Most books don’t succeed either in terms of sales or critical unanimity. Most writers don’t earn a living wage from their writing. Tenure-track appointments (I teach college writing) are rare as unicorns. But being a writer is not a sentence handed down, it’s a choice I’ve made. - The New York Times
"Investigators in northern Spain said this week they discovered what they believe to be the oldest written record" — inscribed on a bronze hand — "of a precursor to modern Basque, pushing back its earliest evidence to the first century B.C." - AP
First published in book form in 1922 by a little-known novelist named Margery Williams Bianco, it has now been in print for a century, selling over a million copies in the U.S. alone. - New York Magazine
Which debut novel might hear its name called? Will nonfiction about viruses or chronic illness defeat Imani Perry's sweeping take on the history of the South? And in young people's literature, will a high school lesbian crush or a 12-year-old Chinese American in Minnesota prevail? - Vox
Summary Culture gone wild: "I was flattered that these folks, whoever they are, had bothered to rip off my book. But I was also pissed. I was angry on behalf of any and all unsuspecting readers who had ordered a workbook, only to receive these worthless word salads." - The Atlantic
Well, first of all, the romance author doesn't think that's quite enough: "I’m now writing my third book this year. I always aim for four. Four is like the magic number, but I don’t think it’s actually happened." - Slate
"It's been a long negotiation process for the approximately 250 union members. This includes people working in publicity, design, marketing and more - all the parts of putting out a book that you usually don't see." - NPR
Novelist and essayist Alexander Chee edited the 2022 version of Best American Essays. "Writers and publishers—and for that matter, readers—are increasingly embracing what he calls 'a very elastic art form … a form that can sustain a great deal of shape-changing and transformation.'" - LitHub
"Speech, rather than hearing, has been at the heart of deaf exclusion throughout history. People who were born deaf, or were deafened before they learned to speak (prelingually deaf) were placed in a special category" — typically one that treated them as infants or as cognitively disabled. - History Today
"Some 250 copy editors, marketing assistants and other employees at HarperCollins Publishers went on strike Thursday, with the two sides differing over wages and benefits, diversity policy and union protection." - AP
I don’t think you should write 50,000 words in a month in hopes that you will get discovered and Penguin Random House will buy your Next Great American Novel, Gatorade for Lemurs. I think you should do NaNoWriMo to stick it to capitalism. - Slate
Nüshu, a phonetic, syllabic script (as opposed to the standard Chinese ideogram characters) used by and between women, developed in a rural area of Hunan province. It nearly died out during and after the Cultural Revolution, but interest has revived and it's being taught once again. (video) - BBC
Atwood says, "I just want to know how you are going to get around the giant blue penises." McGregor's only response (other than laughter) is "It's not a literal interpretation but a leap of faith." - Financial Times
