"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
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)
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
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
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
"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
"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
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
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
The ABA took its Twitter private after promoting a scientifically inaccurate anti-trans book to indie bookstores, apologizing, and then deleting the apology. - LitHub
"Across Africa, literary journals managed by young writers and artists are emerging with the aim of publishing both new and established voices, collaborating across geographies." - The New York Times
This year, far fewer politically sensitive books are on display. Vendors are curating their books carefully to avoid violating the national security law, which Beijing imposed on Hong Kong in June 2020. - The Guardian
Speakers of other languages often have to use English for internet-specific terms; digital rights advocates find that there are no words in many other languages for things like data protection and surveillance. Here one activist writes about why and how she's working to change that. - The Nation
