Vicky Varga, a twenty-four-year veteran of Edmonton Public Library, described how the city had moved toward fully integrating social work into the activities of its main library branch. - The Walrus
Candace Hicks: "No one else is reading the same books as me in the same order, so in a way, my reading is my life’s work. The hand-stitched notebooks that I make recording the coincidences I uncover are a by-product of that process." - LitHub
"Kingston-based publisher Tanya Batson-Savage, founder of Blue Banyan Books, likens the region's literary support system to a three-legged stool with international media and festivals, book prizes in the UK, and the rising influence of social media in the book world providing crucial support." - NPR
"I'm in Camazotz, I think as I drive to see my Dad. I identify most strongly with the book's Meg Murry, the ornery teen who not only shares my name and the anguished isolation I felt as an adolescent, but also my emotional reactivity and stubbornness." - Salon
Spanish-speaking academics, and some international students, are not into it. An admininstrator: "We’re convinced that we can express ourselves in Catalan and become internationally renowned for our universities. We embrace the world — in Catalan." - The World
"Am I, a brown-skinned immigrant daughter who never got to read about or see characters like me in novels and films, simply reclaiming these beloved stories as my own? ... Or am I actually letting these stories off the hook, ignoring their oppressive aspects in their very recasting?" - LitHub
"Both were among the losing bidders to Penguin Random House's $2.2 billion offer. PRH's acquisition, of course, was blocked by the government last fall." - Publishers Weekly
For example, if we talk about “wasting” or “saving” time, we treat time as if it were a commodity. Or, if we say that we’re “going through” a difficult period, we’re treating time as if it were space through which we move. Like time, language is one of these really complex concepts. - The Conversation
Libraries were once places to access books. They are now places to access everything? The last place to access anything? As the social safety net has frayed, libraries have found themselves filling in the gaps. - The Walrus
Some writers invite haters and court controversy; Gilbert writes books that want to be loved. Being accused of complicity with a regime accused of genocide can’t have felt very nice. But by withdrawing the book, she has set a terrible precedent. - The Atlantic
This language variety came about through sustained contact between Spanish and English speakers, particularly when speakers translated directly from Spanish. - The Conversation
Certain books (Psalms, Song of Songs, Lamentations) are generally understood as poetry, but the historical books, Gospels, and letters all include a great deal of verse. Scholar Michael Edwards argues that awareness of this poetry, more precise and self-conscious than prose, should affect how we understand Scripture. - The Paris Review
A dialect of Aramaic, the language spoken by Jesus, Syriac has been used for centuries for Bibles, church services, and literature as well as everyday speech. But with the war-torn country's Christian community shrinking rapidly due to emigration, many fear that Syriac could go the way of Latin. - Yahoo! (AFP)
"Armed with a bamboo ink pen and a steady hand, … at the Hamere Berhan Institute in Addis Ababa, Ethiopian Orthodox priests and lay worshippers work by hand to replicate sometimes centuries-old religious manuscripts and sacred artwork." - Yahoo! (AFP)
