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 Professor of Humanities and Latin American and Latino Culture at Amherst College, rereads an assortment of American literary classics through the prism of the Trump years, from the poems of Phillis Wheatley to Maurice Sendak’s Where the Wild Things Are. In the primer, written during the presidential election won by Joe Biden—and before the January 6, 2021, sedition instigated by Donald Trump—he also reflects on the role public libraries play in disseminating the nation’s literature, the art of teaching it to new generations of students, and the future of the book as an artifact disseminating knowledge in our graphic-driven age. The volume closes with an epistolary account, in Stavans’s words, of “the Second American Civil War.” What follows is the section on teaching. American literature starts and ends in the classroom. It starts there because whoever is a writer-to-be is likely to discover the magic of literature as an assignment, or else in response to the tedium that comes from feeling disengaged with the educational purpose. And it ends in the classroom because, at a time of precipitous declines in reading habits, books have their largest audiences among students enrolled in... Continue reading at 'World Literature Today'
[ World Literature Today | 2022-02-02 19:59:22 UTC ]
Today, Canadian writer Michael Crummey’s “dark, enthralling novel about love and its limitations” was announced as the winner of this year’s Dublin Literary Award. Selected from a shortlist of six novels, The Adversary took home the top prize. The Dublin Literary Award only accepts nominations... Continue reading at Literrary Hub
[ Literrary Hub | 2025-05-22 18:09:10 UTC ]
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The African American Literature Book Club has launched the BLK Bestseller List, showcasing the bestselling books by Black authors going back 16 months. It consists of monthly data from Circana Bookscan on the top 20 hardcover and paperback fiction, nonfiction, and children’s books, as well as... Continue reading at Publishers Weekly
[ Publishers Weekly | 2025-05-22 04:00:00 UTC ]
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I’m always happy to find a new reason why libraries make eveything better, and today I’m pleased to report that some very serious academics have concluded that public libraries are the urban planning equivalent of Batman: great at fighting crime. I stumbled upon this information via a post by... Continue reading at Literrary Hub
[ Literrary Hub | 2025-05-13 17:57:51 UTC ]
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Wondery chief brand officer Nicole Blake is giving podcasts the ‘Harry Potter’ treatment. Not so long ago, a book deal and a live tour marked the outer limits of how far a hot podcast could hope to expand its horizons. These days, they’re only the beginning. Especially at Wondery, the... Continue reading at Fast Company
[ Fast Company | 2025-04-19 11:00:00 UTC ]
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Viet Thanh Nguyen explains why most American literature is the literature of empire. | Lit Hub Criticism Eleanor Lanahan reflects on the literary legacy of The Great Gatsby, her grandfather’s timeless novel, as it turns 100. | Lit Hub Biography Sarah Viren and Vauhini Vara discuss voice, tech,... Continue reading at Literrary Hub
[ Literrary Hub | 2025-04-12 10:30:11 UTC ]
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Viet Thanh Nguyen explains why most American literature is the literature of empire. | Lit Hub Criticism Moeen Farrokhi on translating literature into Farsi and life into English. | Lit Hub On Translation How unraveling a short story into a novel gave Natalia Theodoridou “permission to indulge... Continue reading at Literrary Hub
[ Literrary Hub | 2025-04-11 10:30:18 UTC ]
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One way to understand the dilemma of contemporary American literature in the age of Donald Trump is to see it as an imperial literature. The United States is a different kind of empire, exerting global hegemonic power through hundreds of military bases and a network of alliances, trade... Continue reading at Literrary Hub
[ Literrary Hub | 2025-04-11 08:59:55 UTC ]
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Image from the New York Public Libraries Digital Collections The hogmen and shock troops of the Trump-Musk administration have gone after another essential and beloved mainstay of public life: libraries. Trump signed a broad executive order last Friday that puts libraries in existential danger... Continue reading at Literrary Hub
[ Literrary Hub | 2025-03-18 16:54:24 UTC ]
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Iowa public libraries may lose access to state funds for being affiliated by the American Library Association under a new anti-library bill floated by state republicans. Continue reading at Book Riot
[ Book Riot | 2025-02-25 18:20:00 UTC ]
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The importance of documentation in an era of misinformation. Where and how the story of Ohio library budget cuts emerged and what is–and is not–true right now. Continue reading at Book Riot
[ Book Riot | 2025-02-25 14:30:00 UTC ]
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House File 274 would repeal a section of the Iowa Code that addresses obscenity exemptions for public libraries and educational institutions, while Senate File 347 proposes steep fines for sharing allegedly obscene work with minors. American Library Association president-elect Sam Helmick called... Continue reading at Publishers Weekly
[ Publishers Weekly | 2025-02-20 05:00:00 UTC ]
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Black American literature starts with anti-literacy laws, then goes on to produce some of the most influential writers in the English language. Continue reading at Book Riot
[ Book Riot | 2025-02-05 12:30:00 UTC ]
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Destruction of US public libraries may start with complaints over books, but that's not the end goal. Alpena Public Library is now the tool of those book banners and serves as a stark warning of what's happening nationwide. Continue reading at Book Riot
[ Book Riot | 2025-01-16 14:00:00 UTC ]
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The newly released 'Audiobooks and Public Libraries' report shows US libraries' community sizes playing a role in audio circulation. The post New Research on Audiobook Circulation in US Libraries appeared first on Publishing Perspectives. Continue reading at Publishing Perspectives
[ Publishing Perspectives | 2025-01-14 22:10:01 UTC ]
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As he kicks off a year that could see him jailed or booted from City Hall, and quite possibly both, Mayor Eric Adams on Thursday laid out an agenda for 2025 that doubled as a platform for his uphill re-election campaign.In his fourth State of the City address, Adams laid out plans that respond... Continue reading at Crains New York
[ Crains New York | 2025-01-09 18:44:42 UTC ]
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What were the most popular books in US public libraries in 2024? Here are the top titles according to over 40 lists shared across the country. Continue reading at Book Riot
[ Book Riot | 2024-12-27 13:30:00 UTC ]
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A key victory in the ongoing battle over First Amendment rights in public libraries and access to books from Arkansas this week. Continue reading at Book Riot
[ Book Riot | 2024-12-24 14:00:00 UTC ]
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