It's Banned Books Week. See: ten ludicrous reasons books were banned, and, from Laurie Halse Anderson, "This Guy Thinks SPEAK is Pornography" and the follow-up, "The Power of Speaking Loudly."
Per Petterson is interviewed on PRI's "The World" and featured on an NPR "Weekend Edition" story on the family in fiction. (See my video review of Petterson's latest novel here.)
The new standalone book section of The Wall Street Journal has just debuted.
Krista Tippett interviews Nicholas Kristof on "Being" in an episode that asks if journalism can be a humanitarian art. It's the second edition of the formerly named "Speaking of Faith" - the debut episode featured a lovely conversation with Joanna Macy, a translator of Rainer Maria Rilke, on her life in literature, the natural world, and Buddhism.
"Translating literature is 'like writing with someone else's hand.'"
Mexico's President Felipe Calderón Hinojosa says he'll push for legislation that will make attacks against journalists a federal crime.
Six scientists report on the most accurate science fiction novels related to their fields -- from robotics to physics. (Via The Millions.)
The Constant Conversation alerts me to this month's debut of Dalkey Archive's Slovenian Literature Series. "Never insular, Slovenian writing has long been in dialogue with the great movements of world literature, from the romantic to the experimental, seeing the literary not as distinct from the world, but as an integral means of perceiving and even amending it."
Tim Wise highlights a new study that concludes that supposed colorblindness reduces the ability for kids to see, and to challenge, racism. (Via Racialicious.)
If you haven't caught it yet, do check out Elif Batuman expansive and fascinating article on "Kafka's Last Trial."
"Slate Shuts the Window: A long overdue corrections policy revision."
A teen's legal sentence for a hit-and-run includes reading three books a month, beginning with The Catcher in the Rye -- a favorite novel of the teen's victim. "You could be Holden Caulfield," says the judge. (Thanks to Chris M. for the tip.)
Photographing Ntozake Shange and Ifa Bayeza. (One result of the photo session with legendary Chester Higgins Jr. is above. Higgins also did my favorite photograph of Alice Walker.) See also the piece on Shange, whose work is returning to the spotlight this fall, in the New York Times, and, in the New York Times Book Review, "Blood Ties" - an article on the writerly collaborations of Shange and Bayeza.
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