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
Category: Miscellaneous
Oscar winner ‘Nomadland’ based on book by former Oregon journalist
“Nomadland,” which follows a woman in her 60s as she takes up a nomadic lifestyle after losing everything in the Great Recession, won Best Picture. Its director, Chloé Zhao, won Best Director, becoming the first woman of color and the second woman ever to win that award. Frances McDormand won Best Actress, her third such Oscar. Read more
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Roshan the Camel Brings Books to Homeschooling Children in Rural Pakistan
The school children, who live in remote villages where the streets are too narrow for vehicles, put on their best clothes and rush out to meet Roshan. They crowd around the animal shouting “the camel is here!” Read more
UK book sales soared in 2020 despite pandemic
New figures from the Publishers Association show fiction and audiobooks did particularly well, with value of consumer sales up 7% on 2019 despite bookshop closures. Read more
Looking For a Way to Mark Earth Day? Try These Movies, Songs, Books and More
When you come back inside after celebrating Earth with a walk or by planting some trees, check out these ways NPR’s Arts & Culture team has connected with our Mother Earth via the arts. Read more
Cuomo’s Pandemic Book Leads to an Investigation
The governor faces an investigation by the New York attorney general into whether he misused state resources to write his memoir “American Crisis: Leadership Lessons from the Covid-19 Pandemic.” Read more
10 Essential Noir Novels
Willy Vlautin lists some of his favorite noir novels… Read more
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What Snoop Dogg’s Success Says About the Book Industry
Will the shifts brought on by the pandemic, favoring online retailers over bookstores and established authors over new ones, change publishing forever? Read more
In the Instagram age, you actually can judge a book by its cover
Last week’s big literary event was not the publication of a new book, the million-pound signing of a celebrity author or the announcement of a prestigious prize. Instead, it was the unveiling of a cover: the jacket of the forthcoming novel by Sally Rooney.
“It’s quite rare that a publisher will reveal a jacket and make such a big deal about who designed it, or even mention who designed it,” says Danny Arter, creative editor of The Bookseller, a magazine reporting on the publishing industry. But in recent years, book cover design has taken on a higher profile, and we may be seeing a new heyday for book design. Read more
