While The New York Times Books Review‘s annual Ten Best Books list has long [been] considered the gold standard of literary criticism, not nearly enough attention has been given to black authors on the list. This year’s list corrects that issue, but still drew a critical response from people who believe the list was “too woke” for their tastes. Read more
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“As voted upon by the members of the Writers Guilds West and East, the list of the 101 Greatest Screenplays of the 21st Century (so far) is both a celebration of the great writers and screenplays of the last 21 years and a study of how writing for the screen has evolved and diversified since the 20th Century.” Read more
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Authored by the Observer’s first cryptic crossword setter, Cain’s Jawbone was first published by Gollancz in 1934, under the pen name Torquemada. It was written with the 100 pages deliberately out of order, inviting readers to solve the murder mystery by re-ordering them. Only three people are thought to have solved the puzzle, including British comedy writer John Finnemore, who received £1,000 from the press after it reissued the book in 2019 and launched a competition. Read more
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Anthony Broadwater spent 16 years in prison after the author identified him as her attacker in an assault she described in her memoir, “Lucky.” Its publisher said Tuesday that it would stop distributing the book. Read more
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Writers writing about writers: the fact that there’s a lot of it about should perhaps come as no surprise. From the likes of Jack Torrance in The Shining to Paul Morris in Sabine Durrant’s Lie With Me, writers in fiction are often skewered: preening, blocked, dejected creatures who’ll receive their comeuppance – or salvation – one way or another. Read more
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U.S. copyright law protects all kinds of creative material, but recipe creators are mostly powerless in an age and a business that are all about sharing. Read more
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Yunior García, a rising star of the Cuban protest movement, fled to Spain. He is one of a young generation of artists who say they have chosen exile over imprisonment. Read more
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A rare manuscript featuring early calculations that led to Albert Einstein’s general theory of relativity sold for just over $13 million at an auction in Paris Tuesday, becoming the most expensive manuscript by the famed scientist. Read more
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The Road might go “ever on and on” for Bilbo Baggins, but it has come to a sharp end for the developer of a cryptocurrency called JRR Token, after the estate of JRR Tolkien took legal action to block it. Read more
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It’s difficult to summarize the myriad changes taking place in American public libraries, but one thing is certain. Libraries are no longer hushed repositories of books. Here at the Central branch in Memphis, ukulele flash mobs materialize and seniors dance the fox trot in upstairs rooms. The library hosts U.S. naturalization ceremonies, job fairs, financial literacy seminars, jazz concerts, cooking classes, film screenings and many other events—more than 7,000 at last count. You can check out books and movies, to be sure, but also sewing machines, bicycle repair kits and laptop computers. And late fees? A thing of the past. Read more
