Such disputes reflect a growing recognition across the publishing industry that the prestige and attractiveness of working in and adjacent to creative and cultural sectors – and the passion of its workers – can also form the preconditions for low wages and insecure work. - The Guardian
Mohammed Rezuwan is himself one of the hundreds of thousands of Rohingya driven out of Myanmar by that country's military and mobs. He now travels around the refugee camps at Cox's Bazar, Bangladesh, recording and translating his people's traditional stories. - PRX's The World
The much-praised new branch of the New York Public Library, across 5th Avenue from the famous flagship, wasn't supposed to happen. The NYPL board was bent on selling the branch property — until The Nation reported on the plan and advocates set furiously to work. - The Nation
From the early Middle Ages, various European languages adopted and adapted the Latin alphabet. So why did English end up with a far more inconsistent orthography than any other? - Aeon
In the 19th century, French schools were forbidden to teach in Breton, Basque, Provençal, Corsican, etc. Starting in the 1970s, interest revived and some schools started to use them. Now a new law has forbidden immersive education in regional languages; activists are furious. - Global Voices
Jonathan Kozol: "There’s nothing wrong with treating children or yourself to a bit of whimsy and wonderment and unimportant foolishness in a world that’s all too full of tears." - The New York Times
Theoretically, things are different in a post-#MeToo Hollywood from when Mena Suvari was a young star. She thinks they should be, and adds, "If I can shave off a summer of suffering for someone, I want to.” - Los Angeles Times
LFLs are often criticized for their placement. A new program in Detroit aims to change that access, and the books behind the glass doors as well. - LitHub
When your book release happens the same week - or day - that most of your country locks down for a pandemic, well ... that was 2020 for many writers. - NPR
Artificial intelligence is an ethical quagmire. Its power can be more than a little nauseating. But there’s a kind of unique horror to the capabilities of natural language processing. - The New Yorker
"There is a kind of bibliomancy, the use of books in divination, to being a reader of fiction. This magical concept begins while book browsing." - LitHub
Begoña M. Rueda, 29, just won the prestigious Premio Hiperión (her seventh award, one for each of her books) for Laundry Service, a collection about her work washing the linens of the sick and dead through the pandemic in an unglamorous port town. (in English) - El País (Spain)
Zhi Bingyi had an engineering Ph.D. and a German wife, so when the Cultural Revolution hit, he was, of course, declared a reactionary. Trapped in solitary confinement, he began a thought process that ultimately helped transform China. - Psyche
