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Reading While Incarcerated Saved Me. So Why Are Prisons Banning Books?

In Texas, books by Alice Walker, Pablo Neruda and even the former senator Bob Dole have been banned. Throughout the country, prison officials have rejected or tried to ban books about biology (too much nudity in the anatomical drawings), the Holocaust (some of the victims were pictured nude), sketching, dragons and even the moon (it could “present risks of escape,” according to one New York prison). At one point, Colorado prison officials blocked a prisoner from reading two of President Barack Obama’s memoirs because they were “potentially detrimental to national security,” although they later reversed that decision. Read more

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Denzel Washington Honors August Wilson’s Legacy at House Opening

The August Wilson House is not a museum. Instead, the restored space is a community center that will offer artist residencies, gathering spaces, fellowships and other programming for up-and-coming artists and scholars. There is also an outdoor stage behind the home, which is currently showcasing the Pittsburgh Playwrights Theater Company’s production of Wilson’s play “Jitney” through Sept. 18. Read more

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Stories from the Tenants Downstairs by Sidik Fofana

The interconnected stories in Fofana’s spectacular debut collection feature a range of vibrant characters who are living close to the edge … A range of emotions, from wistfulness to humor, envy, and vengefulness, colors these pages that are often filled with laugh-out-loud passages … Above all, the characters’ voices are unforgettable, crackling with energy and spunk. “Everybody got a story, everybody got a tale. Question is: is it despair or prevail?” Read more

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‘The Butler’ Author Wil Haygood Wins Prestigious Book Award

Writer Wil Haygood, author of multiple nonfiction books chronicling the lives of 20th-century Black Americans including The Butler, has won a prestigious book award. The Dayton Literary Peace Prize announced Wednesday that Haygood — himself originally from Columbus, Ohio — will receive the Ambassador Richard C. Holbrooke Distinguished Achievement Award. Read more

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The New “Tinder for Bookworms” Has the Least Sexy Name on the Planet

Hey, nerds. Do you have more books than you do friends? Do you ever find yourself explaining the plot of the novel you’re reading to your dog? Are you looking for that special someone to lie next to you in bed in the morning while you ignore each other and read your own books? Turns out there’s an app for that (or there will be—it’s still in early beta). Yep, it’s “Tinder for bookworms“—though to be fair, it isn’t actually a book dating app, but rather a “book meetup app.” It’s called Klerb. Read more

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Tatiana Maslany to Star in ‘Invitation to a Bonfire’

Invitation to a Bonfire is a psychological thriller set in the 1930s at an all-girls boarding school in New Jersey. Inspired by Vladimir and Vera Nabokov’s co-dependent marriage, the series follows Zoya (Freya Mavor), a young Russian immigrant and groundskeeper, who is drawn into a lethal love triangle with the school’s newest faculty member — an enigmatic novelist, Leo (Pilou Asbæk)— and his bewitching wife (Maslany). Read more

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Who is Colleen Hoover and Why Are Her Books So Popular?

Fifteen of Hoover’s novels are on this week’s list, with “It Ends With Us” topping them all at No. 2. The novel, which has reached No. 1 before, has been on the list for a total of 76 weeks. Her latest novel “Reminders of Him,” currently on the list, debuted at No. 1 in January. Read more

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