Of course, libraries have never been only about books! But reading and books are more important than ever for contemporary society, and public libraries occupy a unique position as a public reading institution. – The Conversation
Category: words
Some People Have Really Strong Feelings About The Semicolon
In a Q&A, Cecelia Watson, author of the new book about the oft-misunderstood punctuation mark, talks about how the semicolon has elicited romantic love, inferiority complexes, class resentment, and even arguments about gender roles. – Longreads
The Indie Publisher That Soared Too High And Fell To Earth
Chicago’s Curbside Splendor was named “Best Indie Book Publisher” by Chicago magazine in 2014, featured on Bustle’s “13 Indie Presses You Should Know” list in 2017, and even profiled in Lit Hub’s 2016 story on retail stores opened by indie presses. But behind the scenes authors and staff weren’t being paid… – LitHub
Gawker’s Relaunch Is Called Off, Staff Is Laid Off
Bustle Digital Group, which bought the site in a bankruptcy auction last year, said in a statement, “We are postponing the Gawker relaunch. For now, we are focusing company resources and efforts on our most recent acquisitions, Mic, The Outline, Nylon and Inverse.” – Variety
Ancient Tablet Recording Homer’s “Odyssey” Discovered – Maybe The Oldest
It is engraved with 13 verses from the poem recounting the adventures of the hero Odysseus after the fall of Troy. The tale was probably composed by Homer in the late 8th Century BC. – BBC
Unknown John Steinbeck Short Story Discovered
“The author … lived in Paris in the mid-1950s, where he wrote a weekly column for the French daily Le Figaro called ‘One American in Paris’. One of his pieces took the form of a short story, ‘Les Puces sympathiques‘. Published in French on 31 July 1954, … [it’s being published] in English this week [in The Strand magazine] as ‘The Amiable Fleas.'” – The Guardian
Why Is Irish Literature Thriving Right Now?
“Irish writing has never shied from experimentalism, and nor have readers been frightened off by it. There is, in general, a far more relaxed approach to genre, a less divisive bracketing of “posh” and commercial writers, and less policing of the boundaries between fiction, nonfiction and other art forms.” – Irish Times
The Online Book Marketplace Is Now Riddled With Counterfeiting And Scams
Authors Guild president Douglas Preston: “Counterfeiting, author ‘doppelganging,’ title cloning, ebook piracy, cut-and-paste plagiarism and other rip-offs … the variety and cleverness of these cons is breathtaking.” And they’re difficult to police. – Los Angeles Times
Forgotten How To Read? Utility Fights Pleasure
Many of us who fell in love with reading at a young age then have to adapt to reading for utility – extracting information to serve some purpose. Then we forget how to read for pleasure. How do we find our way back? – LongReads
Sasquatch Books’ Gary Luke Retires After 25 Years: The Secret To Regional Publishing
“I think that it was possible to thrive as a regional publisher in the Northwest because we have a very healthy bookstore ecosystem. In other parts of the country, you don’t have that. Like in Los Angeles for example, they don’t have stores like Powells, and Elliott Bay, and Village Books, and Third Place. They’re, I think, predominantly served by chain bookstores like Barnes and Noble. So that’s a big piece of the ecosystem that has to be in place in order for regional publishing to survive.” – Seattle Review of Books