ArtsJournal: Arts, Culture, Ideas

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Amazon Stops Selling Periodical Subscriptions For Kindle And Print

"Amazon hasn't shared its exact reason for the change …, but one obvious explanation is that relatively few people are buying these subscriptions and it doesn't make financial sense to continue to support them." - Nieman Lab

The Gift (and Curse) Of English As Our Universal Language

English may have become universal, but not everyone believes it is a gift. In fact, many hold diametrically opposite views. - Aeon

The Shocking Decline Of Reading, Thinking

What I (and everyone I know) is talking about now is a seismic shift in the preparedness, study skills, attention spans, and reading comprehension of the average college student, across the board. - 3 Quarks Daily

Who Are Wikipedia’s Editors (And Who Checks Them?)

The typical Wikipedia editor is a man (fewer than 10 per cent are women) who works in a desk job which involves being online a lot (IT workers have always been over-represented), lives in a first-world country, and who has leftish politics. In other words, the typical Wikipedia editor is a Guardian reader. - The Critic

There’s Somewhere In America Where Newspapers Are Growing? Yes — Prisons

"According to the newly launched Prison Newspaper Directory by the Prison Journalism Project, there are 24 prison-based newspapers in 12 states. At least four of the papers were launched in the last year." - Nieman Lab

Just What Do “Sensitivity Readers” Do?

Sensitivity readers can become the implied “baddy” or “goody” (depending on where you stand) in such cases, their service seen as the reason that changes have been made. However, this view assumes that sensitivity readers have more power than they actually do. - The Guardian

China’s Most Popular Fiction Genre? Erotic Stories About Gay Men

"Danmei is romantic fiction about men or male beings – ghosts, foxes, even a mushroom – falling in love, written almost exclusively by and for straight women." Most danmei authors use pseudonyms – for example, Mo Xiang Tong Xiu ("fragrance of ink, odour of money") – because of the Communist Party's disapproval. - The Guardian

Promises Of Spring: Jill Lepore Reads Seed Catalogues

"Seed and garden catalogues sell a magical, boozy, Jack-and-the-beanstalk promise: the coming of spring, the rapture of bloom, the fleshy, wet, watermelon-and-lemon tang of summer. ... They make strangely compelling reading, like a village mystery or the back of a cereal box." - The New Yorker

Librarians Are Showing The Stress

As I puttered around the conference, I thought about the fact that although books don’t have feelings, the librarians forced to remove them from the shelves definitely do. America’s librarians are under enormous pressure, and they need to blow off some steam. - The Atlantic

A New Genre Of Pandemic Poetry Is Helping Process What Happened

Many established poets published lockdown poems offering their own perspective on the power of poetry to make sense of the catastrophe. Slowly but surely whole collections inspired by the pandemic began to appear. - The Conversation

AI Voices Are Starting To Take Over Reading Audiobooks

Tech companies including Apple and Google have been working on AI audiobook narration for a while now. In 2022, Google rolled out its services to publishers in six countries, including the US and Canada. Google's AI narrators have names like Archie, who sounds British, and Santiago, who speaks Spanish. - CNET

Why The Mysterious Book Manuscript Thief Did It

In court papers, former Simon & Schuster staffer Filippo Bernardini is quoted as saying, "I never leaked these manuscripts. I wanted to keep them closely to my chest and be one of the fewest to cherish them before anyone else, before they ended up in bookshops." - The Bookseller (UK)

Behind A Lot Of Successful Movies Stand Some Pretty Great Books

Here are this year's for the nominees for Best Adapted Screenplay (which was won by Sarah Polley, for Women Talking). - The Millions

Visiting The Grave Of Raymond Carver

"I read her 'Cathedral' while she rested her head in my lap. It was 'really something' as you had said. Your story, I mean, and this life too. There were times when I wasn’t sure I’d be able to say that and mean it, but I felt it that day, and I feel it now." - The Smart Set

New York’s Mayor Wants To Cut Library Funding, But Three New Libraries Show Their Value

"With the pandemic seemingly in the rearview mirror but the city still seeking its new normal, New York’s recovery depends on fortifying, not diminishing, tent-poles like parks, streets and libraries." - The New York Times

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