Maria Popova writes about Kenny’s Window, Maurice Sendak’s “debut as a storyteller.” Our own Emily Collette Wilkinson reflected on Sendak’s vision upon his passing.
On Kenny’s Window
American Public Libraries: A Visual History
Public libraries remain our country's greatest democratic institutions, but it took generations of work and social progress to get them to their current place as beacons to their communities.
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Writer Casting Call
Filmmaker and author Morgan Spurlock posted a casting call for writers who have failed to write the next Great American Novel. Spurlock will choose a few lucky failures from the New York area to feature in an upcoming documentary series.
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The Tortoise and the Tae-Bo Routine
“As they were actual animals, rather than anthropomorphized personality traits intended to teach moral lessons, the Dog’s words were just a bunch of barking. The Goat bolted across the road, ending up on the ridge behind the Baker place. The Goat’s owner then called Animal Control, even though the Dog’s owner knew about the pot plants in the former’s greenhouse, which he had always been cool about, though that may change real soon.” Aesop’s lesser fables.
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Writing Isn’t For Everyone
“I hate to break it to you but everyone does not, in fact, have a book in them.” For The Outline, literary agent Kate McKean writes about the difference between good stories and good books—and what it takes to write the latter. Pair with: an essay on the books that fight back
The E-Reader of Sand (II)
Reif Larsen continues our own Mark O’Connell‘s riff on the Borgesian nature of e-readers.
Flexible Cinderella
On the persistent popularity and flexibility of Cinderella, from old folktales featuring talking gourds all the way to the upcoming Disney version, from NPR.
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Happy 750th!
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