"Some prisons have organized their own literary prizes, but the inmates' Goncourt" — Goncourt des détenus, as it's called in French — "is unprecedented in size and reach, with about 500 people detained in 31 prisons taking part. It is also prominently backed and promoted by the French government." - The New York Times
I understand that handwriting imprints the memory better — I notice it even in adulthood — but I am skeptical that there is a reason the handwriting is better done in cursive. - The New York Times
"For all their informal organisation, these virtual reading groups led by a famous figurehead have emerged as a driving force within the publishing industry, and a factor in many of its biggest recent successes." - The Guardian
"The question of alphabet reform is hardly new for these countries — over the last 150 years, Kazakh has been written in Arabic, Latin, and Cyrillic, each prevailing at different points in the language's history," depending on the imperial ruler. The same is true for Uzbek, Turkmen, and Kyrgyz. - JSTOR Daily
Basically, nobody can figure them out: the Times rankings frequently don't match publicly available sales figures, and while the paper says it uses various sources and formulas to keep bulk purchasers from gaming the lists, nobody knows what those are. Speculation that some editorial bias is involved is rife. - Esquire
Just days after its parent company, Artforum International, was acquired by Penske Media, the literary journal announced that the current issue is its last. Among the other titles owned by Penske are ARTnews, Art in America, Billboard, Rolling Stone, IndieWIRE, Variety, and The Hollywood Reporter. - TheWrap
Since all reading at that time occurred out loud rather than inside one’s head, the study rooms were a modern librarian’s nightmare: no one seemed to understand the requirement to shush. Silent reading, when it eventually arrived, seemed highly suspect and slightly sneaky. - The Guardian
The report shows a drop in the proportion of full-time authors from 40% of those surveyed in 2006 to just 19% today. This shows that we cannot keep relying on the assumption that people will find money from elsewhere to sustain their writing: many are leaving the profession. - The Guardian
According to industry magazine the Bookseller, hardback sales of celebrity autobiographies are down compared to last year, when titles by Billy Connolly, Bob Mortimer and Dave Grohl all sold more than 100,000 copies in the period from August to November. - The Guardian
These books are deliberately, self-consciously challenging, in content and in form. They are also hard, beautiful, powerful, and brilliant. That account of their greatness and difficulty—they are great because they are difficult, and difficult because they are great—is a story that was itself invented. - Boston Review
Originalists and non-originalists agree that constitutional interpretation must begin with the text of the document. But originalists pretend that their method of interpretation is value-free. “This desire for value-neutral judging is an impossible quest. Balancing of competing interests is inescapable." - LA Review of Books
While many commentators at the beginning of the pandemic endorsed reading as a straightforward way to relax, our readers showed that the practice morphed and took on new forms and meanings. - The Conversation
The essay, in particular the undergraduate essay, has been the center of humanistic pedagogy for generations. It is the way we teach children how to research, think, and write. That entire tradition is about to be disrupted from the ground up. - The Atlantic
"'Surely the part of my brain that I used to read with shut down at the same time as my sight?' asks Red Szell in this video. (He) lost his sight several years ago due to Retinitis pigmentosa – and ... earlier this year, Szell decided to learn Braille, with unexpected results." - BBC
"Reviews were often pitched at nonspecialist general interest readers. ... To come to Eliot's poem with a few platitudes about decency, intelligibility, and ease of access to poetic chestnuts was to be brutally confronted with something not only unknown but perilously close to the unknowable." - Literary Hub
