Lauren Groff on This Year’s Winners and the “Infinitely Malleable, Gorgeously Economical, and Endlessly Surprising” Short Story Form. Read more
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Why Teens are Suddenly Obsessed with Chess
Nationwide, people are playing a lot more chess — usually online or in apps. Both middle and high school kids are playing chess on their phones in the hallways between classes, sneaking moves in when their instruments are down during orchestra practice. Students at one school even turned the winter formal into a makeshift chess tournament. Read more
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Today is World Book Day!
World Book and Copyright Day is a celebration to promote the enjoyment of books and reading. Each year, on 23 April, celebrations take place all over the world to recognize the scope of books – a link between the past and the future, a bridge between generations and across cultures. UNESCO’s theme for 2023 – Indigenous Languages! Last year saw the start of the International Decade of Indigenous Languages (2022-32) and it’s a UN priority to uphold and promote linguistic diversity and multilingualism. Read more
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Jamil Jan Kochai Wins Aspen Words Literary Prize
Jamil Jan Kochai wins the Aspen Words Literary Prize for his short stories focused on the absurdity and violence Afghans have endured. Read more
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Lydia Davis Refuses to Sell Her Next Book on Amazon
Due to be published just before Bookshop Day on 7 October, Our Strangers will only be sold in physical bookshops, Bookshop.org and selected online independent retailers. Read more
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Man Gets Prison for Threatening Merriam-Webster over Definition of ‘Female’
A California man who pleaded guilty to making online threats to shoot up and bomb the offices of dictionary publisher Merriam-Webster was sentenced to a year in prison this week. Read more
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‘The Garden of Seven Twilights’ by Miquel de Palol
…upon its publication in 1989, Garden of Seven Twilights was hailed as a masterpiece and showered with accolades—the Serra d’Or Critics prize, the National Prize for Catalan Literature, and many others. Critics blessed Palol with comparisons to Italo Calvino, Jorge Luis Borges, and Georges Perec, dubbing his work “the postmodern Decameron.” Garden especially earns this last epithet—it is a frame-narrative monolith, a monstrously pregnant matryoshka doll of nested stories, and a cerebral, ludic, and unapologetically pulpy affair. Read more
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The Forgotten Drug Trips of the Nineteenth Century
Long before the hippies, a group of thinkers used substances like cocaine, hashish, and nitrous oxide to uncover the secrets of the mind. Read more
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It’s Okay to Like Good Art by Bad People
Art transcends the artist. Read more
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‘Tiny Beautiful Things’ Now Streaming on Hulu
Based on the best-selling collection by Cheryl Strayed, Tiny Beautiful Things follows Clare (Kathryn Hahn) a writer who becomes a revered advice columnist while her own life is falling apart. Watch trailer
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