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 ]

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What You Lose as a Daughter of the Iranian Revolution

In They Said They Wanted Revolution: A Memoir of My Parents, Iranian American author and Vice journalist Neda Toloui-Semnani reconstructed the story of her parents as young, leftist Iranian activists radicalized at Berkeley in the late ’60s and who came to see communism as the political answer... Continue reading at Electric Literature

[ Electric Literature | 2022-02-08 12:00:00 UTC ]
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The Most Popular In-Demand Books in U.S. Libraries: October–December 2021

Among the most popular books in US public libraries between October and December 2021 were nonfiction about mental health. Continue reading at Book Riot

[ Book Riot | 2022-02-04 11:41:00 UTC ]
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Maryland Lawyers Say E-book Law Is a Defense of Public Libraries

In a 25-page brief, Maryland lawyers contend that the AAP is seeking to find a copyright violation where none exists, and reiterated their contention that the state has both the authority and a compelling interest to protect public libraries from "unfair" market practices. Continue reading at Publishers Weekly

[ Publishers Weekly | 2022-02-03 05:00:00 UTC ]
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Teaching in the Age of Intolerance, by Ilan Stavans

Essay Photo by Miko Guziuk / Unsplash In his newest book, What Is American Literature? (Oxford University Press, 2022), award-winning cultural commentator, translator, and editor Ilan Stavans, the publisher of Restless Books and the Lewis-Sebring... Continue reading at World Literature Today

[ World Literature Today | 2022-02-02 19:59:22 UTC ]
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7 Novels About Family Curses

I have always held a keen interest toward the processes of myth formation and how beliefs about family identity are handed down through generations. My debut novel Defenestrate tells the story of a family in the midst of reckoning with superstition and inheritance, the long-held beliefs that can... Continue reading at Electric Literature

[ Electric Literature | 2022-01-31 12:00:00 UTC ]
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Genderqueer Short Stories About the Ways We Mythologize Our Identities

A nonbinary teenager on their way home from an eating -disorder treatment center who tries to convince a stranger she is not a vampire, an aspiring fashion designer/dry-cleaning worker who develops an obsession with a customer, a community of people with Hansen’s disease that welcome and attempt... Continue reading at Electric Literature

[ Electric Literature | 2022-01-27 12:00:00 UTC ]
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Jessamine Chan’s Debut Calls Modern-Day Parenting Into Question

At Electric Literature, Diane Cooke speaks to Jessamine Chan about The School for Good Mothers, Chan’s incisive debut novel that revolves around how a young mother’s error lands her in a government reform program and at risk of losing custody of her child. They discuss one of Chan’s main... Continue reading at The Millions

[ The Millions | 2022-01-18 21:30:56 UTC ]
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8 Books by Queer Writers Who Came of Age in the 90s

The ’90s are back, as if they could ever truly peace out. Between Fear Street and Captain Marvel and the Alanis Morissette musical, the last mostly-offline decade is getting a gargantuan nostalgia polish. For my memoir Sticker—an exploration of my childhood in Charlottesville, Virginia via 20... Continue reading at Electric Literature

[ Electric Literature | 2022-01-14 12:00:00 UTC ]
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Public Libraries Aren’t Essential Services

The pandemic is showing the holes in social safety nets across the U.S., but public libraries aren't the answer to those problems. Continue reading at Book Riot

[ Book Riot | 2022-01-12 11:42:00 UTC ]
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OverDrive: Record Number of Libraries Hit Million Digital Lend Mark

Leading library service provider OverDrive this week reported that a total of 121 public libraries and consortia across seven countries and from 37 U.S. states surpassed one million digital lends in 2021, a significant jump from 2020, when 102 libraries hit the mark. Continue reading at Publishers Weekly

[ Publishers Weekly | 2022-01-12 05:00:00 UTC ]
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OverDrive Reports More than Half a Billion Digital Library Loans in 2021

