ArtsJournal: Arts, Culture, Ideas

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Why Writers Have Difficulty Talking About The Working Class

“There’s a class issue that we don’t always talk about in writing and publishing, where you need to be able to afford this life. The average annual income authors earn from their writing is around $10,000. - The Walrus

A Forgotten Fact: James Baldwin Did Some Of His Best Work While Living In Turkey

He first visited Istanbul in 1961, where, after a long writer's block, he was finally able to finish Another Country. He spent most of that decade living off and on in Turkey, where he wrote most of The Fire Next Time and No Name in the Street. - The Yale Review

Public Libraries Have Become… Social Work Agencies?

Vicky Varga, a twenty-four-year veteran of Edmonton Public Library, described how the city had moved toward fully integrating social work into the activities of its main library branch. - The Walrus

This Artist Hand-Stitches Recreations Of Classic Composition Notebooks

Candace Hicks: "No one else is reading the same books as me in the same order, so in a way, my reading is my life’s work. The hand-stitched notebooks that I make recording the coincidences I uncover are a by-product of that process." - LitHub

Caribbean Literature Is Having A Real Moment

"Kingston-based publisher Tanya Batson-Savage, founder of Blue Banyan Books, likens the region's literary support system to a three-legged stool with international media and festivals, book prizes in the UK, and the rising influence of social media in the book world providing crucial support." - NPR

Reading A Wrinkle In Time And Dealing With Real-World Loss Of A Parent

"I'm in Camazotz, I think as I drive to see my Dad. I identify most strongly with the book's Meg Murry, the ornery teen who not only shares my name and the anguished isolation I felt as an adolescent, but also my emotional reactivity and stubbornness." - Salon

Catalan Separatists Would Like University Classes Taught In The Actual Local Language

Spanish-speaking academics, and some international students, are not into it. An admininstrator: "We’re convinced that we can express ourselves in Catalan and become internationally renowned for our universities. We embrace the world — in Catalan." - The World

What’s The Point Of ‘Diverse’ Retellings Of Jane Austen?

"Am I, a brown-skinned immigrant daughter who never got to read about or see characters like me in novels and films, simply reclaiming these beloved stories as my own? ... Or am I actually letting these stories off the hook, ignoring their oppressive aspects in their very recasting?" - LitHub

HarperCollins And Private Equity Firm KKR Both Want To Buy Simon & Schuster: Report

"Both were among the losing bidders to Penguin Random House's $2.2 billion offer. PRH's acquisition, of course, was blocked by the government last fall." - Publishers Weekly

Our Metaphors For Language Shape How We Think

For example, if we talk about “wasting” or “saving” time, we treat time as if it were a commodity. Or, if we say that we’re “going through” a difficult period, we’re treating time as if it were space through which we move. Like time, language is one of these really complex concepts. - The Conversation

What Libraries Are Becoming

Libraries were once places to access books. They are now places to access everything? The last place to access anything? As the social safety net has frayed, libraries have found themselves filling in the gaps. - The Walrus

Barbara Kingsolver’s “Demon Copperhead” Wins 2023 Women’s Prize For Fiction

With this novel, which has already garnered her a Pulitzer, Kingsolver becomes the first author to win the Women's Prize twice. - The Guardian

Pandering: What Good Does Elizabeth Gilbert Delaying Her Book Do?

Some writers invite haters and court controversy; Gilbert writes books that want to be loved. Being accused of complicity with a regime accused of genocide can’t have felt very nice. But by withdrawing the book, she has set a terrible precedent. - The Atlantic

Linguists Identify A New English Dialect Emerging In South Florida

This language variety came about through sustained contact between Spanish and English speakers, particularly when speakers translated directly from Spanish. - The Conversation

“We Do Not Read The Bible As It Is Meant To Be Read” — That Is, As Poetry

Certain books (Psalms, Song of Songs, Lamentations) are generally understood as poetry, but the historical books, Gospels, and letters all include a great deal of verse. Scholar Michael Edwards argues that awareness of this poetry, more precise and self-conscious than prose, should affect how we understand Scripture. - The Paris Review

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