WEATHER ALERT
Poet Rita Dove to receive an honorary National Book Award medal for lifetime achievement
Read full article: Poet Rita Dove to receive an honorary National Book Award medal for lifetime achievementPoet Rita Dove is this year's winner of an honorary National Book Award for “Distinguished Contribution to American Letters,” a lifetime achievement prize previously given to Toni Morrison and Don DeLillo among others.
What to stream this week: 'Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 3,' Quavo, 'Reservation Dogs' and 'Mixtape'
Read full article: What to stream this week: 'Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 3,' Quavo, 'Reservation Dogs' and 'Mixtape'This week’s new entertainment releases include fresh tracks from Quavo, the arrival on Disney+ of James Gunn’s cornball finale “Guardians of the Galaxy Vol.
Robert Caro's last book on LBJ likely won't be delayed by editor Robert Gottlieb's death
Read full article: Robert Caro's last book on LBJ likely won't be delayed by editor Robert Gottlieb's deathOne of the book world’s most long-awaited publications, Robert Caro's fifth volume on Lyndon Johnson is unlikely to be delayed by the death of editor Robert Gottlieb.
A first-time filmmaker makes a mark in Cannes competition with a Senegalese drama
Read full article: A first-time filmmaker makes a mark in Cannes competition with a Senegalese dramaMost filmmakers in the Cannes Film Festival’s top-rung competition lineup are well-known directors who have been around for decades.
Princeton University plans Toni Morrison tribute in 2023
Read full article: Princeton University plans Toni Morrison tribute in 2023A monthslong Toni Morrison tribute at Princeton University will range from music created and performed by Grammy-winning vocalist Cécile McLorin Salvant to a spring lecture series to a three-day symposium.
Q&A: Amanda Gorman talks UN poem, fame, future presidency
Read full article: Q&A: Amanda Gorman talks UN poem, fame, future presidencyWhen poet Amanda Gorman was invited to read a newly developed poem at the U.N. General Assembly, the young sensation took a deep look at how societal issues like hunger and poverty have impacted Earth’s preservation.
Winfrey picks Leila Mottley's 'Nightcrawling' for book club
Read full article: Winfrey picks Leila Mottley's 'Nightcrawling' for book clubOprah Winfrey has chosen 19-year-old Leila Mottley’s “Nightcrawling,” a debut novel about a young Black woman from East Oakland and her battles with poverty, racism and the police, for next book club pick.
Zadie Smith to receive PEN America literary service award
Read full article: Zadie Smith to receive PEN America literary service awardAuthor Zadie Smith is this year’s winner of the PEN/Audible Literary Service Award, an honor previously given to Toni Morrison, Stephen Sondheim and Margaret Atwood among others.
Poet Sonia Sanchez to receive Edward MacDowell Medal
Read full article: Poet Sonia Sanchez to receive Edward MacDowell MedalThe poet, activist and educator Sonia Sanchez is this year’s winner of the Edward MacDowell Medal, a lifetime achievement honor started in 1960 and previously given to Robert Frost, Toni Morrison and Stephen Sondheim among others.
Sales soar for 'Maus' after its banning in Tennessee
Read full article: Sales soar for 'Maus' after its banning in TennesseeJust days after the banning of “Maus” by a Tennessee school district made national news, two editions of Art Spiegelman’s Pulitzer Prize winning graphic story about the Holocaust have reached the top 20 on Amazon.
From masks to book banning, conservatives take on educators
Read full article: From masks to book banning, conservatives take on educatorsA recent Wyoming school board meeting was yet again packed with opponents of mask mandates when things took an abrupt turn and a parent started reading out sexually explicit passages from a book available in school libraries.
Murphy barely wins in NJ while Youngkin upsets in Virginia
Read full article: Murphy barely wins in NJ while Youngkin upsets in VirginiaDemocratic Gov. Phil Murphy of New Jersey narrowly won reelection in his reliably blue state while a Republican political newcomer delivered a stunning upset in the Virginia governor’s race.
Murphy ekes out win in NJ, GOP's Youngkin upsets in Virginia
Read full article: Murphy ekes out win in NJ, GOP's Youngkin upsets in VirginiaDemocratic Gov. Phil Murphy of New Jersey narrowly won reelection in his reliably blue state while a Republican political newcomer delivered a stunning upset in the Virginia governor’s race, sending a warning to Democrats that their grip on power in Washington may be in peril.
Biden easily won Virginia. Why is McAuliffe struggling?
Read full article: Biden easily won Virginia. Why is McAuliffe struggling?Democrat Terry McAuliffe walked into the Virginia governor’s race late last year as the overwhelming frontrunner in a state former President Donald Trump had just lost by 10 points.
McAuliffe, Youngkin hold fiery debate on vaccinations, taxes
Read full article: McAuliffe, Youngkin hold fiery debate on vaccinations, taxesDemocrat Terry McAuliffe and Republican Glenn Youngkin got off to a combative start in the second and final debate in Virginia’s closely watched gubernatorial election.
Karen Tei Yamashita to receive honorary National Book Award
Read full article: Karen Tei Yamashita to receive honorary National Book AwardThe National Book Foundation announced Friday that Karen Tei Yamashita has been awarded its medal for Distinguished Contribution to American Letters, a $10,000 honor previously given to Toni Morrison, Robert Caro and Isabel Allende among others.
