly, suffered, with one notable exception: audiobooks. The Association of American Publishers Read more >
To be young, gifted, and black Oh, what a lovely, precious dream To be young, gifted, and black Open your heart to what I mean –Nina Simone, “To Be Young, Gifted, and Black,” after Lorraine Hansberry Lorraine Hansberry—the iconic playwright Read more >
Stephin Merrit (the primary lyricist of the on again/off again Magnetic Fields) is essentially a master of microfictions, so it’s no surprise that the band’s new album, Quickies, is inspired by the stories of Lydia Davis (who is, in fact, Read more >
The temptation to start hanging out with real live people is strong. Despite being the epicenter of the worst global pandemic in a century even New York state is starting to reopen. I’m not going to get into the terrifying Read more >
For the past 20 years, the New York Public Library has been celebrating the work of young writers with the Young Lions Fiction Award, which is given annually to an American writer age 35 and younger. Past winners include Amelia Read more >
On Wednesdays we wear pink, but on Tuesdays we celebrate the new books that are coming into the world. We also order them from our local independent bookstores or on bookshop.org. * Curtis Sittenfeld, Rodham (Random House) “Rodham is a nauseating, Read more >
Virtual Author Series: Emma Straub and Judy Blume Monday, May 18, 7pm EDT Books & Books and the Miami Book Fair present Emma Straub and Judy Blume in celebration of Straub’s new novel All Adults Here. The authors and booksellers Read more >
We talk a big game about how much we love public libraries, but it turns out there exists a tier of library love that we had never previous considered: converting half of your house to a beautiful, minimalist public(!) library. Read more >
“I resisted. I would not die. I could not.” Katherine Anne Porter—the Pulitzer Prize- and National Book Award-winning author of Ship of Fools and Pale Horse, Pale Rider—was born 130 years ago today in Indian Creek, Texas, and should, by Read more >
Most of my friends were very disappointed when, on their eleventh birthdays, they received no letter from Hogwarts. Me? I was always more of a Lightning Thief kind of girl. (Don’t @ me!) To all my fellow Percy Jackson fans who Read more >
In the literary world, blurbs are a fraught business. These days they’re an industry standard, and writers and publishers need them to promote their books, but they are, above all else, a favor economy, and lots of people sort of Read more >
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