The “The Long Tail” was that a slew of niche content creators would prosper on the internet. That has proved illusory for most of them. It’s a winner-takes-all game; too often the tech platforms aggregating the content and the blockbusters win it all, starving a large majority of creators. - The New York Times
The much-honored Russian-American journalist, who is Jewish, made the comparison in a December 9 New Yorker essay criticizing Germany's unequivocal backing of Israel in its war on Hamas. In response, the Heinrich Böll Foundation, which administers the prize, withdrew its support, though Gessen will be awarded by another entity. - The Guardian
"Cait Corrain admitted that she had created six profiles on ... Goodreads in order to boost the ratings of her forthcoming debut sci-fi novel, Crown of Starlight, and downgrade a number of fellow debut authors. … She added that she would enter 'an intensive psychiatric care and rehab facility.'" - Yahoo! (Los Angeles Times)
"Through social media platforms like TikTok and YouTube, they are literally spreading the word, reshaping the French language from African countries, like Ivory Coast, that were once colonized by France." - The New York Times
A bad doctor and an uncircumspect translator are both bad in proportion to the good that they would be able to perform if they were performing at their profession’s fullest potential. - 3 Quarks Daily
The screen inferiority effect (as it's called) has been repeatedly documented in studies, regardless of the language or country involved. The effect is different, however, for different types of subject matter. The reasons for all this aren't clearly understood yet, but there are some clues. - Psyche
"Sound the trumpets, folks, ring the bells and most importantly crank up that old-fashioned noisemaker that goes 'a-rooo-gha', for Danger Sound Klaxon! The Horn That Changed History has blown away the competition to win the 45th The Bookseller Diagram Prize for Oddest Book Title of the Year." - The Bookseller (UK)
A terrifying thought occurred to me. “Do you even know how to use a dictionary?” This was my second son, and it turned out that my sureness of having taught him something was often a transplanted memory of having taught that very thing to my firstborn. - The American Scholar
“I often say that there are two languages: The words that I wrote, the words you can understand, and behind that, there’s a silent language.” And it’s in that “silent language,” he added, that the real meaning may lie. - The New York Times
What happens next with Hugo House won’t just impact Seattle’s literary ecosystem but could be a blueprint, or cautionary tale, for the scores of other organizations grappling with similar issues in today’s uncertain arts economy. - Seattle Times
"Is the banning of fantastical literature in prisons just carceral paranoia — or is it indicative of a larger cultural attitude that simultaneously denigrates and fears imagination? After all, prisons are part of U.S. culture which, despite a thriving culture industry that traffics in magic and fantasy, nonetheless degrades it." - Literary Hub
"After 20 years of assembling what may be the greatest typewriter collection in the world," — owned by the likes of Ernest Hemingway, Maya Angelou, Joe DiMaggio, John Lennon, Shirley Temple, and the Unabomber — "(Steve) Soboroff is putting all 33 of his beloved machines up for auction." - The New York Times
