Month: May 2021

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Generating Hope: Jack Zipes Republishes Anti-Fascist Children’s Book from the Early 20th Century

IN THE DARK DAYS leading up to the 2020 election, Jack Zipes, professor emeritus of German and Comparative Literature at the University of Minnesota and one of the world’s foremost experts on fairy tales and books for children, started in his retirement a new publishing house, Little Mole & Honey Bear, that aims to bring back from obscurity out-of-print children’s books that address political issues, such as the rise of fascism. Such books, often published in the 1930s and 1940s, are strikingly resonant with our contemporary political turmoil. But these are not dourly pedagogic books. As Zipes says in the mission statement for his press, these are books that “celebrate the poetic power of fantasy and illustrate how writers and illustrators have used their art to generate hope in their readers.” Read more

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Much More Than Muffins: The Women Scientists Who Invented Home Ec

Women trained in home economics wrote recipes for food manufacturers, invented clothing care labels and defined the federal poverty line. They set nutritional standards, demonstrated electrical appliances to rural residents, designed clothing patterns for female defense workers and pioneered radio programming. They served as military dietitians and endured captivity as prisoners of war. One of their number, Bea Finkelstein, developed food for the Project Mercury astronauts. Read more

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The 2021 Anthony Award Nominees Have Been Announced

It’s that time of year again! The nominees for the Anthony Awards have been announced. The winners will be declared at Bouchercon, scheduled to take place in New Orleans from Tuesday, August 24th to Saturday August 28th. This year’s gathering will be themed “Blood on the Bayou,” and it will be a celebration you don’t want to miss. Read more

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A bestselling L.A. novelist was struggling to depict a female adventurer. So she became one

Shipstead swam with humpback whales, learned to scuba dive and went spearfishing with chef José Andrés. Her newfound bravery (or rather her tolerance of fear) exposed her to “risk-takers who have the skills to survive and thrive in really harsh environments,” often lone-wolf types. She studied them up close, even had affairs with a few — including one she wrote about for the New York Times. Read more

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Coming Soon – Digital Collectible Books?

One advantage we always thought physical books had over their digital counterparts is that physical books are collectible. There is no way you could collect a book composed of ephemeral electronic impulses, a copy of which everyone on earth could have on their computer. Where is the substance? Where is the rarity? So much for common wisdom. Our perceptions were stunned a few weeks ago when a digital artwork sold for an astonishing $69.3 million at Christie’s. Seriously. There is nothing on canvas, no physical painting. What the buyer got was a digital file, the same (almost) as every other one you can copy off the internet for free. Welcome to the world of NFTs. Read more