Kristen Roupenian ("Cat Person") considers two superfans, Annie Wilkes in Misery and Harry in With a Friend Like Harry, who completely lose the distinction between the stories they love and the men who wrote them — and she draws a comparison with the abortion-rights debate. - The New Yorker
Researchers at University of Notre Dame are developing an artificial neural network to read complex ancient handwriting based on human perception to improve capabilities of deep learning transcription. - Tech Xplore
"When friendship exists in the background, it's unremarkable but generally uncomplicated. But when friendship becomes the plot, then the only story to tell is about how the friendship ended." B.D. McClay argues that there can be more options. - Lapham's Quarterly
Emily Oster looks at the phonics vs. whole-language debate (she has one word for you: "delumpification") and what studies show about how to entice (not persuade) children to read for pleasure. - Literary Hub
The sooner you accept that star stories are full of embellishments and omissions, invented quotes and one-sided recollections dictated to patient ghostwriters, the sooner you’ll come to appreciate them as the grand and eccentric performances that they are. - The New Yorker
Even in a society which tells itself the half-truth that it treasures ‘free speech’, there are, indeed must be, words that are beyond the pale – words that can still shock, thrill or shame. - Literary Review
Peter Florence, who founded the famous literary event with his parents in 1988, stepped down after an inquiry confirmed a staffer's accusation of bullying. - The Observer (UK)
Author Rebecca Donner knew little about her great-great-aunt. Turns out she (and her husband) were one of the most famous American spy couples of the Resistance during WWII. - The New York Times
OnlyFans isn't famous for its fanfic. Now, one author "says she’s already made more money in the first two days since releasing 'Ezekiel in the Snow' than she has ever been paid for her work by a literary magazine, publisher, or museum." - LitHub
The author of The Emigrants and Austerlitz was haunted by his country's, and especially his own family's, history of violence and genocide. - The Observer (UK)
Author Helen Hoang took her own life experiences and folded them into her novel The Kiss Quotient. "I spent a lot of my life pretending to be something else because I wanted to fit in. I put so much work into trying to fit in." But a diagnosis - and writing a novel - freed her. - NPR
With a young independent press, two women in Minneapolis want to take portrayals of Muslims in children's literature to a new place - a place of normality. - Sahan Journal
And her worries about how neither profession seems to be doing much good in this world. "Wash your hands for 20 seconds as often as you like, but you’ll never get that damned spot out: your fingerprints are all over the Earth." - The Guardian (UK)
