ArtsJournal: Arts, Culture, Ideas

Stories

Everybody Plagiarizes

And that's fine. "Published authors, more often than not famous ones, have had few scruples when it comes to committing literary larceny. 'Authors are like privateers,' claimed Samuel Johnson, 'always fair game for one another.'" - The Smart Set

How To Be Everywhere Online

First, meme well (and second, make She Memes Well the title of your memoir). In her new book, comedian and meme power user Quinta Brunson "breaks down her journey from struggling stand-up comedian to being recognized by strangers all over the world. The book includes hilarious anecdotes about growing up in West Philadelphia, being a Black woman, dating and...

Ned Beatty, Prolific Actor Of Stage And Screen, 83

Beatty's roles "captured the full spectrum of humanity — from sincerity to villainy, buffoonery to tragedy — and made him one of the most versatile performers of his generation." Beatty: "My great joy is throwing curveballs. Being a star cuts down your effectiveness as an actor, because you become an identifiable part of a product and somewhat predictable. ......

The Blogger Preserving Jewish Ballet

In college, Beatrice Waterhouse started wondering where she could find information about Jews in the ballet world. So she created a Tumblr site, "'People of the Barre' (which, yes, is a play on 'people of the book') and started using the blog to store tidbits she came across about Jews in ballet, mainly for her own reference." - Forward

Quantum Computing Will Not Change Everything

Despite the hype, the reality is different - and to resist the hucksters, we need to understand why. - Wired

The Fights Over Robert Indiana’s Estate Come To An End

It's been an expensive and draining series of legal battles. "After three years of courtroom hostilities, the estate of the artist Robert Indiana and the artist’s former business partner said Friday that they had agreed to settle the legal disputes that cost the estate millions of dollars and clouded the market for a man known for such works as...

Brexit May Cause A Royal Mess With Copyright, Authors Warn

Living authors like Kate Mosse and Philip Pullman are worried because as Britain exits the EU, protections have changed. "Authors and publishers fear that changing the rules could mean that cheap international editions of a book would pour into the UK, eroding the money authors could make from a domestic sale." - The Guardian (UK)

A Guide To The Pulitzer Prize Books

Northern Hemisphere summer reading plans, here you go. - The New York Times

Yusef Komunyakaa On Poetry And The Pandemic

Komunyakaa: Writing poetry "feels like one has been chosen as a caretaker of observation. There's a certain reality, but also there's a certain kind of dreaming, and that place takes us someplace that we never dreamt of." - NPR

Netflix’s ‘Selena’ Disrespected The Singer And The Latinx Staff, Writers Say

The story of Selena Quintanilla is quintessentially American - so why did Netflix order it as a Latin American original with a tiny budget that meant filming in Mexico and paying writers (and other staff members) much, much less than they would have gotten in the U.S.? "Their love for Selena, the writers said, drove them to take the job...

Juilliard Students Lead Music, Dance-Filled Protests Over Tuition Hikes

After a planned protest in one of the school's buildings, the students "were barred from the Diamond building, and the school told them that it was investigating an incident that included reported violations 'pertaining to community safety.' On Thursday, about 20 students continued their tuition protest on the sidewalk outside, waving placards and accusing the school of using heavy-handed...

The Formerly Hidden Histories Of Africans In England

English Heritage commissioned six portraits to emphasize the history - including Roman emperor Septimius Severus, who ordered the strengthening of Hadrian's Wall while on a trip to Britain. English Heritage's curatorial director: "African figures from the past have played significant roles at some of the historic sites in our care but many of their stories are not very well...

How Historical Fiction Became Literary Again

For decades, the literary world disdained historical fiction. "It has been seen as its own fusty fashion, relentlessly uncontemporary and easy to caricature, filled with mothballed characters who wear costumes rather than clothes, use words like 'Prithee!' while having modern-day thoughts, and occasionally encounter villains immediately recognizable by their yellow teeth or suspicious smell. What light could such novels...

What Hollywood Could Learn From The ‘Kim’s Convenience’ Scandal

The sitcom's actors took to social media to say more about the series' abrupt end - and the series itself. Their posts "threw into sharp relief the ongoing reluctance of producers and executives from Hollywood to Toronto to trust and empower Asian actors, writers and directors to tell their own stories — and as Yoon and Liu both pointed...

The New Yorker Union Is Prepared To Strike

The writers, contributors, and freelance editorial workers are prepared to produce a strike issue - or a Labor Peace issue. It all depends on how negotiations end up. - LitHub

Our Free Newsletter

Join our 30,000 subscribers

Latest

Don't Miss

function my_excerpt_length($length){ return 200; } add_filter('excerpt_length', 'my_excerpt_length');