“Caroline Broué, the French journalist conducting the interview, initially asked Adichie if people in Nigeria read her work, to which the writer replied, ‘They do, shockingly.’ From there, she decided to ask ‘Are there bookshops in Nigeria?’ When the audience responded with audible shock, she doubled down on her question.” (includes video)
Author: Matthew Westphal
Planned Holocaust Museum At Babi Yar Bogged Down In Ukraine’s Political Battles
The Babi Yar Holocaust Memorial Center would be the first dedicated Holocaust museum in the former Soviet Union. “Yet some in Ukraine question whether there is a need for a Holocaust memorial at Babi Yar, and not a few of the politically charged arguments that opponents are employing seem to be aimed squarely at making it go away.”
Did You Know That Ursula K. Le Guin Wrote An Opera? (Have A Listen!)
Rigel 9, a 1985 work with libretto by Le Guin and music by composer David Bedford, “tells a pretty classic space story. Three astronauts, named Anders, Kapper, and Lee, are sent to explore a strange world. After Anders goes off to collect plant samples and is kidnapped by extraterrestrials, Kapper and Lee argue over whether to rescue him or save themselves. In the end, Anders is faced with a difficult choice.” (includes sound clips)
Mort Walker, 94, Creator Of ‘Beetle Bailey’ Comic Strip
“In contrast with the work-shirking soldier he immortalized, Mr. Walker was a man of considerable drive and ambition. He drew his daily comic strip for 68 years, longer than any other U.S. artist in the history of the medium.”
England Faces More Arts Funding Cuts As Lottery Income Falls
“Arts Council England has been forced to cut its budget for 2018-22 by £156m and completely restructure several funding streams following a collapse in Lottery sales.”
The Taj Mahal Is Getting Its First-Ever Deep Cleaning – With A Mud Bath
“For more than 350 years, monsoon rains in Agra, the bustling city where the monument sits, were enough to wash dirt off the structure’s walls. But pollution has worsened over the last couple of decades, and parts of the marble facade have turned yellow and black. … Cleaning the monument is time-consuming and challenging. To remove discoloration, workers suspended on scaffolding are caking Fuller’s earth – a mud paste that absorbs dirt, grease and animal excrement.”
As Local News Outlets Disappear, Libraries Step Into The Breach
“In some cities, libraries are partnering with established news sources, teaming up in Dallas to train high schoolers in news gathering or hosting a satellite studio in Boston for the public radio station WGBH. In San Antonio, the main library offers space to an independent video news site … In smaller communities starved for local coverage, some libraries are playing a hands-on role, even if it is an expansion of traditional duties.”
Coco Schumann, Jazz Guitarist Who Survived The Holocaust, Dead At 93
“[He] performed alongside Ella Fitzgerald and Marlene Dietrich during a decades-long musical career, but who gave his most consequential performances as an inmate of the Nazi concentration camps where, he said, music saved his life.”
Why Did Instagram Censor This 26-Year-Old Poem?
“‘I want a dyke for president,’ artist Zoe Leonard writes in her 1992 poem. Inspired by the author Eileen Myles’ run for president, and written at the height of the AIDS epidemic, the poem, ‘I want a president,’ has since been shown in museums, galleries, and outdoor installations around the world. More than a quarter-century after it was written, the poem made its way to Instagram – and became the center of a controversy over censorship on social media.”
Sundance 2018: Gay Conversion Therapy Drama Wins Grand Jury Prize
“Directed by Desiree Akhavan and starring Chloë Grace Moretz, the adaptation of Emily M Danforth’s 2012 novel [The Miseducation of Cameron Post] secured admiring reviews … for its compassionate study of Christian teenagers struggling with religious disapproval and the injunction to ‘pray away the gay’.”