The world’s oldest undeciphered writing is currently in the process of being deciphered.
Cracking the Code
The Rise of the “Lit’ry Lady”
Tina Jordan unearths a 1907 Times article observing the phenomenon of the "lit'ry lady," a group of women taking over the bestseller lists for the first time.
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Portlandia
If you or someone you love has ever mentioned a McSweeney’s article to sound cool, you’ll feel right at home in this clip from IFC’s new show, Portlandia, in which Fred Armisen and Carrie Brownstein skewer Portland’s bookish hipsters.
Text Turns to Artwork
Tom McCormack is midway through a three-part series on internet artwork, but not the kind involving Photoshop and GIFs. After exploring the history and usage of emoticons in part one of his series, McCormack traces the roots of ASCII artwork back to Guillaume Apollinaire’s 1918 book Calligrammes. Stay tuned for the conclusion soon: a look at the history of emoji.
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Introducing The Offing
Trend alert: there’s been a surprising proliferation of literary site spinoffs lately. First The Toast began The Butter, and then Electric Literature started Okey-Panky. Now the Los Angeles Review of Books joins the movement with The Offing, an online lit mag launching later this month.