ArtsJournal: Arts, Culture, Ideas

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Life Magazine Is Being Revived (Yes, As A Print Publication)

"Bedford Media, the holding company founded by model and entrepreneur Karlie Kloss and her husband, investor Josh Kushner, has acquired the publishing rights to Life from Dotdash Meredith. Bedford says that Life will be relaunched as a print magazine, with a 'vibrant' digital and video presence." - The Hollywood Reporter

Shortlist Revealed For First-Ever Women’s Prize For Nonfiction

The finalists are Doppelganger by Naomi Klein, Code Dependent by Madhumita Murgia, Thunderclap by Laura Cummings, All That She Carried by Tiya Miles, A Flat Place by Noreen Masud, and How to Say Babylon by Safiya Sinclair. - The Guardian

Michael Ondaatje On His First Poetry Collection In 25 Years

"The real question I had “was could I write poems anymore? … I didn’t want to miss out on a certain pensiveness, and a certain relationship with language, that only poetry can demand." - Literary Hub

AI Translators And The End Of Language Instruction

Total enrollment in language courses other than English at American colleges decreased 29.3 percent from 2009 to 2021, according to the latest data from the Modern Language Association, better known as the MLA. In Australia, only 8.6 percent of high-school seniors were studying a foreign language in 2021—a historic low. - The Atlantic (MSN)

Examining Shakespeare’s Words

To praise Shakespeare is also to praise his audience. Not just the one that filled the Globe during his lifetime, but the subsequent generations, too, that have cherished and preserved him, that have commented on him and imitated him. - New Criterion

The Trolls Unleashed By Gutenberg’s Printing Press

Nowadays when we speak of Gutenberg’s invention of movable type, we mostly refer to its more reputable side. But similar to the proliferation of rumors and falsehoods on social media platforms, the printing press also facilitated the circulation of rumors and fake news in sensationalist pamphlets and broadsides. - Public Books

“As Frighteningly Relevant As Ever”: Margaret Atwood On Stephen King’s “Carrie”

"It’s one of those books that manage to dip into the collective unconscious of their own age and society. … Underneath the 'horror' … is always the real horror: the all-too-actual poverty and neglect and hunger and abuse that exist in America today." - The New York Times Book Review

Remember All Of Those Books Tossed In The Trash At A Staten Island Elementary School?

You know, the ones about or by Black people, LGBTQIA people, and so on? Where a note on a book about Native Americans read, “negative slant on white people”? The New York City Department of Education is investigating the school. - MSN (ABC News)

Writing A Novel Is Like Wandering A Flea Market

"Don’t be too precious about things. And also: everything has the potential to be precious." - LitHub

Creating A Full Language From A Few Words In Old Books

That was the remit for Dune, both Part One and the strike-delayed, well-reviewed Dune, Part Two. "For language constructors — conlangers, as they are known — small touches enhance the verisimilitude of even gigantic edifices like the Dune series." - The New York Times

Saving Karachi’s Oldest Bookstore

"I feel like I’m fusing with the photograph. There’s even a sound in my head like a whaaaa. I feel like, Oh my God, this is one of those old beautiful buildings. And what would happen if all the bookshops in the world start to close down? Hate is going to rise." - LitHub

James McBride Is Dealing With The Overwhelming Success Of His New Novel

The author of The Color of Water and Deacon King Kong has known good sales before, but now? The Heaven and Earth Grocery Store has sold more than a million copies since it came out last summer. - The New York Times

Australian Report Questions Payments To Academic Publishers

The Australia Institute report, released on Wednesday, questioned if more public money should be used for research and education instead of being directed to international academic publishers. Academic publishes are among the most profitable businesses in the world – raking in massive profit margins approaching 40% – in line with Google and Apple. - The Guardian

2024 National Book Critics Circle Award Winners: Lorrie Moore, Judy Blume, ALA

"Moore, best known as a short-story writer, won the fiction prize for her novel, I Am Homeless if This Is Not My Home. … Blume was the recipient of the Ivan Sandrof Lifetime Achievement Award … (and) the American Library Association was given the Toni Morrison Achievement Award, established to honor institutions." - AP

To This We’ve Come: Virginia School District Censors Book About A Hermaphroditic Species Of Oak Tree

"The Floyd County (Va.) Public Schools have suspended a One Division, One Book community reading of Katherine Applegate’s Wishtree following complaints that the middle-grade novel depicts a monoecious red oak, a tree with reproductive parts that can pollinate and flower simultaneously." - Publishers Weekly

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