News & Notes is a weekly Saturday post featuring book- and publishing-related news, links to interesting articles and opinion pieces, and other cool stuff
Book News
- Christopher Marlowe credited as one of Shakespeare’s collaborators. Using textual analysis, a group of 27 scholars are now certain Marlowe had a hand in writing the three Henry VI plays. Other Shakespeare plays also show signs of either collaboration or additions by later playwrights. (Guardian)
- Man Booker Prize goes to American Paul Beatty’s The Sellout (Guardian)
- The Carnegie Medal 2017 shortlist is out. Michael Chabon, Zadie Smith, and Coulsen Whitehead are the contenders for the fiction prize. (ALA)
- Wonder Woman announced as UN ambassador amid staff protest (Guardian)
- Philip Roth plans to donate his personal library to the Newark Libary system (GalleyCat)
Worth Reading/Watching
- Kid needs permission slip to read Fahrenheit 451; his dad’s response is brilliant. That’s the Daily Dot’s editorializing, not mine, but it certainly is both pointed and clever — irony and satire hand in hand.
- Translating books is never easy. Translating Harry Potter? Even harder.
Literary Losses
image courtesy of Jump Into a Book
Vera B. Williams, children’s illustrator and author honored for her depictions of diverse, working-class families, died Oct. 16 at the age of 88. Ms. Williams’ artistic talent was evident early in her life; one of her paintings was exhibited at MOMA when she was only 9, as part of a Works Progress Administration exhibition. But she didn’t enter the children’s book field until 1975. Her best-known book is A Chair for My Mother, which features Rosa, a Hispanic girl. Several other Rosa books followed. Williams’ last book, Home at Last, on which she collaborated with another illustrator, will be published posthumously. (Obituaries: Los Angeles Times; New York Times; Publisher’s Weekly. Book list: Goodreads.)
Book & Movie Announcements
- Hamlet with Benedict Cumberbatch coming to US movie theaters. On Nov. 15, select theaters across the US will show the Barbican’s production of Hamlet with Cumberbatch in the title role. (The performance was recorded during the play’s 2015 run.) (Huffington Post) Buy tickets through Fathom Events — I’ve already got mine!
- A new Paddington book by Michael Bond is due out in April 2017. Paddington’s Finest Hour will probably be Bond’s last Paddington work; the author is 90 years old. (Guardian)
- Peter Jackson to produce film based on Mortal Engine books by Phillip Reeve. The film will be directed by Christian Rivers, Jackson’s protege and longtime collaborator. (Guardian) I’m sure the films will be good, but I admit to being disappointed; I was really hoping for a Temeraire movie, since Jackson had optioned the series in 2009. (Wikipedia)
Awesome Lists
- 15 Quotes to (Re)Ignite Your Love For Reading (Brit + Co) You can see one of them at the bottom of this post.
Really Cool / Just for Fun
- Check out these Roald Dahl-inspired children’s outfits. There’s a whole line of them, from Boden. And they’re adorable! Here’s more about it, from Buzzfeed:
Boden, the British clothing brand, and the beloved storyteller Roald Dahl both celebrate landmark anniversaries – 25 and 100 years respectively – and to celebrate Boden will bring Dahl’s best-known stories to life in an exclusive collection for children. … Discover hidden details, such as the book print lining on a Matilda-inspired dress or the twilight London landscape printed on pieces for a modern-day Sophie, the heroine of The BFG.
- This Make Way for Ducklings tote is really cute, too. It’s from Out of Print, and there’s a matching zip bag, too. I’m really tempted… but I have enough totes for now.
Bookish Quote
That’s it for this week!
