Category: words

Decades, even centuries, of history and tradition are disappearing because of market forces, and the pandemic that we are all suffering through has sped matters up. – The Critic

The ghazal “is an intimate and relatively short lyric form of verse from the Middle East and South Asia. The form thrives in such languages as Arabic, Persian, Urdu, and now English.” Claire Chambers provides a brief guide to how the form works and what has made it great poetry in the past and today. – 3 Quarks Daily

“It’s a transition that has taken on particular urgency given the fact that the speaker pool for the world’s threatened and endangered languages skews older — precisely the population most at risk from the pandemic. This problem is compounded by the fact that indigenous communities not just in the United States but around the world are disproportionately affected both by the virus and by the economic toll of the shutdown. Against this backdrop, the push to keep language revitalization going under lockdown is a symbol of cultural resilience — and, for many, an opportunity to build national and international solidarity among indigenous peoples around the world.” – Slate

“Almost £1m has been given out to nearly 700 authors since the end of March, to help those facing financial crisis through the coronavirus pandemic. But the Society of Authors has warned that funds are now running low, and that losses for writers are set to continue into next year.” – The Guardian

“Maybe you’ve learned the seasons in a new way. Perhaps, in some way, you are a visitor in your city, state, land.” – The New York Times

A question for everyone who loves to read his work: “How should we now regard this pathbreaking, Nobel Prize–winning author, who grappled with our nation’s racial tragedy in ways that at once illuminate and disturb—that reflect both startling human truths and the limitations of a white southerner born in 1897 into the stifling air of Mississippi’s closed and segregated society?” – The Atlantic

Novelist Candice Carty-Williams is astounded and, she says, in love with the list, despite the ways that “Book Twitter was excited but baffled that the offerings we usually expect to be on the list were not there.” – The Guardian (UK)

Go back to the time when a switch flipped in Tolstoy’s head: “It’s as if Tolstoy woke up in Pushkin-world and put on his own seven-league boots and started striding over the heads of all the other writers.” – LitHub

Not that it would be easy to fix the issues with Twilight, but author Stephenie Meyer gives it a try with her newest book. So … how did that work out? Uh: “Meyer seems to think that accountability means addressing how toxic your behavior is and then continuing to do it anyway, but it’s fine now because you know it’s wrong.” – Slate

The Condé Nast food magazine’s missteps around race and representation continue. “The departures came a day after three journalists of color said they would no longer participate in the magazine’s popular video series, citing inequitable pay.” – The New York Times