The 2019 shortlist features three authors previously nominated for the Giller Prize. Ohlin was shortlisted in 2012 for the novel Inside, Crummey was shortlisted in 2001 for the novel River Thieves and Bezmozgis was nominated in 2011 for The Free World and again in 2014 for The Betrayers. – CBC
Blog
Searching Through The Myths (Some Of Them Her Own) For Zora Neale Hurston
“On February 4, 1960, the Associated Press ran her obituary. It read, ‘Zora Neale Hurston, author, died in obscurity and poverty.’ And with those words, syndicated in The New York Times and in papers from Jamaica to California, a new set of myths formed. Some listed her age at 57, others 58. After all, depending on what suited her, she told people she was born in 1901, 1902, or 1903 — in Eatonville, Florida. But as it turned out, none of this was true.” – The Bitter Southerner
Jessye Norman’s lost Isolde – and so much else
The process and the permanence of recording never seemed to entirely sit well with her. There are some likely treasures out there somewhere that we’ve never gotten to hear. – David Patrick Stearns
Fashion and Dance Get Married
At the New York City Ballet’s Fashion Gala, premieres by Lauren Lovette (costumed by Zac Posen) and Edwaard Liang (costumed by Anna Sui). – Deborah Jowitt
Propwatch: the gloves in ‘The Watsons’
Does anyone still wear – gloves? A lady’s elegant, elbow-tweaking white gloves? Or a gentleman’s svelte riding gloves? Spot these on stage, my friends, and you can rest assured that you are safely encased in the genteel past. Dickens World. Downton World. Best of all, Austen World. At least, that’s how it seems when The Watsons begins. – David Jays
Hearing is believing
One of my Twitter followers asked over the weekend if I’d post a list of my favorite film scores. This is, needless to say, an impossible task, but I did spend a few minutes drawing up the following roster. – Terry Teachout
Is Audible’s New Captions Service A Copyright Violation?
The publishers’ attorney, said that Captions—a feature that scrolls a few words of an AI-generated transcription alongside a digital audiobook as it plays—represents a “quintessential” case of copyright infringement. – Publishers Weekly
Emmanuel Macron’s Plan To Save France’s Declining Villages: 1,000 Cafés
The president’s project, called 1000 Cafés and run by a nonprofit called Groupe SOS, will receive up to €200 million from the French government to open new cafés, or prop up struggling ones, in villages with fewer than 3,500 residents. Nearly a third of France’s population still lives in such villages, and more than half of those no longer have a commercial establishment of any kind. – Slate
New York Times Changes Its Bestseller Lists
After cutting the mass market paperback and graphic novel/manga lists in 2017, the Times‘ Best Sellers team will again track mass market paperback sales, as well as debut a combined list for graphic books, which will include fiction, nonfiction, children’s, adults, and manga. Two new monthly children’s lists, middle grade paperback and young adult paperback, will debut as well. (The Times retired its middle grade e-book and young adult e-book lists in 2017.) In addition, the Times will cut its science and sports lists, explaining that “the titles on those lists are frequently represented on current nonfiction lists.” – Publishers Weekly
Does An Actor Always Need Her Own Voice?
Mind you, this isn’t a question of mime or dance. Chris Jones considers the implications of The King’s Speech, in which Britain’s King George VI learns to use his voice properly, and Lucas Hnath’s recent play Dana H, in which the star (brilliantly) lip-synchs to a recording of the playwright’s own mother recounting a horrific experience and its aftermath. – Chicago Tribune