Readers are mourning a fallen Monterey cypress tree, said to have inspired the classic Dr. Seuss book The Lorax (once considered a very dangerous book). “The tree was estimated to be about 80 to 100 years old,” according to Tim Graham, a spokesman for the San Diego Parks and Recreation Department, who added that there is “no definitive cause on why it fell.” Let’s hope a Truffula Seed is found quickly before things get worse.
The Lorax Mourns Another Tree
Our Love for Libraries Told in Photographs
Robert Dawson’s The Public Library: A Photographic Essay is a visual love letter to libraries and a testament to the power of reading.
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The Perils of Word Aversion
Moist-haters, unite: why do some people despise the sound of certain words?
Google Hangout with Gene Luen Yang
If you like comic books, diverse characters and / or our recent article on Gene Luen Yang, pay close attention to the internet on Monday afternoon. Yang will be part of a Google Hangout on the 4th to talk about his book Boxers & Saints with a reporter TIME for Kids and BookUp, two outlets for young readers, and the chat can be streamed live beginning at 2pm EST.
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Rachel Eliza Griffiths on the Rhythms of Grief
Rachel Eliza Griffiths describes the challenges she faced writing her new book of poetry, Seeing the Body, an examination of grief, art, and remembrance.
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In Poor Taste
“Some of the most impassioned conversation in the literary world has been devoted to highlighting what it lacks: voices of people of color, of gays and lesbians, of those marginalized or oppressed or simply ignored. Look a little closer, however, and you’ll notice this conversation focuses on race and gender while paying less attention to a demographic category that’s arguably just as determinative: class.” Adam Fleming Petty on the marginalization of working class lit.
Koestler the Dangerous Intellectual
The Times Literary Supplement profiles Darkness at Noon author Arthur Koestler as an iconic “Dangerous Intellectual”: “‘My analysis … is: one third genius, one third blackguard and one third lunatic …’”
Welcome Ujala!
We’d like to introduce you all to our new intern, Ujala Sehgal, who beat out 50+ other applicants for the position. Ujala lives in Manhattan and recently left a nascent career in corporate law to travel and focus on her writing. Her first full-length piece, about negotiating one’s limitations as a reader and writer, has been published today. Welcome Ujala!