In exceeding more than 500 million annual lends for the first time, OverDrive's 2021 figures suggest the pandemic has, as librarians have suggested, raised demand for digital content in public libraries. Continue reading at Publishers Weekly

[ Publishers Weekly | 2022-01-05 05:00:00 UTC ]
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8 Genre-Bending Books by Asian American Women

The Asian American women writers in this reading list explore the existential. They seek to do anything but simplify. They live with and write through some very dense, tangled complexities, even mysteries. Some, perhaps many, unsolvable, with wounds that perhaps cannot be closed, not in this... Continue reading at Electric Literature

[ Electric Literature | 2022-01-03 12:00:00 UTC ]
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Our Favorite Essays about Unconventional Writing Teachers

For those of us who want to become real writers—whatever that means—the countless resources available can feel a bit dry and uninspired, ranging from tired but true clichés to well-lauded craft books (Stephen King’s On Writing: A Memoir on Craft sits dustily on my shelf). Many of us find... Continue reading at Electric Literature

[ Electric Literature | 2021-12-31 12:00:00 UTC ]
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I’d Rather Eat Like a Pig Than Dine Like a Mogul

The celebrity cookbook is a curious genre: its essential premise is that a person who is famous for something other than cooking can, on the basis of that fame, also teach us how to cook. At the same time, it’s a tried-and-true publishing gambit: Gwyneth Paltrow and Stanley Tucci are following... Continue reading at Electric Literature

[ Electric Literature | 2021-12-23 12:05:00 UTC ]
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Challenge on Maryland library e-books law set for February

A law forcing publishers in the US and abroad to license e-books to the state's public libraries in the US state of Maryland is expected to come into effect as planned on 1st January 2022 after a court challenge was set for February. Continue reading at The Bookseller

[ The Bookseller | 2021-12-22 09:32:19 UTC ]
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Lily King Weaves Glimmers of Hope into Her Short Story Collection

Spanning dreamy teenagers to furious parents, violence to kindness, each of the ten short stories in Five Tuesdays in Winter is rendered with Lily King’s signature longing and wit. We are all learning to carry our grief, this collection argues, yet still hoping to scrape together a few more... Continue reading at Electric Literature

[ Electric Literature | 2021-12-21 12:00:00 UTC ]
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PA backs filing against Maryland law forcing publishers to license library e-books

The Publishers Association and the Federation of European Publishers have voiced their support for the Association of American Publishers’ challenge of an “unprecedented, unjustified” Maryland law which could force publishers both in the US and abroad to license e-books to the state's public... Continue reading at The Bookseller

[ The Bookseller | 2021-12-20 16:08:03 UTC ]
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The Most Anticipated LGBTQ+ Books of 2022

A few years ago, I found myself a bit tipsy at the National Book Award ceremony. It was my first—and so far, only—time there. The experience felt grand; it was a red-carpeted “benefit dinner” on Wall Street. People wore tuxedos and gowns. I couldn’t look around the room without seeing a writer I... Continue reading at Electric Literature

[ Electric Literature | 2021-12-20 12:00:00 UTC ]
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Electric Lit’s Favorite Novels of 2021

When it comes to great novels, this year felt like an embarrassment of riches. The books collected here are ambitious—in intellect, in scope, in subject matter, and in size. Some are perfect encapsulations of the unique problems of our time, while others illuminate the human threads that connect... Continue reading at Electric Literature

[ Electric Literature | 2021-12-16 12:05:00 UTC ]
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The Transformative Joy of A Good Breakup

Lee Lai’s Stone Fruit is the kind of book that stays with you. Since I finished reading it, the graphic novel has been lingering in the corners of my mind, sticky and sweet as a nectarine. It’s a book about family, breakups, queerness, childhood, sisters, and healing, but most of all, Stone... Continue reading at Electric Literature

[ Electric Literature | 2021-12-09 12:00:00 UTC ]
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