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
- Navajo Student Wins Highest National Honor for Young Poets (Indian Country Today) The article includes an interview with the poet, Kinsale Hueston. You can read some of her poems here.
- Annie Proulx wins high honor for writing on ‘the beauty of rural America’. The author was awarded the Medal for Distinguished Contribution to American Letters by the National Book Foundation. (The Guardian)
- Banned Books Week begins tomorrow and runs Sept. 24–30. Censorship is up, according to BannedBooksWeek.org: challenges to books were up at least 17% in 2016, and a larger percentage of challenged books were actually banned.
- Shelf Awareness writes about some of the things indie bookstores are doing to celebrate Banned Books Week.
Literary Losses
Lillian Ross, who wrote for the New Yorker magazine for over 70 years, has died at the age of 99. Her stories included an influential profile of Ernest Hemingway, and she was a frequent Talk of the Town contributor. She also chronicled the making of The Red Badge of Courage in a five-part series (later published as a book entitled Picture.) As a journalist, she sought to keep herself and her opinions out of the story. She never used a tape recorder, instead taking notes as she interviewed and observed. Her style influenced the “new journalism” and journalists like Truman Capote and Tom Wolfe, though she eschewed the flamboyancy they embraced.
Ross was also the mistress of New Yorker editor William Shawn, an affair that continued for more than four decades and remained largely secret until the publication of Ross’s memoir, six years after Shawn’s death. She left The New Yorker when Shawn was fired as editor, returning only after his death at the invitation of editor Tina Brown. In the last decade, she wrote profiles of both J.D. Salinger and In the Heights (and later Hamilton) composer-author Lin-Manuel Miranda.
Ross published several books in addition to Picture, including her memoir, a collection of short stories, and several collections of her New Yorker pieces.
Obituaries and tributes: The Guardian; The New Yorker
Bibliography and Biography: Goodreads; Wikipedia (an oddly brief biography, but it does include a bibliography that is more complete than the one on Goodreads.)
Worth Reading/Viewing
- Want to help out classrooms recovering from Hurricanes Irma and Harvey? Book Riot has two you can donate to.
- Picturing The Hobbit (Tor.com) Hobbit art, both official and professional fan art. From whimsical to gorgeous.
- Well-Read Black Girl’s Inaugural Festival Is a Homecoming (Jennifer Baker for Electric Lit) A festival of and for black women authors and readers, the inaugural WRBG festival was sold out – and clearly a success.
- We Legitimize the ‘So-Called’ Confederacy With Our Vocabulary, and That’s a Problem (Smithsonian) Regardless of your stance on Confederate monuments, this is a thought-provoking article with implications for how language constructs history.
Awesome Lists
- 50 of the Best Fantasy Characters Ever (The Portalist) Well, I would definitely argue against a few of these, and the list makers relied more heavily on movies and TV than on books, but they’ve picked some good ones. And left out some good ones as well, particularly female characters.
Feed Your Inner Fan
Fans of Howl’s Moving Castle can now wear Howl’s (reversible) cloak. From Her Universe.
Jacquard Middle-Earth-themed scarves, shawls, throws, and baby slings from Oscha’s Middle Earth collection let you wear your LOTR fandom proudly, on Hobbit Day (Sept. 22) or any other day!
This Harry Potter decor from Pottery Barn is perfect for your Hogwarts-bound youngster (or adult.) (via Book Riot. Click link for Book Riot article with links to specific items. Click collage to go to Pottery Barn site.)
That’s it for this week!
Angela
Oh, that Harry Potter decor is so pretty! I don’t know that my husband would let me get away with it, though! Maybe for my office or library.. someday..
Angela recently posted…Review: The Goddesses
Lark_Bookwyrm
I’m thinking just a throw pillow would be OK. 😉
Bea @Bea's Book Nook
Oh my, look at those Middle Earth and HP wovens. There’s my Christmas and birthdya lists for the next few years. 🙂
Bea @Bea’s Book Nook recently posted…Bea Reviews ABCs of Physics And ABCs of Mathematics by Chris Ferrie
Lark_Bookwyrm
Yes, I had a similar thought…
Jan @ Notes from a Readerholic
I always love all the links you find, Lark! I really love the Middle Earth themed wovens. I will check them out. And am sad to hear about the increase in banned books. The Confederacy article sounds interesting, too. Lots to read this week!
Jan @ Notes from a Readerholic recently posted…Favorite urban fantasies since 2015
Lark_Bookwyrm
Those wovens are so gorgeous. I’m really tempted! Enjoy the links. 🙂