Detached from agency, the meanings of new terms drift. Nonprofit organizations alert supporters to “donation opportunities,” though “a chance to give” has half the syllables. Now, “donation opportunity” may also mean the organization’s chance to land a gift from a donor. - Hedgehog Review
This month saw the inauguration of Jashn-e-Rekhta, an annual three-day festival devoted to Urdu verse, old and new. Attendance was over 300,000 —notwithstanding the fact that Urdu, while very, very closely related to Hindi, is commonly associated with Islam in a country awash in Hindu nationalism. - The New York Times
When someone talks about a “good writer,” the phrase suggests a way with words, an ear for rhythm, maybe even a structural vision. But often the phrase means more than that. - LitHub
"(Robin Miles) has been the voice of the Antiguan American novelist Jamaica Kincaid, the Nigerian writer Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie, the Russian journalist Yelena Khanga, and the Californian Vice-President Kamala Harris. On this day, she voiced both sides of a conversation between New York and London." - The New Yorker
"On paper, Berliner Schnauze is simply a dialect of German spoken in and around Berlin. In reality, it's a visceral dialect merged with working-class attitude and influences from French and Yiddish that can be as polarising as it is varied." - BBC
Mark Krotov, the co-editor and publisher of the eighteen-year-old literary journal n+1, noted that the publishing industry relies on literary magazines but fails to invest in them. - The New Yorker
The discovery makes it possible to "derive" any Sanskrit word—to construct millions of grammatically correct words including "mantra" and "guru"—using Pāṇini's revered "language machine," which is widely considered to be one of the great intellectual achievements in history. - Phys.org
The inmates were part of the very first edition of a new, government-sponsored literary prize bestowed by prisoners. The award, called the Goncourt des détenus, or inmates’ Goncourt, is the most recent of several offshoots of France’s most prestigious literary award. - The New York Times
Opponents of censorship heartily agree that parents should have an important say in how schools work and how public libraries serve our children. What we’re against is a willful ideological minority imposing its views on everyone else. - Washington Post
But then did, and now recommends to everyone. "Literature should not be something we approach out of a sense of duty. But many lengthy, complex, and well-known books really are that good." - The Atlantic
Truly, sort of. Since the author of Station Eleven said once in an interview that she was married, she couldn't convince Wikipedia she was now divorced - not without another published interview. - Slate
Al Saqi, a literary institution that opened in 1978, will close at the end of 2022. One of the owners: "You'd meet Arabs in London, and they would say, when I - when my family visits from abroad, I take them to Big Ben and to Al Saqi Books." - NPR
