At an “unlikely creative hub” in New York’s financial district, there’s an old electric typewriter which has been attached to a chatbot trained on Baldwin’s writings. You insert a sheet of paper, type a question — asking for personal “guidance,” not about Baldwin himself — and he/it will answer. - The New York Times
If the reading revolution represented the greatest transfer of knowledge to ordinary men and women in history, the screen revolution represents the greatest theft of knowledge from ordinary people in history. - The Free Press
Q: Why do you think people still talk to you? IC: Most people don’t read bylines, and the vast majority of people I interview have no idea who I am. - Columbia Journalism Review
Eliot was not only a prolific, but also a powerful prose writer. Impressively, he emerges even in the earliest of this work as if fully formed. His voice is mature and assured in a 1909 review published in the Harvard Advocate, where he already perfected the performance of having read everything. - Hudson Review
Seven deep-pocketed philanthropic foundations are coming together to help fill in the gaps. The coalition announced on Tuesday the creation of the Literary Arts Fund, which will distribute "at least" $50 million through grants to various nonprofit organizations across the country over the next five years. - NPR
“Books-A-Million … is in the process of opening 15 new outlets this year, which will keep the total number of outlets at over 220 spread across 32 states.” Both new and existing locations are getting redesigned interiors and a wider selection of titles; new stores average about 15,000 square feet. - Publishers Weekly
College professors of English Johanna Winant and Dan Sinykin thought they had written a book to help other undergrad-level instructors to teach close reading. It’s turned out that their work is helping high school teachers learn how to get their students to read and understand whole books. - Slate (MSN)
“Citing a chronic shortage of financial backing for independent publishers and nonprofits dedicated to writing and reading, a coalition of seven charitable foundations has established a Literary Arts Fund that will distribute a minimum of $50 million over the next five years.” - AP
What I am about to say on this matter may seem perverse, but I think a look back at the instances where great works of literature almost disappeared upon publication or came close to not being published can offer a useful perspective, and even a modicum of hope, that the game is far from over. - The New York...
“Everything must be seen and experienced before it can be recycled, shredded or, as a last resort, binned. We must honour and mourn. We must absorb the past out of each object, so it can turn into empty rubbish. This alchemy is deeply exhausting.” - The Guardian (UK)
Mychal Threets “recalls the joy he felt as a young boy watching Burton on the show, taking viewers anywhere from an underwater world to the set of Star Trek: The Next Generation.” Now he’s the host, trying to create joy for other kids. - San Francisco Chronicle
“A history of an “unruly appendage”, a look at the sadly neglected post-war Montreal erotic art scene and a scientific tome tackling whether fish can recognise themselves in a mirror are among the six shortlistees in The Bookseller’s Diagram Prize for Oddest Book Title of the Year 2025.” - The Bookseller (UK)
“The Children’s Booker Prize, offering £50,000 (roughly $67,000) for the best fiction written for readers aged eight to 12, … will launch in 2026, with the first winner announced in early 2027. It will be decided by a mixed panel of adult and child judges, a first for a Booker award.” - The Guardian
“Poems from an Attic: Selected Poems, 1936–1995, to be published on 6 November, brings together decades of work that Murdoch largely kept private, stored for years in a chest in her Oxford home.” - The Guardian
