Instead, the publishing conglomerate’s decision to back away from Mailer points to a different set of financial imperatives, as well as a growing impulse among publishing executives to blame business decisions on junior staff—the industry’s version of inventing someone to be mad at. - The New Republic
Charlotte Higgins: "Greek myths don't exist in canonical forms: they are to be retold in the moment, and exist only as contaminated, and endlessly recontaminated, versions of themselves. That makes it a realm, I think, of creative invitation rather than of austere exactitude." - Literary Hub
Driven by booming appetites for crime novels, sci-fi, fantasy, romance and personal development titles, sales last year showed an increase of 5% on 2020. The sales were worth £1.82bn – a 3% increase on 2020. - The Guardian
Researchers found two objects, a rune stick with text in both Latin and Norse and a piece of bone with a Norse inscription, in the Norwegian capital's Medieval Park. The pieces are thought to date from between 1100 and 1350. - Smithsonian Magazine
Bibliotherapy is premised on the idea that books can be healing tools. The main distinction is between clinical bibliotherapy, where texts, including fiction and nonfiction, are recommended by a clinical therapist, and nonclinical bibliotherapy, as practised by a facilitator such as a librarian. - The Walrus
Researchers in Budapest using fMRI machines found very different activity in different parts of the brain when dogs heard Spanish, Hungarian, and nonsense words. This is the first study in which such an ability has been found in a non-primate species. - CNN
Starting in the "Freedom Summer" of 1964, impromptu libraries (the majority in Mississippi) using donated materials opened up at homes and churches, providing places where Black patrons could read and browse, things they weren't allowed to do in public libraries. - JSTOR Daily
A culturally and politically monotone graduate class, on board with just about every woke nostrum going, not only dominates publishing houses’ workforce – it is now trying to dominate publishers’ output, too. - spiked
Through the centuries, the complexity of classical Chinese characters functioned as a powerful class barrier, since mastering reading and writing took so much work. Attempts to simplify it go back to the Ming Dynasty, but those efforts got serious, and contentious, throughout the 20th century. - The New Yorker
Why did Sir Arthur Conan Doyle sign a pirate edition of “The Sign of the Four,” the second of the four Sherlock Holmes novels? Conan Doyle hated pirate editions. He was as famous for denouncing pirate publishers. - The New York Times
Raven Leilani, author of Luster: "I knew I was going to write about Edie’s experience in the middle of this open relationship, but the book kept changing as I was writing." - The Guardian (UK)
Can this last? "For the first time in almost a decade, more than 1,000 indies are open for business: it is a sector thriving against the odds." - The Guardian (UK)
"Bookcore is an amalgamation of the last five years of trends: normcore, gorpcore, dadcore, vintage, 1990s sportswear, American trad, Westernwear, Native American jewelry, pleats, dad caps, wide-legged trousers, oversized eyewear, Balmacaans, leather blazers, Patagonia, chunky sneakers, intentionally ugly shoes, etc." - LitHub
Some colorful facts surrounding one of history's most consequential translations: Luther wrote it while a fugitive; some first editions included woodcuts by Lucas Cranach; in the room where it was written there's a stain on the wall because Luther allegedly threw his inkwell at the Devil. - Deutsche Welle
Travel sections in bookshops have been reduced to “three feet of guidebooks and celebrity jaunts”. Meanwhile, travel books struggle to make the literary review sections of papers. - The Critic
