“Children’s books have always been political, of course — that’s why they are fixtures on lists of banned or censored books. … [But] if the old image of a writer for children was a wise-child genius in the mold of Maurice Sendak — one who spoke up for kids and when necessary challenged the political powers that be, but indirectly — these days, children’s authors might not only hold signs at protest marches, they may also volunteer to strategize for a State Assembly race, or even run for office.”
Category: words
The Court Battle Over The Archive That Wasn’t Even Supposed To Exist (Kafka’s)
“It is only appropriate, given the subject matter, that … all parties in this fracas have reasonable claim to Kafka’s papers yet also clearly shouldn’t be anywhere near them. The story [author Benjamin] Balint tells is one of an interminable trial between doomed parties, in which physical struggles morph into questions about identity, self, and existential belonging. If only there were some author whose name is now an adjective used to describe exactly such stories!”
Shakespeare And The Political Resistance
Two new books argue that Shakespeare wove oblique political critiques of the English establishment into his works, and that we can learn a thing or two from them in our own troubled times.
Your Reading Comprehension: Print Versus Screen Versus Audio
If you’re reading, it’s pretty easy to go back and find the point at which you zoned out. It’s not so easy if you’re listening to a recording. Especially if you’re grappling with a complicated text, the ability to quickly backtrack and re-examine the material may aid learning, and this is likely easier to do while reading than while listening.
Poet, Novelist, And Picture-Book Writer Jacqueline Woodson Explains Where Her Books Come From
Woodson has two books out this week – and both immediately made bestseller lists. Where does the prolific award-winner get her ideas and her lyrical style? The South.
What’s It Like To Be A Screenwriter In The Superhero Biz?
That depends: Are you a woman? Then you’re one of a very few. Geneva Robertson-Dworet, who wrote the third Tomb Raider and has written the 2019 Captain Marvel, says that can be an issue. “I’ve had male directors tell me, ‘I just want her to be a normal girl,’ for their hero. … And that’s really depressing because what’s a normal girl? Have you met a normal girl?”
What Needlework Gave To Novelist Kate Atkinson
Atkinson says that doing needlework, even when she was young,”revealed something to me — the deep pleasure of creation, of taking disparate ingredients and transforming them into something else, something better. And something beautiful (in the eye of the beholder, anyway).”
Waterstones Buys Book Chain To Fend Off Online Booksellers
Waterstones is buying the 115 year-old family-owned chain Foyles, saying the deal will help to “champion” real bookshops in the face of online rivals.
Magazines Are Threatened. But The Magazine Cover Still Has Great Power
One very public-facing fragment of the medium remains: the cover. A magazine cover is all at once a cultural statement, a conversation starter, a negotiating asset, a digital selling point, a mood.
Does The New Use Of “They” Hurt Your Ears?
If English had not changed in exactly these kinds of ways forever, we’d all be speaking the language of Beowulf. Some might wish it so, but count me out. Pronouns change, just as we do. We celebrate language change that has already happened as pageant, procession, progress. Why not celebrate it while it’s happening?