Jan 27 Mississippi mayor withholds library funds over LGBTQ books By Associated Press The director of a Mississippi library system says a mayor is withholding $110,000 from his city’s library because LGBTQ books are on the shelves. Continue reading
Jan 27 Holocaust novel ‘Maus’ banned in Tennessee school district By Associated Press A Tennessee school district has voted to ban a Pulitzer Prize-winning graphic novel about the Holocaust due to “inappropriate language" and an illustration of a nude woman, according to minutes from a board meeting. Continue reading
Jan 07 Rare Toni Morrison short story to be published as a book By Hillel Italie, Associated Press To much of the world the late Toni Morrison was a novelist, celebrated for such classics as “Beloved” and “The Bluest Eye.” But the Nobel laureate also completed plays, poems, essays, and a handful of short stories, one of which… Continue reading
Jan 06 Authors’ unpublished books kept getting stolen. Now, a suspect has been arrested By Deepti Hajela, Associated Press Authorities say they've solved a publishing industry whodunit with the arrest Wednesday of a man accused of numerous literary heists in recent years, allegedly impersonating others in the industry to amass a veritable library of unpublished works. Continue reading
Dec 31 ‘Winnie the Pooh,’ ‘Sun Also Rises,’ Hughes poems among works going public in 2022 By Associated Press "Winnie the Pooh" and "The Sun Also Rises" are among the works from 1926 whose copyrights will expire Saturday, putting them in the public domain in 2022. Continue reading
Dec 18 Hollywood bard, muse and reveler Eve Babitz dies at 78 By Hillel Italie, Associated Press One of Hollywood’s greatest bards, Eve Babitz, has died at age 78. With love and candor, Babitz chronicled the excess of her native world in the 1960s and 1970s and became a cult figure to generations of readers. Continue reading
Dec 12 Anne Rice, who breathed new life into vampires, dies at 80 By Jake Coyle, Associated Press Anne Rice, the novelist whose lush, best-selling gothic tales, including “Interview With a Vampire,” reinvented the blood-drinking immortals as tragic antiheroes, has died. She was 80. Continue reading
Dec 03 Meet Rosalind Franklin, a sidelined figure in the history of DNA science By Molly Finnegan In "The Secret of Life: Rosalind Franklin, James Watson, Francis Crick, and the Discovery of DNA's Double Helix," Dr. Howard Markel tells the complicated tale of what he calls one of the most egregious rip-offs in the history of science. Continue reading
Oct 21 Watch 4:00 A Brief But Spectacular take on the disability rights movement By Melissa Williams Since childhood, Judy Heumann has faced ableism — institutionally, socially, and personally. New York’s public school system prevented her from enrolling, and she was often bullied or excluded by her own peers. After a lifetime of activism, she is finally… Continue watching
Sep 17 Fiction longlist for National Book Awards includes Richard Powers, Lauren Groff By Hillel Italie, Associated Press Powers' “Bewilderment” is his first book since the Pulitzer winning “The Overstory.” Groff's “Matrix” is her third consecutive work to receive a National Book Award nomination, following “Fates and Furies” and the story collection “Florida.” Anthony Doerr's “Cloud Cuckoo Land”… Continue reading