Accusations of plagiarism – the real kind, which is not to be confused with “self-plagiarism” – just keep following Turkish writer Elif Şafak, don’t they? Lydia Kiesling previously reported on the fiasco around her book Iskender last August, but now more allegations are surrounding the cover art on Şafak’s latest novel, Şemspare.
Elif Şafak Accused of Plagiarism Again
From Chernobyl
Recommended Reading: An excerpt from Nobel Prize winner Svetlana Alexievich’s Voices from Chernobyl: The Oral History of a Nuclear Disaster at n+1. Read more about Alexievich at The Millions.
Su Hui’s Masterpiece Palindrome
Chinese poet Su Hui composed an 841-character array in the fourth century that can be read forward, backward, horizontally, diagonally, and vertically. The poem, entitled “Xuanji Tu,” can be read in 2,848 different ways as a result.
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Portraits of BEA
Brandon Stanton, the man behind the candid portrait blog Humans of New York, takes on BookExpo America in The Humans of BEA, A Photo-Essay.
Arab Authors on Twitter
If you woke up this morning and thought, “You know, I could use more Arab authors on my Twitter feed,” then boy do I have the link for you.
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Hipster Sommelier
Might I suggest a Pamplemousse with that Ben Fountain, sir? BookRiot has very helpfully compiled a list of La Croix/book pairings. See also: this in memoriam for Michael Jackson, beer connoisseur. Yeah no, not the one you’re thinking of.
“The town was called Dayton.”
Recommended Reading: Rachael Maddux’s “Hail Dayton,” which features one of the finest opening paragraphs ever printed.
Big Brother
“‘Moby Dick is one of my favorite books, but let’s face it — it’s a hot mess,’ says Evison. ‘If I had software that said, ‘Look, maybe this four-page essay on scrimshaw isn’t gonna fly with your 28 to 40 male [demographic],’ what would we have lost with that? Sometimes, you know, it’s just got to be a little bit of a dictatorship.'” When e-readers and marketing tactics collide.
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