America’s Public Libraries Reflect the Systematic Failures and Social Inequality of Our Country

Growing up, the library was not just Amanda Oliver’s favorite place but also her “first beloved destination, first embodied center… it was absolutely sacred.” However, soon after Oliver began her career as a librarian at a Title I school and then in the D.C. public library system, she witnessed how systemic racism, income inequality, the […] The post America’s Public Libraries Reflect the Systematic Failures and Social Inequality of Our Country appeared first on Electric Literature. Continue reading at 'Electric Literature'

[ Electric Literature | 2023-01-05 12:00:00 UTC ]

Other news stories related to: "America’s Public Libraries Reflect the Systematic Failures and Social Inequality of Our Country"


The Week in Libraries: March 31, 2023

Among the week's headlines: bomb threats over Juno Dawson's 'This Book Is Gay' highlight the increasing threat level librarians and teachers are facing; Missouri lawmakers vote to defund the state's public libraries; and PEN America's Nadine Farid Johnson tells Congress that the country is... Continue reading at Publishers Weekly

[ Publishers Weekly | 2023-03-31 00:00:00 UTC ]
More news stories like this


7 Newsletters That Will Help Get Your Book Published

For writers at every stage, the publishing industry can feel inaccessible. There are so many steps between drafting a book and seeing it out in the world. Especially for debut hopefuls, it’s more than a little intimidating: how do we know what we don’t know? Meanwhile, those who’ve already... Continue reading at Electric Literature

[ Electric Literature | 2023-03-24 11:00:00 UTC ]
More news stories like this


The Week in Libraries: March 24, 2023

Among the week's headlines: Congress passes a 'parental rights' bill; Illinois advances its bill to prohibit book banning; Missouri lawmakers seek to pull funding from public libraries in the state; and Julie Stivers has been named School Library Journal's 2023 School Librarian of the Year. Continue reading at Publishers Weekly

[ Publishers Weekly | 2023-03-24 04:00:00 UTC ]
More news stories like this


Queer Villains Are Vital to Understanding Queer History

Whether or not you’ve watched season 2 of The White Lotus, Mike White’s anthology series, you’ve witnessed Jennifer Coolidge’s frenzied intonations onboard a yacht: “These gays, they’re trying to murder me!” Coolidge plays Tanya, a wealthy woman who finds herself at the center of a conspiracy to... Continue reading at Electric Literature

[ Electric Literature | 2023-03-21 11:05:00 UTC ]
More news stories like this


Should Public Libraries Double Down on Print Book Collections?

Data from the IMLS show gate counts and circulation have been falling for more than a decade. U.K.-based library advocate Tim Coates says print books hold the key to reversing the trend. Continue reading at Publishers Weekly

[ Publishers Weekly | 2023-03-10 05:00:00 UTC ]
More news stories like this


A Young Woman’s Perspective on Being With an Older Man

Formative love affairs and sentimental educations are classic novelistic territory. And for good reason— these connections serve as catalysts, tell stories taut with tension, and leave characters forever changed. Madelaine Lucas’s debut novel Thirst for Salt describes such a relationship, set in... Continue reading at Electric Literature

[ Electric Literature | 2023-03-09 12:00:00 UTC ]
More news stories like this


Rebecca Makkai’s New Mystery Novel Is Anything But Cozy

I don’t know if we deserve Rebecca Makkai, but we certainly need her. The author of four novels and a short story collection, she’s been bringing range, depth, and humor to the literary world for at least fifteen years. She’s a regular among the pages of Best American Short Stories and was a... Continue reading at Electric Literature

[ Electric Literature | 2023-03-02 12:00:00 UTC ]
More news stories like this


The Week in Libraries: February 24, 2023

Amid criticism, Puffin revises its plan to soften some of the language in Roald Dahl's classic works; North Dakota passes a new law that wou ban sexually explicit materials in public libraries; and Library Futures releases a policy paper on digital ownership. Continue reading at Publishers Weekly

[ Publishers Weekly | 2023-02-24 05:00:00 UTC ]
More news stories like this


Exclusive Cover Reveal: Isle McElroy’s “People Collide”

Electric Literature is pleased to reveal the cover for acclaimed writer Isle McElroy’s sophomore novel, People Collide, which will be published by HarperCollins this September. When Eli wakes up alone in the cramped Bulgarian apartment he shares with Elizabeth, his more organized and successful... Continue reading at Electric Literature

