No plans for changes to Roald Dahl's books in US or Europe
The news last week that editions of Roald Dahl's body of work issued by U.K. publisher Puffin Books were being edited to remove potentially offensive words including "fat,""crazy," and "mad,"...
View ArticleThe exuberant diversity of Ukrainian literature
Writing in The Millions, Timothy Walsh explores the diversity of Ukrainian literature from Anton Chekhov, Joseph Conrad and Nicolai Gogol to Isaac Babel, Sholem Aleichem, Mikhail Bulgakov and Vasily...
View ArticleBook banning: stores, authors and communities: what can we do?
"What was once an occasional distraction and disruption has increasingly become a daily occurrence," said Ray Daniels, the American Booksellers Association (ABA) chief communications officer, at the...
View ArticleBryant & May novelist Christopher Fowler has died aged 69
Christopher Fowler, author of the Bryant & May series of detective novels, has died at the age of 69, having been diagnosed with cancer three years ago. Fowler was best known for his Bryant &...
View ArticleDocumentary filmmaker Ken Burns condemns proposed Florida bill
Documentary filmmaker Ken Burns has joined a rising chorus of condemnation against a proposed Florida bill that seeks to muzzle intellectual freedom in colleges and universities. House Bill 999 is a...
View ArticleToni Morrison is memorialized on a USPS Forever stamp
The US Postal Service is honoring the late author and Nobel laureate Toni Morrison with her own Forever stamp. "It's a privilege to represent the 650,000 men and women of the Postal Service, as we...
View ArticleCut the politics. Phonics is the best way to teach reading.
People learn to talk simply through listening — to our parents talking to us and to each other, to the TV talking to the ether, to strangers on the street. But that's not how people learn to read....
View ArticleWhen handling rare books, experts say that bare, just-cleaned hands are best
People who handle rare books for a living are used to doing battle with a range of dastardly scourges, including red rot, beetles and thieves. But there is one foe that drives many of them...
View ArticleNobel laureate Kenzaburo Oe, writer of poetic fiction, dies
Nobel literature laureate Kenzaburo Oe, whose darkly poetic novels were built from his childhood memories during Japan's postwar occupation and from being the parent of a disabled son, has died. He...
View ArticleAnn Napolitano's Hello Beautiful picked as Oprah's 100th book
Ann Napolitano toiled in obscurity for years. Novels went unpublished; agents turned her down. She found recognition with "Dear Edward." Then came the call: "Hello Beautiful" was the 100th pick for...
View ArticleNational Humanities Medals awarded to seven writers
Today, twelve writers, historians, educators and activists received their 2021 National Humanities Medals from President Biden at the White House, in conjunction with the twelve 2021 National Medals...
View ArticleGunned down and burned by the Nazis: the shocking true story of Bambi
Bambi, the iconic fawn is this year celebrating a very significant birthday, it being a century since the German imprint Ullstein Verlag first published Bambi: A Life in the Woods. Written by Felix...
View ArticleALA reports shocking increase in attempted book bans in 2022
With book banning and legislative attacks on the freedom to read continuing to surge across the country, the American Library Association announced today that it tracked a stunning 1,269 "demands to...
View ArticleNBCC Awards announced including two inaugural prizes
The 2023 National Book Critics Circle Awards were presented on March 23 at the organization's first in-person ceremony since the pandemic began, once again held at the New School in New York City. The...
View ArticleNational poll finds Americans support freedom to read
Iowa's Grinnell College and Seltzer & Co., a polling company in Des Moines, which partner to conduct a national poll each year on the attitudes of Americans towards politics and political figures,...
View ArticleJudge eviscerates Internet Archive's scanning and lending program
In an emphatic 47-page opinion, federal judge John G. Koeltl found the Internet Archive infringed the copyrights of four plaintiff publishers by scanning and lending their books under a legally...
View ArticleLittle Free Library aims to eliminate book deserts
Little Free Library plans to work with local organizations to install and maintain book-sharing boxes in all communities in the U.S. that lack easy access to books, the nonprofit literacy organization...
View ArticleJudge finds Texas library's book bans unconstitutional, orders books returned
In a victory for the freedom to read, a federal judge in Austin, Tex., has found that a library board in Llano County likely infringed the constitutional rights of readers in the community by...
View ArticleThe Royal Shakespeare Company adapts Maggie O'Farrell's Hamnet
Of the numerous puzzles about William Shakespeare, those concerning his marriage to Anne Hathaway are the most tantalizing. Why did he have three children with her, then decamp to London for a life in...
View ArticleTexas county to consider shutting down library after book ban ruling
After a federal judge ordered the return of more than a dozen books improperly pulled from the Llano County Public Library shelves for their content, the county's commissioners have called a special...
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