Ten years ago, almost half of Ukrainians said Russian was their first language; now, 21% say so (or, at least, admit to it). These days, anger at the language of the war criminals is hardly surprising. Ukraine's government wants to make Ukrainian-ness civic, not linguistic. Can that work? - Prospect (UK)
Goodreads was solid, and then Amazon bought it. Now it's got some major issues. "Former employees said Amazon seemed happy to mine Goodreads for its user-generated data and otherwise let it limp along with limited resources." - Washington Post
Pot, kettle, fine points, and dark and stormy nights - they all came from what was, at the time, original thought and phrasing (but sorry writers; please let the now-worn phrases lie where they originated). - LitHub
Or just the writing of it, says author Yomi Adegoke, author of The List. "You’re like: ‘Oh, I just made this thing up’ and everyone’s, like, reading your subconscious." - The Guardian (UK)
"Khalifa is a Syrian novelist, poet and screenwriter whose work has been awarded the Naguib Mahfouz medal for literature, one of the Arab world’s highest literary honours. His soulful, often wry stories traverse time but are centred on the Syrian city of Aleppo" - which has been destroyed. - The Guardian (UK)
"Fans of the publisher World Editions, which has brought translations of work by Maryse Condé, Amin Maalouf, Pilar Quintana, Jaap Robben and Zhang Yueran to English-language audiences, has found a new owner—none other than the US director Christine Swedowsky." - LitHub
First, look to its (storied) past: "With its mix of bubbly enthusiasm and Gen-X skepticism, Paper became the scrappy kid sibling to the argumentative Village Voice and the lustrous Interview. Its readers were beautiful people and misfits, insiders and outsiders." - The New York Times
"By tapping into TikTok’s ability to drive attention to books and its vast trove of user data, ByteDance could boost its own authors at the expense of others and make BookTok less organic and user-driven, a prospect that worries many TikTok users and authors." - The New York Times
As momentum grows behind the criticism of the museum, it is a good time for all of us to consider how we value and engage with the work of translators. - The Conversation
How do those books and authors strike me now? For one thing, that mini pantheon makes clear why old-fashioned literary histories employed phrases like “the bubble reputation,” “Fortune’s wheel” and “the whirligig of taste.” - Washington Post
"The Rohingya language remained an oral tradition until the 1980s, when scholar Mohammad Hanif developed a script based on Arabic letters" — only to see it suppressed by Myanmar's military dictatorship. With so many Rohingya chased out of their homeland, many children are finally learning their mother tongue in full. - Deutsche Welle
"In addition to resources such as free internet and printer access, they're building up offerings aimed at small-business owners and professionals, renovating to include more private work spaces and meeting rooms. Branches in some locations … have added cafes and turned rooftops into snazzy destinations." - MSN (The Washington Post)
"The cutback — the latest in a series under owner Walt Disney Co. — involves some 19 editorial staffers. … Article assignments will henceforth be contracted out to freelancers or pieced together by editors. The cuts also eliminated the magazine's small audio department." - MSN (The Washington Post)
