In 1789, Erasmus Darwin — physician, pathologist, abolitionist, and botanist as well as poet — published a strange set of cantos under the title The Loves of the Plants, using mythical creatures and deities of antiquity to make then-new scientific concepts more accessible. And in one of his footnotes ... - Literary Hub
"(As) with the robust launch of online local newsrooms in the last two years, some alts are finding new ground in old traditions. Here are three doing similar things in very different ways." - Poynter
"The USP of the Whitbreads, which morphed into the Costas 14 years before they were abruptly scrapped this month, was that they didn't buy into ... literary snobbery. For 50 years, they spread a wide and egalitarian net across different genres." - The Guardian
The honoree is historian George Chauncey, best known for the multi-award-winning Gay New York: Gender, Urban Culture and the Making of the Gay Male World, 1890-1940, now considered a landmark in its field. Chauncey was also a key figure in the long struggle for marriage equality. - The New York Times
"I can’t get a fraction of that today. You can say, Well, we choked the golden goose, but all those films made money. Then Hollywood changed. I don’t understand that world. Nobody understands that world. There’s no rules. - The New York Times
We Googled the first line, expecting it to be an existing Philip Larkin poem, but we couldn’t find it on the Internet. It was an original work, composed by the A.I. in less time than it takes a man to sneeze. - The New Yorker
The scripts come from the Bronze Age civilization on Crete during the 2nd millennium BCE. It was a long and somewhat tricky process to establish that Linear B was used for a very ancient form of Greek; Linear A still hasn't been deciphered, but they're getting ever closer. - Aeon
This would be Ulysses, by James Joyce, which came out 100 years ago, and has been commonly heralded as the Best Novel Ever Written. I feel like I should underline and bold that for effect, or you can just imagine me using my best voice-of-God impression. - The Smart Set
Crikey, collecting the lingo that makes Strine Strine is a hard yakka that can leave a poor bastard with a head like a half-sucked mango. - The New York Times
The increase in online buying has meant a reduction in the number of physical outlets, but those that remain have a beadier eye for bargains unsuspected by their owners. The trade has lost much of its charm and romance, and the number of eccentrics has dwindled. - The Critic
If a writer is to be rejected on grounds of style, it might as well be done stylishly. One publisher brilliantly mimicked Gertrude Stein’s experimental prose with “Only one look, only one look is enough. Hardly one copy would sell here. Hardly one. Hardly one”. - The Critic
People in publishing are increasingly nervous of causing offence. I have been told that some books are being rejected not because the publishers don’t think the books have an audience, but because they don’t want to upset an online mob. - Prospect
Daniel Paisner: Ghostwriting has "helped me see what it takes to succeed at the very highest level—or, at least, they’ve left me thinking about it. Also: what it means to stumble, how to hold a dream out in front of you and find a way." - The Millions
"The arrangement seems to have been made entirely at random, unless you know the quirk by which it was conceived. Books are placed next to one another for companionship, based on some kinship or shared sensibility that I believe ties them together." - The Atlantic
Hall wrote by hand in the mornings: "I go into, as I call it, Sarah Connor mode from The Terminator: out there, here’s my child, what do I need to do? Get buff! I got pains in my hand because I wasn’t used to writing so much." - The Guardian (UK)
