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News, Notes, Talk

Keanu Reeves and China Mieville co-wrote a novel! Noam Chomsky! 19 new books out today.

If you’ve been following the news, July has been quite a month. A lot has happened, some of it sudden and startling, and the idea of focusing, instead, on what I’d like to read next feels pretty good. With that Read more >

By Gabrielle Bellot

Florida’s Commissioner of Education thinks Jane Austen was an American.

When I think of America, some of the first things that pop into my mind are the domestic affairs of the landed elites, dancing a cotillion with your social equals, and enjoying that all-American treat: Mr. Bingley’s white soup, made Read more >

By James Folta

Should you read Keanu Reeves's novel?

In case you missed it: Keanu Reeves has published a novel. Yes, it’s true: the internet’s boyfriend has teamed up with China Miéville, one of the great speculative fiction writers of all time, to produce a novel set in the Read more >

By Drew Broussard

100+ translators call for PEN America to relinquish control of the Heim Fund.

Over 100 of the country’s most prominent literary translators—including Esther Allen, Susan Bernofsky, Peter Cole, Jennifer Croft, Damion Searls, and Natasha Wimmer—have signed an open letter to the PEN America Board of Trustees, calling for the transfer of the PEN/Heim Read more >

By Dan Sheehan

Meet the writers who garden against time.

Olivia Laing’s new essay collection, The Garden Against Time: In Search of a Common Paradise, takes a deep look at the garden as enclave, rebel outpost, and a site for exploring “communal dreams.” Essays in the book consider the benefits of practicing nurture. Read more >

By Brittany Allen

Russian missiles destroyed one of Ukraine’s largest book-printing presses.

Photo by Laurel Chor and NPR NPR reports that this May, the printing press Factor Druk in the Ukrainian city of Kharkiv was devastated by a Russian missile attack, taking the lives of seven employees and wounding more than 20 Read more >

By James Folta

Good news! PEN America’s staff union has reached a tentative contract agreement.

PEN America United has won a tentative, first bargaining agreement with PEN America management after a long, 21-month negotiation. The announcement also comes two weeks after the entire membership voted unanimously to authorize a strike if it became necessary. We’re Read more >

By James Folta

8 bike books to read before the Tour de France ends.

If you have any cycling fans in your life, you know that many of us have been glued to the Tour de France for the last three weeks. After today’s grueling mountain section, there are only a few days of Read more >

By James Folta

Here's the shortlist for the 2024 Ursula K. Le Guin Prize for Fiction.

The Ursula K. Le Guin Literary Trust has announced the shortlist for the third annual Ursula K. Le Guin Prize for Fiction. The Ursula K. Le Guin Prize for Fiction is an annual $25,000 cash prize given to a writer for a Read more >

By Emily Temple

Judy Blume! Halle Butler! Narnia for grown-ups! 23 new books out today.

It’s the middle of July already! What a July it’s been so far, much less what a 2024 it’s been. If you need to sit back and process it all for a bit in the background while you read something Read more >

By Gabrielle Bellot

Workshops for Gaza has raised over $10,000 for Palestinians in need.

An inspiring group of autonomous writers, artists, and educators have begun organizing online workshops as a way to raise money for Palestinians in Gaza and “divest knowledge and skills from the universities that have been complicit in genocide.” Inspired by the Read more >

By Dan Sheehan

Americans' confidence in higher education has taken a nosedive.

According to a new Gallup poll, Americans are losing the thread with higher education. Confidence in college has taken a nosedive, with one out of three poll responders claiming they have “little or no confidence” in higher education. This contrasts Read more >

By Brittany Allen

Rejoice! We're getting a new Zora Neale Hurston novel.

This winter, our eyes will be watching the shelves. That’s right, people. A previously unpublished book from the late genius Zora Neale Hurston is coming out in 2025. That book will be released on January 7th, 2025—to mark what would Read more >

By Brittany Allen

Take a peek inside the new Interior Chinatown adaptation.

Charles Yu’s genre and form-bending novel Interior Chinatown is getting a streaming adaptation, and the studio has released a few photos offering an… interior look. The National Book Award winner follows Willis Wu as he struggles to become the protagonist Read more >

By James Folta

How to pick the perfect book to read on a plane.

I recently took some long flights and found myself puzzling over which books to bring along for the plane ride. So here, in no particular order, are a few guiding principles to help you compile your in-flight library. I’m dedicating Read more >

By James Folta

20 Canadian authors have withdrawn from the Scotiabank Giller Prize.

Twenty Canadian authors have withdraw their books and labor from the Scotiabank Giller Prize until it severs its ties to companies “complicit in Israel’s ongoing occupation, displacement and murder of Palestinians.” In a letter to the Giller foundation published earlier Read more >

By Dan Sheehan