ArtsJournal: Arts, Culture, Ideas

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Meet The Founder Of America’s Largest Black-Owned Food Magazine

"The Objective editor Gabe Schneider talked to Whetstone founder Stephen Satterfield about U.S. food media, what values and frameworks define Satterfield and Whetstone's writing, and what it meant to be the only Black-owned food media company in print." - Nieman Lab

Random House Drops Norman Mailer Anthology, Skyhorse Picks It Up

Mailer's longtime publisher, Random House denies that it has dropped his work entirely (it continues to maintain his backlist), but passed the planned Mailer centennial collection to Skyhorse Publishing, which has picked up titles by Woody Allen, Blake Bailey, and Garrison Keillor abandoned by major houses. - AP

Sinclair Lewis, The Writer Who Nailed Middle America

He had a difficult personality, an unseemly personal life, and a late-life plunge in the quality of his work, writes editor Robert Gottlieb, but at his best — the 1920s novels that earned him a Nobel Prize — he captured what made the U.S. tick. - The New York Times

Lost Bronte Sisters Trove Was Going To Be Sold. Fans Saved It

Sir Leonard Blavatnik, the American-British-Ukrainian petrochemical-finance-entertainment mogul, put up half the money to buy it for the public a few weeks ago — with a little help from Prince Charles and thousands of small donations. - Washington Post

The Canadian English Dictionary Hasn’t Been Updated In Almost Two Decades – No New Words?

The entire Canadian Oxford research staff was laid off in 2008 due to declining sales, and responsibility for identifying our country's words was placed largely in the hands of researchers in the United States and Britain (though Canadian researchers continue to add Canadian influence). - CBC

Ben McFall, Strand Bookstore’s Heart And Soul, 73

McFall enjoyed duties and perks not given to any other Strand employee. For much of his tenure, he was the only person in charge of an entire section. Not only that, the fief he governed — the fiction shelves — provides the Strand with the core of its business in used books. - The New York Times

Remember Rebuses?

These picture/word puzzles, sort of like charades on paper, were very popular in the mid-20th century and even had a game show (Concentration) based on them. A.J. Jacobs offers an explanation, along with a history of the Great Rebus Craze of 1937. - Mental Floss

Proposed Oklahoma Law Would Punish (And Fire) Librarians If They Don’t Remove Books

Under Senate Bill 1142, if just one parent objects to a book it must be removed within 30 days. If it is not, the librarian must be fired and cannot work for any public school for two years. Parents can also collect at least $10,000 per day from school districts if the book is not removed as requested. -...

Authors And Publishers Win Almost $8 Million In Suit Against E-Book Pirates

"A federal judge has issued a default judgment against a major overseas e-book piracy operation known as the KISS Library after its operators failed to answer a lawsuit filed in July, 2020 by the Authors Guild, Amazon Publishing, Penguin Random House, and a number of authors." - Publishers Weekly

Romance Novels About Nonwhite Characters Are Finally Breaking Through In The Marketplace

And the authors of those books — who, not long ago, couldn't get a single look from publishers — can thank social media: Booksgram, BookTube, and BookTok. - The Guardian

Dostoevsky And The True Crime Craze In 1860s Russia

How the pulp nonfiction devoured by the public during Tsar Alexander II's reign led to Crime and Punishment — and how Dostoevsky used the hunger for true crime stories to get his political message into the public's hands. - The New Republic

The Best Books Of The Past 125 Years? The NYT Book Review Asked Readers…

In November, we presented a list of the 25 most-nominated books (one per author) for a vote. After tallying more than 200,000 ballots, the winner, by a narrow margin, is... - The New York Times

The Original Novel “Bambi” Was No Cloying Tale For The Kiddies

"Far from being a children's story, Bambi was actually a parable about the inhumane treatment and dangerous precariousness of Jews and other minorities in what was then an increasingly fascist world, the new translation will show." - The Observer (UK)

The World Has A Plan To Try To Save Indigenous Languages. Not The US

The U.S. has an incredibly rich heritage of Indigenous languages ranging from Anishinaabe to Cherokee, Navajo to Tewa. But they are almost all endangered, in part because  the U.S. spent two hundred years and $2.81 billion trying to destroy them. - The Hill

In The 80s Booksellers Took Over A Belgian Town. Now The Tourists Have Left…

A band of booksellers moved into the empty barns and transformed the place into a literary lodestone. The village of about 400 became home to more than two dozen bookstores — more shops than cows, its boosters liked to say — and thousands of tourists thronged the winsome streets. - Washington Post

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