ArtsJournal: Arts, Culture, Ideas

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To Open Their Bookshop, All They Had To Do Was Change An Entire City Ordinance

To be fair, it's a combination bookshop and wine bar. Therein lay the rub for Bliss Books. - KSHB (Kansas City)

People Really, Really Love Their Libraries

"The library was a haven. It was the one place we could all go and not spend a dime, but be filled with everything we needed for our minds and spirits." - The New York Times

After Nearly 100 Days On Strike, HarperCollins Union Approves New Contract

A union representative said that "the hope is to show publishing employees that they have more options beyond just 'stick it out or leave. ... There is now a third option of collective action and standing up together for what is right.'" - Publishers Weekly

New Editions Of Roald Dahl’s Books Remove Some Of His Hateful Rhetoric

The man really loved to call people fat, and he also enjoyed calling people - with varying degrees of disgust - "crazy," "Black," and so forth. Some new editions of his kids' books have been, let's say, revised. - Los Angeles Times

Why Is An Erotic Love Poem, One That Never Really Mentions God, In The Middle Of The Old Testament?

Actually, Jewish and Christian theologians have been trying to finesse that question about the Song of Songs (or the Song of Solomon) for 2,000 years — repeatedly arguing that poetry that's obviously about carnal love is really a metaphor for God's devotion to His people. (Yeah, they mean "His.") - The Conversation

When This Volume Is Auctioned In May, It Will Become The Most Expensive Book In History

"The Codex Sassoon, dating to the late 9th to early 10th century, is believed to be the earliest and most complete Hebrew Bible." The expected price: $30 million to $50 million. - CNN

Paramount Is Trying To Sell Simon & Schuster Again

"Paramount Global is again seeking to sell Simon & Schuster, months after the media company's $2.2 billion deal to sell the book publisher to Penguin Random House collapsed." - Reuters

The Hot New Trend In Classics Instruction: Actually Speaking Latin

"Today, 'grammar analysis' remains the framework of much Latin instruction. But spoken Latin is becoming increasingly common in classrooms. According to a 2019 survey of 95 Latin teachers, the most frequently cited change in their teaching methods in the past (decade) was the introduction of active Latin techniques." - Smithsonian Magazine

A Brief History Of Valentine’s Day Cards

"Fertility-related customs have been celebrated in mid-February since pagan times. ... By the 18th century, we see something that begins to resemble modern Valentine's cards. In the 19th century, this evolved to the point where popular ladies' magazines like Harper's Weekly published instructions for readers on how to craft them." - AP

California’s Greatest Poet Wrote Exactly One Poem In English And None In Spanish.  Can You Name Him?

"Want to become a signature voice of your troubled nation? Perhaps you need a decades-long exile in California. It worked for Czesław Miłosz, who entered the pantheon of Polish poets thanks to works he wrote mostly in Berkeley," where he spent 40 years and won a Nobel Prize. - Zócalo Public Square

Readers Are Just Full Of Pet Peeves About Books

Apparently, book lovers have been storing up their pet peeves in the cellar for years, just waiting for someone to ask. Hundreds and hundreds of people responded, exceeding my wildest dreams. - Washington Post

AI Is Pretty Good At Writing Poetry. It Doesn’t Mean Anything

Of course, every Dickinson poem reflects her intention to create meaning. When ChatGPT puts words together, it does not intend anything. Some argue that writings by LLMs therefore have no meaning, only the appearance of it. - Washington Post

Margaret Atwood: Book-Banning In Historical Context

Freedom of expression is a hot potato—freedom for whom and for what, and who decides? The last English writer before the late 20th century to have totally free rein was Geoffrey Chaucer. Few then could read, and books were hand-lettered and very expensive. - The Atlantic

Why Learning To Write Is About So Much More Than Writing

Learning to write is about more than learning to write. For one thing, it’s about learning to turn a loose assemblage of thoughts into a clear line of reasoning—a skill that is useful for everyone, not just those who enjoy writing or need to do a lot of it for work. - The Atlantic

Our Kids Are Struggling To Read. Growing Evidence Suggests We Can Teach Them A Better Way

There is growing evidence from neuroscience and careful experiments that the United States has adopted reading strategies that just don’t work very well and that we haven’t relied enough on a simple starting point — helping kids learn to sound out words with phonics. - The New York Times

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