Powell’s Books announces their Puddly Awards. Vote for your favorite book of the last decade.
The Puddlies
Internet Participation
Recommended Reading: The New Republic on public participation and the Internet. “Did you know that as originally conceived the web was supposed to be writable? That is, you wouldn’t just read a web page, but you’d be able to edit it, too, from right inside your browser.” Our own Elizabeth Minkel writes about fanfiction and its influence on academics.
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Redefining Speculative Fiction
“In a genre that has long been dominated by white men and Western mythological tropes, Ms. Okorafor’s stories, which feature young black girls in starring roles as superheroes and saviors of humanity, have been hailed as groundbreaking.” The New York Times shines a spotlight on Nnedi Okorafor and other African American science fiction and fantasy writers building on -and popularizing-a tradition of African and African American folklore in the sci fi and fantasy genre.
Do You Really Want That Literary Prize?
Researchers have determined that “winning a prestigious prize in the literary world seems to go hand-in-hand with a particularly sharp reduction in ratings of perceived quality.” So if you’re very sensitive, take some solace in the fact that you haven’t won a major award, I guess.
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People were not invited–they went there.
The mansion that inspired The Great Gatsby‘s West Egg has been privately sold, after sitting on the market for two years.
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Book Discoverability
Millions staff writer Patrick Brown put together a case study (featuring graphs!) on how books get “discovered.” Spoiler alert: there’s no “magic bullet.”
Latino Book and Family Festival
Los Angeles-based readers of The Millions might be interested in this weekend’s Latino Book and Family Festival at the Cal State LA campus. Authors in attendance include Helena María Viramontes, Eduardo Santiago, and Luis J. Rodriguez, among others.
British Writers On Lady Chatterley’s Lover
At the Telegraph, Roya Nikkhah looks back at the unpublished letters of some of Britain’s greatest writers that reveal what they really thought of the controversial Lady Chatterley’s Lover.