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Stories

The Black Authors Shaking Up Brazil’s Literary Scene

"Until recently Black authors had a hard time getting book deals from mainstream Brazilian publishers," when a few authors decided to change things: "They published inexpensive titles, priced at less than $4, and held book events in outdoor public places." - The New York Times

We Don’t Understand The Past, And We Don’t Have Any Idea What’s Coming

Or so says historian and science fiction author Ada Palmer. "As she sees it, societal progress may be stochastic, unpredictable, but certain constants shape its course. Just not the constants most people think, and not in the way they expect." - Wired

Admit It: Jimmy Kimmel Has A Point About The Oscars

OK, he sounded a little like a frat boy while dissing The Power of the Dog, but "the thing that Kimmel was getting at is: Why are the Oscars increasingly severed from the populist side of moviegoing?" - Variety

Why Does A C Look Like A C?

Or any letter at all - what's the reasoning behind letter shapes? Turns out it might not be as random as linguists thought, and taught, for decades. - Vice

Finding A Balance In Opera Performance

Soprano Marlis Peterson: "In the beginning of my career, the singing was most important. ... Then the music became as important as the text, and then came playing the role. And I wouldn’t say it’s 33-33-33. It’s three times 100." - The New York Times

No Shock That In-Person Library Use Plummeted In Early 2021

But, in the UK at least, there was a corresponding gain in e-usage. But "borrowing of physical books had returned to around 84% of pre-Covid levels by December 2021, although digital and audio borrowing have remained high, which 'brings its own challenges to library budgets.'" - The Guardian (UK)

The Case For Translators As Collaborators

For Jennifer Croft, the campaign to bring greater recognition to translators isn’t just a plea for attention and credit, though it’s partly that. Croft also believes that highlighting translators’ names will bring more transparency to the process and help readers evaluate their work. - The New York Times

The Case Against The Contemporary American Essay

Explanations for the twenty-first-century personal essay boom are as various as the answers to an inkblot test, and nearly as revealing. - The Drift

A Warning That The Bamiyan Valley Will Collapse Within Ten Years

In 2003, the area was put on Unesco’s World Heritage in Danger list. Now rapid building work and digging under the new rule of the Taliban, combined with environmental factors, are contributing to the speedy destruction of the Bamiyan Valley and its heritage. - The Art Newspaper

Australia Arts Groups Feel The Freeze

The lack of CPI (which rose by 3.5% in the 12 months to December 2021 according to Australian Bureau of Statistics data) coupled with no increase in funding since 2017, means that multiple organisations have effectively had their core funding cut in real terms over the next four years. - ArtsHub

How Fringe Theories Multiply

Devotees of a fringe theory are usually committed to more than one. They might start with just one, but fringes have a way of agglomerating. The second puzzle emerges when you scrutinise the first. The accumulation of fringe theories is often not random – it has a structure. - Aeon

Belgian Museum Returns Nazi-Stolen Painting After 80 Years

After years of research, the painting has been returned, the first restitution of any artwork looted from a Jewish family in the second world war by the Royal Museums of Fine Arts, which covers six museums, with works spanning the old masters to Magritte. - The Guardian

The Extravagantly Painted Chapels Of Michoacán

The walls and ceilings of these old places of worship, some of them dating back to the 1600s, illustrate Catholic stories and teachings and are painted in an imported European style, but their pigments — and their exuberance — are those of the indigenous Purépecha. - T — The New York Times Style Magazine

The “Most Important Archaeological Find In The UK” In A Century

A 5,000-year-old chalk sculpture discovered in east Yorkshire, due to be displayed at the British Museum, has been described as the most important piece of prehistoric art to be found in Britain in the last century. - The Guardian

The Rwandan Women’s Percussion Group Bringing Hutu And Tutsi Together

"Ingoma Nshya, … founded by Odile Gakire Katese in 2004, … arose to heal divisions after the 1994 genocide, which left around 800,000 people dead. … Members of Ingoma Nshya also had to overcome cultural stereotypes: Traditionally, drums have been the exclusive preserve of men." - The Christian Science Monitor

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