Myriam J.A. Chancy: "When history is a nightmare, all one can do is circumvent it, write another version, a fiction. This is what literature is for: rewriting, revising." - LitHub
The complexity and melancholy of Cloud Atlas have inspired "cosplay, reader art, fan fiction and scholarship … in great quantity. It is a response that one might expect to a bestselling fantasy series, a video game, or the unveiling of a Taylor Swift album; rarely a literary novel." - The Guardian (UK)
The author of Erasure, adapted as American Fiction and nominated for several Oscars, and the new James, says a bad review "might be fun? That’s gonna be kind of crazy, to be upset about a bad review. Like, what else can you expect in the world?” - The Guardian (UK)
“Living in a cell the size of a parking space without a television, tablet, phone, or air-conditioning and an only temperamental radio signal, a book is more than entertainment and much needed distraction. It is a rare moment when I’m not reminded where I am." - LitHub
The new director of the Edinburgh International Book Festival has warned Scotland is at risk of losing arts events “every other week” without more public funding for culture and revealed that she would have had to scale back its programme. - The Scotsman
The problem is that "fastest" could, in this context, mean four different things. Syllables per minute? Amount of information conveyed per minute? And so on. Quantitative linguist François Pellegrino tried to figure all this out in a study of 17 languages (which did not include Malayalam, the best candidate). - Atlas Obscura
Millions of books, including self-published titles, are issued every year. But, according to an Economist/YouGov poll, 46 percent of Americans did not read a book last year. There are any number of explanations for this statistic, but one in particular stands out based on my experience. - Washington Post
A single scribe is said to have written the codex, which is made up of 52 leaves - or 104 pages - over a period of 40 years at a monastery in upper Egypt. - CNN
The Trilogy firms—which are controlled by Canadian billionaire Gerald Schwartz, an Indigo board member and the husband of Indigo founder and CEO Heather Reisman—already own 60.6% of all of Indigo’s shares. - Publishers Weekly
During her 16 years at Random House, Morrison wrote hundreds of rejection letters. Usually typed on pink, yellow, or white carbonless copy paper, and occasionally bearing Random House’s old logo and letterhead, these are now filed among her correspondence in the Random House archives. - LA Review of Books
Benjamin Franklin, who founded the Library Company of Philadelphia In 1731. "(It) allowed members — at first, largely male artisans of modest means — to purchase (low-cost) shares in the library. … After early successes, the Library Company soon began allowing non-shareholders to borrow books, too, requiring only a small fee as collateral." - Smithsonian Magazine
Well, first he spent two weeks considering suicide. Then he realized that, with today's technology and his international contacts, he could set about recreating the books he lost. - The Guardian
"The closing of the distributor sent shockwaves throughout the entire independent publishing community, as it came with little warning. … SPD provided distribution to about 400 publishers, including a large number of literary presses." - Publishers Weekly
