The award is called The Carol Shields Prize for Fiction, named after the Pulitzer Prize-winning author of The Stone Diaries, and starting in 2022 will award $155,000 Canadian to a woman or non-binary author. “It is a sum that dwarfs the prize money for literary awards such as the Booker Prize (50,000 pounds, roughly $65,000), the Pulitzer Prize for fiction ($15,000) and the National Book Award ($10,000). The Nobel Prize for literature is one exception, with laureates receiving nearly $1 million. ‘We wanted to go big on it so that people paid attention.'” – The New York Times
Blog
Some Problems With The U.S. Administration’s Plan To Make Architecture Classical Again
Aside from obvious comparisons to fascist Italy, it’s just not great to take direction from a fringe group of neo-classicists, some of whom aren’t architects. Then there are the safety requirements for federal buildings, which leave little money for “classical” elements. And, as any architect knows, “classicism and modernism are not opposites; they exist on a continuum, and choosing between them is unnecessary.” – The Atlantic
Why Are One-Shot Movies Suddenly Back In Vogue?
With films like Birdman and last year’s The Body Remembers When The World Broke Open and Oscar fave 1917 edited to appear as if they’re single shots, what’s the deal? The “single-shot” movie has become much more popular in the past few years, perhaps “the technical virtuosity required of a one-shot film marks its director as an auteur. And these films feel somehow pure — compared, at least to the CGI trickery and hyperactive editing of blockbuster superhero movies.” – NPR
Learning To Dance Like Fred Astaire, Or As Close As You Can Get
That’s the quest of some dancers in American Contemporary Ballet as they try to recreate Astaire’s routines. “Although Astaire’s style — the nimble and quick footwork and weightless slides — is not technical, re-creating his dancing for the stage requires a high level of musicality and nuance” – and leaves some dancers feeling like imposters. – Los Angeles Times
Audible And The Big Publishers May Finally Have Figured Out This Caption Thing
In settling out of court, apparently, “Audible has agreed not to include the copyrighted works of seven plaintiff publishers in its ‘Captions’ program without express permission.” This does not, of course, apply to works in the public domain, and indeed, “Audible sources confirmed to PW that the company currently has no plan to move forward with the Captions program beyond its limited pilot with public domain works for students.” – Publishers Weekly
An Orchestra Helps Deaf Fans ‘Hear’ Beethoven
In Budapest, Deaf and other hard of hearing adults and children use touch to experience Beethoven’s Fifth. One of them said, “Here, when the string instruments all sound, that gives a very good vibration. It is not a coincidence that he wrote this kind of music.” – Reuters
Author Says The UK Educational System Is Dreary, Needs More Laughter
Michael Rosen blames the Reformation – truly. That time period was “when they thought the only way you could be virtuous was to be modest and serious, so humour was pushed aside, seen as frivolous … even dangerous. And that seeps through into education today, so there’s a slight fear of subversiveness or laughter, as well as a dismissal of it. And for some of us, humour is a means of survival.” – The Guardian (UK)
How To Keep On Writing (Or Making Other Art) When It Feels Like The Planet Is Coming Apart
Writer Jenny Offill: “The question I was thinking about in this book … was, Can you still just tend your own garden once you know about the fire outside its walls?” – The New York Times
This Map Shows Where Every Best Actress, Actor And Director Were Born
Cool use of big data, no? Real shocker though: “When you look at the birthplaces of all the winners together, you can see the Academy tends to favor American-born talent, with Europe as a close second.” – Fast Company
The Director Of The Cooper Hewitt Has Resigned
Caroline Baumann’s resignation was abrupt on Friday, February 7, and the Smithsonian Design Museum in Manhattan would give no reason for her departure. “During her tenure as director, she oversaw the $91 million renovation of the museum’s home at Fifth Avenue and East 91st Street, which aimed to make its Gilded Age mansion more inviting to modern-day visitors.” – The New York Times