We lost civil rights hero and U.S. Representative John Lewis this week, who died on July 17 at the age of 80. You should go and read everything he’s ever written, but in the meantime, read this Brain Pickings feature and ten of his best quotes on getting into “good trouble.”
Here at Catalyst, we celebrated the South African release of Max Annas’ thriller The Farm (translated by Rachel Hildebrandt Reynolds) with a virtual book launch with Boekemakranka featuring Izak DeVries of LAPA Uitgewers, our South African distributor. The Farm is out now in South Africa, and comes to North American readers in September (you can pre-order it here).
Calling all His Dark Materials fans: Phillip Pullman just announced a new novella based on the bestselling series, to be released in October. And in comic news: the original 2003 Walking Dead comic book is being re-released in full color, and A-list action star Keanu Reeves is writing a comic book (and casually slipped that he’d like to play the lead character in a movie rendition – so that’s probably happening).
ICYMI: in early June, a bunch of big-name authors (including Atwood, Gladwell, Rowling, Rushdie, and Steinem) penned an open letter about the dangers of cancel culture in Harper’s Magazine. But then a counter letter was released in The Objective, calling out the authors of the Harper’s letter for writing from a place a privilege (among other grievances). Catch up on the drama here. NPR responded with typical Swiss neutrality vibes by getting authors from both letters on a podcast together.
African Arguments released a three-part interview with the 2020 AKO Caine Prize Nominees. Check out Part 1 on joy and writing, Part 2 on reading and the politics of prizes, and Part 3 on what it means to be mainstream.
COVID-19 has hit the book world hard: according to a survey from nonprofit Americans for the Arts, 253 literary organizations reported over $7.2 million total losses to date. But it’s not all bad: with bookstores and festivals shut down, big box retailers like Walmart and Costco have been helping readers get their fix, and three literary nonprofits teamed up with the Mellon Foundation this week to create a Literary Arts Emergency Fund, distributing $5,000 to $50,000 grants to literary organizations across the United States. And one book festival in the United Kingdom came up with an innovative way to bring joy to book lovers at a distance: a drive-in book fair. If Britain is a bit too far for a road trip, Book Riot has a handy list of some upcoming virtual book events.
Here’s some good news: a four-year-old in Britain just scored a poetry book deal, and four high schoolers in California created a COVID-19 coloring book with information about the virus along with illustrations and word games for kids. Forty percent of the profits are going to charity, and it even comes with a free mask. Speaking of which, if you’re on the hunt for some book-ish masks, Book Riot has you covered. Maria Popova of Brain Pickings has also made a line of literary masks based on vintage science books.
It was Hunter S. Thompson’s birthday on Saturday. In his honor, we’re throwing it back with this epic LitHub read about his shenanigans at the 1970 Kentucky Derby.
The first edition of a new literary magazine featuring some big names like Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie and Joyce Carol Oates is set to release next year. The magazine, INQUE, will be released annually for ten years and will include contributions from Samuel L Jackson, Ben Lerner, Tilda Swinton, Ben Okri, Werner Herzog, Ocean Vuong, and more. In other celebrity book news: Jeopardy host Alex Trebek’s memoir hit shelves this week, transgender-rights activist Munroe Bergdorf is writing a book, and Piers Morgan’s new book Wake Up has already topped Amazon UK’s bestseller list three months before its publication date. But here’s to hoping he hasn’t bulk bought his own book to get there: The Cleaner author Mike Dawson is in the hot seat for buying 400 copies of his own book, winning him the #8 slot on the Sunday Times hardback bestseller list last week. He has since been removed from the list over concerns of “gaming the system.”
While we’re on the topic of ethics, LitHub published an incredibly thought-provoking piece from Maren Tova Linett on how we use literature as a sounding board for human ethics. Complement it with Bustle‘s newest eyebrow-raising book list, featuring titles that destigmatize cheating. Another book list we loved this week: Book Riot’s books about drag.
Here’s an excuse to get out of those sweatpants today, and pay homage to your favorite reads: try out one of these outfit ideas inspired by your favorite book characters. If you can’t get enough literary fashion, Jessica Plummer at Book Riot has a hilarious column going on about the best and worst dressed superheroes, and she published a new one this week.
Have you started writing your Quaranzine yet? Everyone’s doing it. It’s a great way to keep writing during lockdown – and to document what promises to be a year to remember (or try to forget?!). Want to write but tested positive for writer’s block? Take a page from Stan Parish’s book and give techno a try.
And finally, Lake Life author David James Poissant with the answer (kind of?) to the question on every author’s mind.