[ Electric Literature | 2023-02-22 15:10:28 UTC ]
More news stories like this


‘Libraries, You Are My Heroes’: Readers Share Memories of a Favorite Haven

A photo essay celebrating the versatility of public libraries prompted an outpouring of enthusiasm from card-carrying book lovers. Continue reading at The New York Times

[ The New York Times | 2023-02-19 10:00:09 UTC ]
More news stories like this


Book Review Podcast: Public Libraries, and Profiling Paul Harding

A celebration of community libraries and their expanding role, and a look at the Pulitzer Prize-winning novelist Paul Harding. Continue reading at The New York Times

[ The New York Times | 2023-02-17 17:56:54 UTC ]
More news stories like this


The Most Beautiful Libraries in the World

So many libraries, so little time! As writers and readers, we here at Electric Literature know there’s nothing quite like stepping into a space that has been specifically designed to invoke and perpetuate a love of reading. With book-banning efforts escalating across the country and funding for... Continue reading at Electric Literature

[ Electric Literature | 2023-02-17 12:05:00 UTC ]
More news stories like this


7 Long-Awaited Follow Ups to Beloved Books

The last few months have been an exciting time in the world of publishing, not only for the litany of debut novel and short story collection releases, but also for the publication of two long gestating, highly anticipated projects by Cormac McCarthy and Katherine Dunn. The 89-year old’s first... Continue reading at Electric Literature

[ Electric Literature | 2023-02-10 12:00:00 UTC ]
More news stories like this


Growing Up in Between White and Black America

Davon Loeb’s debut memoir The In-Betweens follows the story of his childhood, adolescence, and early adulthood as a biracial young man growing up between various cultures, races, and identities. Loeb grows up with a Black mother and a white, Jewish father. In school, he is one of the few Black... Continue reading at Electric Literature

[ Electric Literature | 2023-02-09 12:00:00 UTC ]
More news stories like this


My Name Is A Direct Line To A Colonizing Ancestry I Still Benefit From

About twenty pages into Sofia Samatar’s memoir The White Mosque, Sigmund Freud appears, sitting in a train compartment late at night. Up to this point, Samatar’s story has been primarily about her travels across Central Asia to study The Bride Sect, a Mennonite group who fled persecution in... Continue reading at Electric Literature

[ Electric Literature | 2023-02-07 12:05:00 UTC ]
More news stories like this


In “I Keep My Exoskeletons to Myself,” a Cruel Form of Public Shaming Has Replaced Prisons

Marisa Crane’s debut novel I Keep My Exoskeletons to Myself is set outside of our reality: in an America where a cruel form of public shaming has taken the place of prisons. In Exoskeletons we meet Kris, a new mother struggling to see a future for herself and her kid in the wake of her partner’s... Continue reading at Electric Literature

[ Electric Literature | 2023-02-07 12:00:00 UTC ]
More news stories like this


Turning Nairobi’s Public Libraries Into ‘Palaces for the People’

A Kenyan nonprofit is restoring iconic public libraries, leaving behind a segregated past and turning them into inclusive spaces. Continue reading at The New York Times

[ The New York Times | 2023-02-04 10:00:30 UTC ]
More news stories like this


17 Small Press Books From 2022 That You Might Have Missed

It’s January and you know what that means—a reset for your TBR pile! There are so many amazing books to look forward to in 2023, but before we get too far into the new year, I think it’s worth spotlighting some of the titles you might have missed last year. And 2022 was an incredible […] The... Continue reading at Electric Literature

[ Electric Literature | 2023-01-27 12:05:00 UTC ]
More news stories like this


Christine Ma-Kellams Wants to Survive What Happens in Your Writing

In our monthly series Can Writing Be Taught? we partner with Catapult to ask their course instructors all our burning questions about the process of teaching writing. This time, we’re talking to Christine Ma-Kellams, who’s teaching an online eight-week fiction workshop. From improving narrative... Continue reading at Electric Literature

[ Electric Literature | 2023-01-20 12:00:00 UTC ]
More news stories like this


We Need To Talk About Professional Jealousy

“I never thought I’d be one of those people,” she said. T Kira Madden and I were sitting in the private room of a fancy strip-mall restaurant in Albany, New York, and I was eating a very expensive salad. Earlier that afternoon, we had given a reading at a local bookstore with T Kira’s... Continue reading at Electric Literature

[ Electric Literature | 2023-01-19 12:05:00 UTC ]
More news stories like this