The Man Booker shortlist, Leo Tolstoy’s works online, and the Great Language Game
This week is a celebration of several new milestones: the Man Booker shortlist came out, with Colm Tóibín’s novel, The Testament of Mary, coming in as the shortest nominated book in the prize’s history. We also celebrate Maya Angelou’s newest award, the fact that Leo Tolstoy’s works are now available free online, and the start of a conversation about how authors of color are represented in the literary community. Enjoy exploring!
News, Reviews, and Interviews
The Man Booker shortlist was revealed this week!
As reports continue to show that poetry sales are declining, the Bibliophilic Blogger wonders if people still buy poetry to read and enjoy.
Get a sneak preview of Neustadt juror Deji Olukotun’s new book, Nigerians in Space, at the 3Bute website. (The book will be officially released at the Neustadt Festival next month.)
The Electronic Frontier Foundation wonders how the Children’s Internet Protection Act, now in its tenth year, has affected children’s libraries across the United States.
This week, we lost Indian diarist Sushmita Banerjee, who was shot and killed in Afghanistan.
Celebrated black author Maya Angelou received the Literarian Award this week, honoring her lifetime contributions to the literary community.
All of Leo Tolstoy’s works, over 90 volumes, are now available online for free in Russian. (Perhaps an English version of this database will appear soon!)
We’ve had the conversation about women represented in publishing, but the Nation now wonders if it might be time to have a conversation about authors of color.
Thomas Pynchon’s new novel, Bleeding Edge, might not be the 9/11 book you were looking for, but it could be the 9/11 book you really need.
For Your Calendar
The New Yorker is hosting a celebration of politics, music, culture, and literature in New York City in October that you don’t want to miss.
Fun Finds and Inspiration
Sharpen your language recognition skills with the Great Language Game!
This Buzzfeed list is pretty self explanatory (and is absolutely accurate): The Worst Things That Can Happen While You’re Reading.
Hoping to get published in an academic journal? Here are 10 writing tips you might be able to use.
A new Google Chrome browser add-on allows authors to add soundtracks to their books, much like we did with our soundtrack to Julian Barnes’s The Sense of an Ending.
If you’re a punctuation geek (like us), you’ll appreciate this brief history lesson on three curious punctuation marks.
A new book app has launched, called Oyster, and it may be a “Netflix for books.”
Shanghai is one of the latest cities to add a micro library within its subway system. (You can check out other examples of micro libraries in our magazine feature, our blog post, or our Pinterest board.)