American Academy of Arts and Letters expands, diversifies
Read full article: American Academy of Arts and Letters expands, diversifies(AP Photo)NEW YORK – One of the country's oldest cultural instititutions, the American Academy of Arts and Letters, is undergoing some of its biggest changes in more than a century. AdHarjo, the first Native American to be appointed U.S. poet laureate, said she looked forward to having an influence on future academy choices. “There are so many incredible Native visual artists,” she told the AP, while also citing such authors as N. Scott Momaday and Leslie Marmon Silko. But the academy will still call itself an academy, while working to make itself more accessible to artists and to the general public. Besides choosing members, the academy also gives dozens of prizes and grants each year, totalling more than $1 million.
Women's Hall of Fame honors Aretha Franklin, Morrison, Lacks
Read full article: Women's Hall of Fame honors Aretha Franklin, Morrison, LacksThe National Women's Hall of Fame was founded in 1969 in Seneca Falls, the site of the first women’s rights convention. She won 18 Grammy awards and, in 1987, became the first woman inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame. She was 75 years old when she became the first Black woman to set foot on the North Pole, and stood on the South Pole five years later. Born during the Civil War, Terrell was a dedicated suffragist whose civil rights activism continued up until her death in 1954 at the age of 90. Terrell was the first Black woman in the United States appointed to the school board of a major city, the District of Columbia.
`The books that help her through': Winfrey suggests seven
Read full article: `The books that help her through': Winfrey suggests sevenNEW YORK – With Election Day approaching and the pandemic ongoing, Oprah Winfrey is setting aside her usual book club recommendations and instead citing seven personal favorites, ranging from James Baldwin's landmark essays in “The Fire Next Time” to Mary Oliver's poetry collection “Devotions.”Winfrey is calling her choices “The Books That Help Me Through," works she values for “their ability to comfort, inspire, and enlighten.”"It’s a mix of fiction, poetry, non-fiction and spirituality, books I know and trust and revisit time and again,” she said in a statement Monday. Winfrey had planned a new choice every two months; her previous selection, Isabel Wilkerson's “Caste,” was announced in early August. Winfrey spokesperson Chelsea Hettrick said the seven books announced Monday would serve as “a bridge between selections,” and that no firm timeline had been set for future choices. “This year has brought such unprecedented change overall. We will re-evaluate in the coming weeks the selection plan and timing for the remainder of 2020,” she said.
Alexie, Pilkey books among most 'challenged' of past decade
Read full article: Alexie, Pilkey books among most 'challenged' of past decadeFILE - In this Oct. 10, 2016 file photo, author and filmmaker Sherman Alexie appears at a celebration of Indigenous Peoples' Day at Seattle's City Hall. Alexie is included in a list of authors who wrote books that were among the 100 most subjected to censorship efforts over the past decade, as compiled by the American Library Association. All wrote books that were among the 100 most subjected to censorship efforts over the past decade, as compiled by the American Library Association. The association does not formally count the number of times books are actually removed from a library shelf or from a school reading list. “There are actually two lines of objections to the Anne Frank diary,” Caldwell-Stone says.
Walter Mosley to receive honorary National Book Award
Read full article: Walter Mosley to receive honorary National Book AwardNEW YORK Walter Mosley is receiving an honorary National Book Award, cited for dozens of books which range from science fiction and erotica to the acclaimed mystery series that has followed the life of Los Angeles private detective Ezekiel Easy Rawlins. The National Book Awards are presented by the non-profit National Book Foundation. But like such previous medal winners as Ray Bradbury and Elmore Leonard, he has never been nominated for a National Book Award in a competitive category. Mosley knows well the reason: Crime fiction is usually bypassed when lists for a years best books are considered. In a statement Thursday, National Book Foundation Executive Director Lisa Lucas noted the quantity, and quality, of Mosley's work.
New literary prize is $50,000 honor for best New York story
Read full article: New literary prize is $50,000 honor for best New York storyNEW YORK A new literary award with a $50,000 cash prize will honor those best at telling a New York story. Wolfson and Tusk are funding the prize themselves and have committed to at least 10 years. Starting next spring, the award will be presented to a book, fiction or nonfiction, published in a given calendar year that is about New York City or takes place there. Celebrated works of the past that would have fit that category include Robert Caro's The Power Broker, Tom Wolfe's The Bonfire of the Vanities and Toni Morrison's Jazz.Jurors for the Gotham prize include filmmaker Ric Burns, poet Safina Sinclair and former New York City schools chancellor Dennis Walcott. The deadline for submissions for the 2020 prize is Nov. 1.
Library of Congress to honor author Colson Whitehead
Read full article: Library of Congress to honor author Colson WhiteheadNEW YORK Colson Whitehead keeps winning awards. Already this year's recipient of the Pulitzer Prize for fiction and the Orwell Prize for political fiction, Whitehead is now being honored by the Library of Congress. On Monday, it announced that he had won the Library of Congress Prize for American Fiction. Whitehead, 50, is the youngest winner of the lifetime achievement prize, which the library has previously given to Toni Morrison, Philip Roth and Denis Johnson, among others. He is the first author to win Pulitzers for consecutive works of fiction The Underground Railroad and The Nickel Boys, for which he won in April.
Black History Month
Read full article: Black History MonthNora Neale HurstonEatonville, FLConsidered one of the pre-eminent writers of twentieth-century African-American literature, Hurston was closely associated with the Harlem Renaissance and has influenced such writers as Ralph Ellison, Toni Morrison, Gayle Jones, Alice Walker, and Toni Cade Bambara.