Latin, classical Arabic and Sanskrit were no one’s mother tongue. They are cosmopolitan tongues, mega-languages that evolved to facilitate communication between local dialects, then expanded to become world languages. - Psyche
A great first line can spur intense readerly attraction—provoke a compulsion to know more. Let’s call this: love at first sentence. Such a reading experience is also a rare one, however. - LitHub
You've got to hand it to New Zealanders. The main public library in Christchurch was closed for the national holiday on Feb. 6, but a glitch kept the automated doors open. 380 people came and went and used automated checkout; they left a mess, but nothing was stolen. - The Guardian
It’s not just that he lied––told tales––to people in the business of telling (and selling) tales. It’s that, in doing so, he touched up against an uncomfortable truth about how little space there can sometimes be between legitimate and illegitimate participation in a collective fiction. - The New Yorker
"Rather than a departure from his literary work, Handke's position on Serbia may be of a piece with it — a logical consequence of the postmodern experimentation for which he has long been celebrated." - The New Yorker
"Some are exquisite condemnations from learned and accomplished men who escaped their enslavement. Some are brief queries, shots in the dark, dictated by illiterate women. One is brilliant sarcasm." - MSN (The Washington Post)
"Many are leaving publishing entirely, going to places they can be better compensated and work normal hours. The pandemic has put extra stress on already breaking structures. ... It has also allowed a lot of people to step back and reassess their priorities." - Shaken & Stirred
Sure, some claim mutual devotion, but "power dynamics undermine so many artists’ domestic worlds, particularly when the junior partner, or protege, begins to catch up." - The Guardian (UK)
Its CEO's sudden death left control of Scholastic to his ex-girlfriend. "The executive suites had already been gladiatorial, people said, with shifting alliances and backstabbing betrayals more suited to Game of Thrones than a wholesome children’s media company." Now it's worse. - Vanity Fair
Public pressure and a backlash might be convincing Bard College to pony back up: "The ever vibe-conscious Bard is now trying to figure out how to keep the prestigious journal in-house." - LitHub
In the two major library systems I patronize, every title on Ukraine, Russia and Putin I have sought in the last week is checked out, with a lengthy wait for both print and ebook versions. Publishing has yet to offer new books on the Ukraine-Russia struggle, though that is sure to change. - Los Angeles Times
After Putin invaded Crimea and the Donbas, the government in Kyiv began giving extra support to Ukrainian-language writing and media; publishing flourished, and Ukrainians began reading more. But right now few people there have time to read, and they're using books for protection in a more literal way. - The Guardian
Ukrainians frequently speak of the need to become Ukrainians: to consolidate their culture, language, and institutions after centuries of imperial domination. What Ukrainians see as a work in progress, however, Russia interprets as weakness; it views Ukraine as an accident of history. - The Atlantic
As the pandemic enters its third year, a cluster of new studies now show that about a third of children in the youngest grades are missing reading benchmarks, up significantly from before the pandemic. - The New York Times
"Artificial intelligence could bring to life lost texts, from imperial decrees to the poems of Sappho, researchers have revealed, after developing a system that can fill in the gaps in ancient Greek inscriptions and pinpoint when and where they are from." - The Guardian
