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 ]
Publishers need to speak up and champion reading in the face of the erosion of the book stock in England’s public libraries, says Tim Coates. Continue reading at The Bookseller
[ The Bookseller | 2018-07-18 00:00:00 UTC ]
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The partnership will make Penn Foster’s extensive library of courses, degree, and certificate programs available to public library patrons nationwide through Baker & Taylor’s Axis 360 platform. Continue reading at Publishers Weekly
[ Publishers Weekly | 2018-06-28 00:00:00 UTC ]
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The Week in Libraries, May 11, 2018: Among the headlines this week, net neutrality is given one month to live; And it was a good week for public libraries in Ohio. Continue reading at Publishers Weekly
[ Publishers Weekly | 2018-05-11 00:00:00 UTC ]
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It doesn't seem so long ago that a lot of publications would compete for readers by publishing hagiographical stories about the world-changing visionaires at social media companies, including Facebook.Particularly in the wake of the Cambridge Analytica scandal, we may still think that Facebook... Continue reading at Advertising Age
[ Advertising Age | 2018-03-29 00:00:00 UTC ]
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Waterstones boss James Daunt has slammed the widespread closure of public libraries as a "disgrace", arguing that the decline will have a damning effect on the future of British society. Continue reading at The Bookseller
[ The Bookseller | 2018-01-16 00:00:00 UTC ]
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The British Library is leading an 18-month project to determine the possibility of a single digital presence for UK public libraries, backed by more than £260,000 worth of funding. Continue reading at The Bookseller
[ The Bookseller | 2017-08-31 00:00:00 UTC ]
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A new study finds a 'dramatic' increase in swear words in American literature over the last 60 years. Continue reading at The Christian Science Monitor
[ The Christian Science Monitor | 2017-08-18 00:00:00 UTC ]
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It's not just your @#%& imagination: American books have gotten a lot more profane over the last six decades, according to a study led by a San Diego State University psychology professor. A team of scholars reports that there's been a “dramatic” increase in curse words in American... Continue reading at Los Angeles Times
[ Los Angeles Times | 2017-08-10 00:00:00 UTC ]
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Data released by Public Lending Right (PLR) has revealed that "Horrid Henry" creator Tony Ross was the UK's "most borrowed" illustrator across public libraries last year. Continue reading at The Bookseller
[ The Bookseller | 2017-07-14 00:00:00 UTC ]
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Ransomware is barely out of the news these days. We had WannaCry wreaking havoc not so long ago, and now it’s the turn of Petya/NotPetya. And those are just two of the better-known threats; there are plenty more forms of ransomware out there which, while maybe not as prevalent, can have just as... Continue reading at Betanews
[ Betanews | 2017-06-29 00:00:00 UTC ]
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The public libraries of New York, Brooklyn, and Queens have teamed up with the Metropolitan Transit Authority and Transit Wireless to launch Subway Library, which offers free ebook downloads in subway stations. Continue reading at Publishers Weekly
[ Publishers Weekly | 2017-06-13 00:00:00 UTC ]
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It wasn't so long ago that book publishers and bookstore owners were quailing about the coming of ebooks, like movie theatre owners at the dawn of the television age. Continue reading at Stuff
[ Stuff | 2017-05-11 00:00:00 UTC ]
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The role of public libraries is "crucial to sustaining and building engagement in literature", the Royal Society of Literature has concluded from a survey conducted with Ipsos MORI. Continue reading at The Bookseller
[ The Bookseller | 2017-03-02 00:00:00 UTC ]
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The UK's public libraries are missing 25 million books, according to new figures from libraries body CIPFA, although the decline in books could be worse than the figures indicate due to discrepancies between computer audits and physical stock takes. Continue reading at The Bookseller
[ The Bookseller | 2017-02-25 00:00:00 UTC ]
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In 1906, a reporter for the Detroit Free Press described a scene that had become all too common at the city’s public libraries. A child hands an overdue book to a stern librarian perched behind a desk, and with a “sinister expression,” the librarian demands payment of a late fine. In some cases,... Continue reading at Slate
[ Slate | 2017-02-06 00:00:00 UTC ]
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Rob Wilson on how the government wants local authorities to think differently about public libraries. Continue reading at The Bookseller
[ The Bookseller | 2016-12-07 00:00:00 UTC ]
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The long-awaited Ambition report for Public Libraries has been published, urging local authorities to use libraries to deliver other public services such as health, with the help of a £4m dedicated fund. Continue reading at The Bookseller
[ The Bookseller | 2016-12-02 00:00:00 UTC ]
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Library campaigners have expressed their intense frustration at the continued non-appearance of the Libraries Taskforce's Ambition report on a national strategy for England's public libraries. Continue reading at The Bookseller
[ The Bookseller | 2016-11-30 00:00:00 UTC ]
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Publisher whose list of writers included 10 Nobel prizewinnersPeter Owen’s survival as a publisher across 60 years was against all commercial odds. In 1993 he described himself as “one of the few remaining independent publishers specialising in translation”, and at his death aged 89 his mission... Continue reading at The Guardian
[ The Guardian | 2016-06-01 00:00:00 UTC ]
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A young phenom in the making, Brit Bennett, 25, started writing "The Mothers" while still in high school in Oceanside, Calif., finishing it not long ago while a Zell Postgraduate Fellow at the University of Michigan, and polishing it as recently as two months ago. Continue reading at Publishers Weekly
[ Publishers Weekly | 2016-05-11 00:00:00 UTC ]
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