Category: words

Tsitsi Dangarembga’s first book, Nervous Conditions, published in 1988, “was hailed as one of the 20th century’s most significant works of African literature.” Then she went to film school. “What saved me was a fellowship from the Rockefeller Foundation Bellagio Center in 2016. My husband took care of the children in Zimbabwe, and I spent four weeks in a place where I was intellectually stimulated, talking about writing with writers.” – The New York Times

And it’s called, uh, Booxby. (Seriously, tech bros?) “Its new search portal asks you to input a book you liked, then it provides (fiction-only) recommendations based on the writing style of that book.” – LitHub

Seriously – both the greeting card companies and the writers have a lot to figure out in striking a tone for this very different year. – The New York Times

At least that’s the hope of many U.S. booksellers – that the 44th president’s memoir will juice sales in a way that will help offset pandemic losses. “Demand among American customers is so high that Penguin Random House, Crown’s parent company, has printed 1.5 million copies in Germany to bring over on cargo ships.” – The New York Times

Personalized book and wine deliveries, a mix of weekly children’s online reading clubs, subscriptions services, and a heavy uptick in the use of the internet – all are helping Canadian independent bookstores survive. But another lockdown may be coming before buyers can get their holiday shopping finished, a make or break proposal for small indies. – CBC

One bookstore near the High Line in New York: “The last day we were open, I asked customers where they were from. Turned out that they were all British flying back home. The last sale was to an Englishman, who bought Albert Camus’ The Plague. We wished each other luck.” – The New York Times

Large printing companies in the U.S. are under financial strain, made worse by shutdowns due to the pandemic and subsequent reopenings with fewer employees. Fewer books printed means fewer books going to distributors — who themselves have had pandemic-related issues with staffing their warehouses. Add in a paper shortage, and a publishing schedule in flux because many spring/summer books were pushed to fall, and you have a perfect storm of supply-chain gridlock. – Seattle Times

“Historians have discovered that the first, limited edition of the seemingly incomprehensible book in fact achieved a surprisingly wide distribution throughout the educated world. An earlier census of the [1687] book, published in 1953, identified 189 copies worldwide. But a new survey by two scholars has found nearly 200 more — 386 copies in all, including ones far beyond England.” – The New York Times

Critics—and the authors they cover—seem to be obsessed with self-awareness. Writing about oneself isn’t new at all, but what’s current (and quickly growing stale) is the overtly self-conscious way contemporary writers have chosen to go about it. – The Nation

The Crown Prosecution Service won’t pursue the case of Caitlin McNamara, a Briton who was organizing the inaugural version of the Hay book festival’s satellite event in the UAE when, she says, she was summoned to a meeting at the villa of the Emirati official overseeing the festival (the country’s Minister of Tolerance) and he assaulted her. – The Guardian