Publishing Newsbest of lists / censorship / genre fiction / LGBTQIA fiction / Literary fiction / Star Wars5 Comments
When Popular Fiction Isn’t Popular: Genre, Literary, and the Myths of Popularity – There is a lot in this piece by Lincoln Michel to think and talk about. He goes well beyond simply arguing that the distinction between so-called genre and literary fiction is artificial; instead he takes on the whole ... more >
Publishing NewsAmazon / censorship / cognitive processes / Free Speech / internet freedom / opinion / privacy / publishing / science / security / Shakespeare / translations3 Comments
The Internet is getting less and less free – The new Freedom House Freedom on the Net 2015 Report has been released, with its its country-by-country rankings (I think the country score comparison graph on the report page is even better than the map in the Wa Po article). Iceland and Estonia ... more >
Publishing NewsAlice in Wonderland / Book-club / censorship / charity / children's literature / crafts / Disney princesses / Libraries / literary annotations / parody / Saudi ArabiaComments Off on Wednesday News: annotations, book clubs, libraries, and hot dog princesses
Down the Rabbit Hole: The rise, and rise, of literary annotation – An interesting article on literary annotations, particularly their recent re-popularization, especially for children’s literature. Evan Kindley points to the success of the website Genius, which began with annotations to rap songs, as part of the movement, and he uses the ... more >
Publishing Newsbook banning / book-covers / censorship / Ireland / librarian / literature / maps / obituary / playwright / psychology3 Comments
Brian Friel, Playwright Called the Irish Chekhov, Dies at 86 – The writer behind such classics as Dancing at Lughnasa, Faith Healer, and The Loves of Cass McGuire died last week at his home in Ireland. Before becoming a playwright, Friel contemplated becoming a priest, taught math, and wrote short stories ... more >
Publishing Newsbook criticism / censorship / Erica Jong / feminism / gender / journalism / Los Angeles Times / Newspapers / Race / reviews / Roxane Gay / Ted Dawe / YA3 Comments
Is Everyone Qualified to Be a Critic? -Adam Kirsch and Charles McGrath debate the question of criticism – namely whether there should be formal “qualifications.” McGrath laments what he seems to see as a general degradation of critical writing these days (ah, the good old days!), and argues that informed ... more >
Publishing Newsalcoholism / censorship / Ebooks / Film / gender / POD books / publishing / Race / science / screenwriting4 Comments
Mom Launches War Against Bestselling Book About Race, Science -Another day, another attack on a book. This time it’s Rebecca Skloot’s The Immortal Life of Henrietta Lacks, whose cells were taken without permission, and used in myriad scientific experiments, leading to momentous discoveries like the polio vaccine, cloning, and assisting ... more >