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A Memoir Of What Hollywood Men Took And Took And Took From A Young Star

Theoretically, things are different in a post-#MeToo Hollywood from when Mena Suvari was a young star. She thinks they should be, and adds, "If I can shave off a summer of suffering for someone, I want to.” - Los Angeles Times

The Disappearing Antonyms Of ‘Grumpy’ Words

Weird factoid: In Old English, people could be couth, kempt, and ruthful. - LitHub

Little Free Library Tries To Break Free Of Its White, Wealthy Neighborhood Stereotype

LFLs are often criticized for their placement. A new program in Detroit aims to change that access, and the books behind the glass doors as well. - LitHub

The League Of Unfortunate Writers

When your book release happens the same week - or day - that most of your country locks down for a pandemic, well ... that was 2020 for many writers. - NPR

Where AI Is Scariest? Its Ability To Speak

Artificial intelligence is an ethical quagmire. Its power can be more than a little nauseating. But there’s a kind of unique horror to the capabilities of natural language processing. - The New Yorker

How Much Of Your Life Has Been Determined By Fiction?

"There is a kind of bibliomancy, the use of books in divination, to being a reader of fiction. This magical concept begins while book browsing." - LitHub

Spain’s Hot Young Poet Is A Hospital Laundry Worker

Begoña M. Rueda, 29, just won the prestigious Premio Hiperión (her seventh award, one for each of her books) for Laundry Service, a collection about her work washing the linens of the sick and dead through the pandemic in an unglamorous port town. (in English) - El País (Spain)

Who Figured Out How To Type Chinese Characters On A QWERTY Keyboard? A Political Prisoner

Zhi Bingyi had an engineering Ph.D. and a German wife, so when the Cultural Revolution hit, he was, of course, declared a reactionary. Trapped in solitary confinement, he began a thought process that ultimately helped transform China. - Psyche

Two Long-Separated Fragments Of Egyptian Book Of The Dead Reunited

Well, reunited digitally. The two pieces — one now at the Getty in L.A. and the other in Christchurch, NZ — are from linen inscribed with verses from The Book of the Dead that was used to wrap a mummy. - Smithsonian Magazine

Groundhog Day Scenario: Opponents Of Obama Library Go Back To Court To Delay

In documents filed with the court last week, the Obama Foundation says an injunction that delays the Center will increase costs by "at least $2.2 million per month," and will likely have a negative impact on fundraising. - Chicago Reader

African Animators Are Using Cartoons To Save Endangered Languages

"Many African animators’ quest for representation goes beyond just having characters who look like them. Animation has also become a tool for preserving endangered African languages." - Global Voices

The Cancelers Are Wrong: Chaucer Was No Rapist, Racist Or Anti-Semite

"My decades of research show he was no raunchy proponent of bro culture but a daring and ingenious defender of women and the innocent." - The Conversation

The Art Of Creating ASL Signs For Individuals’ Names

Decades ago, names were usually communicated by finger-spelling. Today, with the rise of "capital-D Deaf" culture, ASL users often create individual gestural signs as identifiers. - The New York Times

The Hidden History Of Women Heroes Of The Holocaust

Judy Batalion didn't mean to find all of this out, but she stumbled across a book in Yiddish - which she speaks and reads. It changed everything. - Los Angeles Review of Books

A Tasmanian Writer Wins Australia’s Most Prestigious Literary Prize

For her seventh novel, 74-year-old Amanda Lohrey won the Miles Franklin Literary Award for The Labyrinth. - The Guardian (UK)

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