In Catalyst news, Divine Justice author Joanne Hichens was this week’s guest blogger on the popular Murder is Everywhere blog, and The Theory of Flight author Siphiwe Gloria Ndlovu received a rave review from Rupture Mag, who called the book, “an intelligent novel with a big heart.”
It’s Black History Month! To celebrate, here’s a quick read about Toni Morrison‘s time as a Random House editor, a crash course on the wonderful Zora Neale Hurston, a coder making stories by authors of color more accessible to young readers through the app We Read Too, and a new book highlighting the contributions of Black creators, publishers, and booksellers to the comics industry.
It was also Valentine’s Day this week, and we’re blaming Geoffrey Chaucer. (This article also wins the award for the most brutal subtitle of all time).
In book news, the longlist was just announced for the Carnegie Medal, and LitHub has started spotlighting the finalists of the NBCC Award. A 1943 copy of Peter Pan was found in a railway station in France and the search for the owner has gone viral. Book Riot‘s Jessica Plummer continued her Fashion Disasters and Fashion Heroes series with Beast Boy. Tune into a Florida lesbian literature festival next weekend, or the Little Free Library‘s Unbound series. If Netflix is more your vibe, here’s some inside scoop on the Netflix adaptations of To All The Boys I’ve Loved Before: Always and Forever and Behind Her Eyes (which apparently has such a wild ending that it inspired the #WTFThatEnding hashtag).
In celebrity book news, Bill Gates’ new book on climate change came out this week, basketball star Chris Paul is releasing a memoir in September, and Mark Hamill (aka Luke Skywalker) has a new Dr.Seuss-esque children’s book about masking up in COVID times. All proceeds will go to World Central Kitchen. Celebrity magician Wayne Alan is releasing a book detailing the history of magic shows in the White House, and the Navy SEAL who oversaw the Bin Laden raid and the rescue of Captain Richard Phillips is publishing a children’s book about simple life lessons. The cast for the new Hulu adaptation of Sally Rooney’s Conversations with Friends was just announced, and Reese Witherspoon is starting an Instagram cooking show called #EatTheBook, where she’ll cook recipes inspired by her book club picks.
Book list round-up: practice self-love with these 16 self-love books, then check out these 10 modern retellings of classic stories. Here’s New York Times‘ picks for new visual books, Bustle’s picks for rom-coms, celebrity book club picks for February, and new YA reading recommendations from The Nerd Daily. For my friends in the States three-feet-deep in snow (it’s a balmy 75 degrees here in Cape Town), here’s some children’s books about snow and 11 amazing literary couples to cozy up with for the weekend while your power’s out. Bookmark this: 50 great classic novels under 200 pages. And my personal favorite list of the week, here’s ten bestselling books written by new mothers during maternity leave (yes, we’re making a point here: maternity leave rocks).
In South Africa news, eight-year-old comic book author Prince Mashawana, pen-named SuperMash, will become the youngest TEDx speaker ever in Johannesburg this April, and DA federal council chairperson Helen Zille announced her upcoming book, Stay Woke – Go Broke, on the threat American culture wars pose to South Africans.
For some thought provoking reads, here’s Jeffrey Davies on the joys of reading slower, Laura Sackton on why she’s reading mediocre books, and Ross Gay on the necessity of sadness. Check out these original reviews of Mark Twain’s The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn the year it was released, and Anna Karenina and Madame Bovary discussing their suicides. Bestselling authors pick their top romantic moments in literature, and speaking of love, my top article of the week: should we be using sex to help us discover book structure?
And finally, here’s a quiz to waste some time on. I got Elizabeth Bennett and it pretty much made my month.
