W. David Marx diagnoses 25 years of creative stagnation in a new cultural history. Presumably the irony of launching a fresh cultural critique about the death of cultural innovation isn't lost on anyone involved. — Artnet
“It has long been recognized that newspaper obituaries hold value for communities, documenting lives and preserving local history. Their significance is rarely debated. Their value to the business of news and in sustaining local newsrooms is far less understood.” - Reynolds Journalism Institute
Machine-generated novels and coloring books are flooding the marketplace, but they're missing literature's secret ingredient—artistic ego. Turns out readers might actually miss all that human neurosis and creative self-importance after all. — LitHub
For more than a century, scientific journals have been the pipes through which knowledge of the natural world flows into our culture. Now they’re being clogged with AI slop. - The Atlantic
Women are rewriting the rules of sword-and-sorcery, trading testosterone-fueled quests for romance-driven adventures. Publishers are discovering that dragons plus dating equals dollars—who knew female readers wanted both magic and meaningful relationships? — The Conversation
ChatGPT has writers channeling their inner folk hero, hammer in hand. But as Stephen Marche notes, we've been dancing with technological muses long before algorithms—typewriters, anyone? — LitHub
“Is listening to a book while doing the dishes, walking the dog or drifting off to sleep really as valuable as sitting down to read it? For authors, the publishing trade and those encouraging reading and literacy, the answer is increasingly yes.” - The Guardian
The Republican-run Alabama Public Library Service Board voted to withhold roughly $22,000 in state funding from the Fairhope Public Library, citing the library’s failure to comply with the board’s rules requiring books deemed “sexually explicit” be relocated to the adult section. - The Daily Beast
The greeting’s first known appearance in print happened 200 years ago this week in a Connecticut newspaper, but its roots go back at least two centuries further, probably more. - BBC
The intensity of the workout was necessary to take her out of her head, so that she could write from a different place—“an embodied place, because writing is not just intellectual; it’s emotional connection, sensual connection,” she explained. “We exist in the world.” - The Atlantic
“I won’t stop writing, because I’ve been a journalist all my life, before I became a novelist. So I shall do journalism, reviews and things like that. But in terms of books, this” — Departure(s) — “is my last.” - The Telegraph (UK) (Yahoo!)
The Legacy Museum, which opened almost eight years ago, is perhaps the closest thing America has to a national slavery museum. Crucially, however, it is completely privately funded, receiving no state or federal financial support. - The Atlantic
I’m a novelist, and I was paid £1,000 and £500 respectively for my last two books. The latter was shortlisted for an international literary award. That’s £1,500 earned in 10 years. - The Guardian
“Because they distill and contain all the pain and pleasure of being young into one crucible, ... they are such rich source material for novelists. Fiction thrives on change, and what bigger, more painful transformation is there than becoming a teenager?” - LitHub
