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 ]
Gina Frangello had a suspicion there was a hunger to talk about women who break the rules. In advance of the release of Blow Your House Down: A Story of Family, Feminism and Treason, she admits after some prodding, “I got more letters from women before this book came out than I ever received for... Continue reading at Electric Literature
[ Electric Literature | 2021-07-30 11:00:00 UTC ]
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Short stories, to me, are sparked by desire. I don’t mean they’re all love stories, though they certainly can be. I mean they are collisions or conflagrations, small or spectacular traffic accidents in which the desires of one person bump up against the impossible—whether in the form of some... Continue reading at Electric Literature
[ Electric Literature | 2021-07-26 11:00:00 UTC ]
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The pandemic has prompted, among other things, a slew of relocations. Some of those relocations (ie. to your mom’s house) have proved, or will prove, temporary; others, encouraged by new work-from-home policies, may become permanent. Or maybe you’re one of those people who looked around at the... Continue reading at Literrary Hub
[ Literrary Hub | 2021-07-21 17:19:56 UTC ]
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I’ve never read the ending of a book first, though I do have a habit of flipping to the back before I begin, turning instead to the acknowledgments page. There are stories embedded here. Acknowledgments capture the real-life intimacies of the literary world and lay bare the backdrop of the... Continue reading at Electric Literature
[ Electric Literature | 2021-07-20 11:00:00 UTC ]
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It can be too easy to write villains— people stunted and incapable of love or compassion—when we write about opponents of our politics, especially in short stories, which have so much less space to detail nuance. Sometimes writing about villains and pointing the finger is necessary in a world... Continue reading at Electric Literature
[ Electric Literature | 2021-07-16 11:00:00 UTC ]
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The Niles-Maine Public Library in suburban Chicago is being destroyed from the inside by politically-conservative Board officials. Continue reading at Book Riot
[ Book Riot | 2021-07-15 10:40:00 UTC ]
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I’ve been watching the Extremely Sad Show for Extremely Sad People for a few months now. I only learned this a few weeks ago, though. At an editorial meeting for the literary magazine where I’m a columnist, someone said she was watching “the extremely sad show for extremely sad people.” Another... Continue reading at Electric Literature
[ Electric Literature | 2021-06-30 11:00:00 UTC ]
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I first came to poet Rajiv Mohabir’s work through his cutting meditation on why he will never celebrate Indian Arrival Day, which Guyana celebrates on May 5th to commemorate the arrival of indentured Indian workers in the Caribbean. In the essay for the Asian American Writers Workshop’s The... Continue reading at Electric Literature
[ Electric Literature | 2021-06-22 11:00:00 UTC ]
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In our 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 month we’re featuring Cinelle Barnes, author of Monsoon Mansion: A Memoir and Malaya: Essays on Freedom. Barnes is a regular... Continue reading at Electric Literature
[ Electric Literature | 2021-06-17 11:00:00 UTC ]
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New York this week became the second state to pass a bill that would ensure public libraries the right to license and lend e-books that are available to consumers in the state. The bill is now headed to governor Andrew Cuomo's desk. Continue reading at Publishers Weekly
[ Publishers Weekly | 2021-06-11 04:00:00 UTC ]
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In March of 2004, my family and I were at home in Taiwan for the national election, and I got into my first-ever screaming match with a perfect stranger. The election choice, as always, was between the Kuo Ming Tang, which favors reunification with China; and the Democratic People’s Party, which... Continue reading at Electric Literature
[ Electric Literature | 2021-06-01 11:00:00 UTC ]
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The new law requires any publisher offering to license "an electronic literary product" to consumers to also offer to license the content to public libraries on "reasonable" terms. Continue reading at Publishers Weekly
[ Publishers Weekly | 2021-06-01 04:00:00 UTC ]
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Here’s an incredible archival project you might not know about: Reveal Digital is partnering with academic and public libraries to fund an expanding, open access collection of American prison newspapers. “American Prison Newspapers, 1800-2020: Voices From The Inside” is collecting and digitizing... Continue reading at Literrary Hub
[ Literrary Hub | 2021-05-28 17:24:30 UTC ]
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A successful book club needs three things to thrive: delicious food, decent wine and wonderful people. Only the first two, food and wine, are easy to find. It is the third element, the people, that is like a jigsaw puzzle with a thousand pieces—something that promises to look like the pretty... Continue reading at Electric Literature
[ Electric Literature | 2021-05-27 11:00:00 UTC ]
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Randa Jarrar’s memoir Love Is An Ex-Country focuses predominantly on the years leading to the 2016 election, a period, which, like now, was characterized by heightened Islamophobia, misogyny, homophobia, anti-immigrant sentiment, and racism. Jarrar embarks on a road trip inspired by Tahia... Continue reading at Electric Literature
[ Electric Literature | 2021-05-21 11:00:43 UTC ]
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In our 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 month we’re talking to Adin Dobkin, author of the forthcoming book Sprinting Through No-Man’s Land: Endurance, Tragedy, and... Continue reading at Electric Literature
[ Electric Literature | 2021-05-20 11:00:00 UTC ]
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In the introductory essay of White Magic, Elissa Washuta—a Native American author and member of the Cowlitz Indian Tribe—examines the colonization of spirituality, as well as her own reticence to describe herself as a witch: “I just want a version of the occult that isn’t built on plunder, but I... Continue reading at Electric Literature
[ Electric Literature | 2021-05-07 11:01:00 UTC ]
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In Christine Smallwood’s debut novel The Life of the Mind, protagonist Dorothy escapes the stifled environment of an academic conference for one she finds even more depressing: the slot machines. There, she runs into her former dissertation advisor, Judith, a woman who caused her significant... Continue reading at Electric Literature
[ Electric Literature | 2021-05-06 11:00:00 UTC ]
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Every love story is built with inherently high stakes. After all, a heart can be the ultimate prize, and courtship a most dangerous risk. And love, as we all know, won’t stop for much. Our hearts pay no attention to timing or impediments, and logic falls by the wayside as we feel the anguish of... Continue reading at Electric Literature
[ Electric Literature | 2021-04-28 11:00:00 UTC ]
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In Crying in H Mart, Michelle Zauner—also known as the indie-pop musician Japanese Breakfast—writes of her mother’s battle with terminal cancer and the caretaking process. The mother-daughter relationship is the beating pulse of this memoir, presented in all of its uncomfortable complexities.... Continue reading at Electric Literature
[ Electric Literature | 2021-04-22 11:00:00 UTC ]
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