At ZORA, Christina M. Tapper interviews legendary poet Nikki Giovanni, who “continues to give us words that hum and humanize and a hope that breathes new life into our imaginations” with her new collection, Make Me Rain. Their wide-ranging conversation covers politics, love poems, Toni Morrison, and evening rituals, plus Giovanni’s preferred author bio, which skips the accolades and tells the story of a child falling in love with words. “After a while, you get tired of hearing people make references to insignificant things. I’m not knocking it because the awards and things are nice,” she says. “But I like the idea of people recognizing, well, there was a little girl. And I’m not the only little girl who looked out the window and daydreamed. I wanted to share that. By doing that, I’m able to open up doors for young women who are not sure about how they want to view themselves or how they want people to view them.”
Nikki Giovanni on Daydreams and Owning Yourself
Along “The Colbert Bump”
“The Colbert Bump didn’t get so much media attention and public support because everyone wanted to talk about me and my novel. People wanted to support book culture, to say that books and writers matter, and that we should be doing everything we can to ensure their continued existence, if not their success. In short, The Book is not dead!” Our own Edan Lepucki and Stephan Eirik Clark talk about their experiences as debut authors on “The Colbert Bump,” and the piece pairs nicely with Edan and Millions staff writer Bill Morris‘s article about the many paths writers follow to publication.
AIP calls for Mortensen’s resignation
Months after 60 Minutes aired its damning profile of Central Asia Institute’s founder Greg Mortensen (Three Cups of Tea), the American Institute for Philanthropy has called for his resignation. The call comes on the heels of Jon Krakauer‘s investigation into Mortensen’s use of the CAI’s finances.
Real Life Crazy Rich Inspiration
Ahead of its mid August movie debut Kevin Kwan talks about the real life inspiration behind his Crazy Rich Asian trilogy. “But the people who know me, who have read the books, and who are also in that world in Singapore, Hong Kong, and other parts of Asia, don’t get it.” Refinery29 has more.
Oldest-Ever Quran Unearthed
A Yemeni man claims to have unearthed the oldest copy of the Quran in the world. An inscription engraved on the manuscript’s first page indicates that it dates back to 815 AD.
Clash of the Esoterics
Two guys who can talk about just about anything – Nicholson Baker and NPR’s Tom Ashbrook – did just that yesterday on On Point, as Baker promoted his latest opus, The Anthologist.