At Time, poet Kevin Young discusses his new role as director of the National Museum of African American History and Culture, as well as the ways poetry can help those grieving in the midst of the pandemic. “People have written to me a lot more in this time around The Art of Losing,” Young says. “Poetry can be a balm, but it can’t wipe away those feelings. It’s more like a companion. Sometimes it’s loud—in a good way—and distracts you, and sometimes it’s quiet and accompanies you.”
Kevin Young on Poetry as a Companion to Grief
A Truly Author-itative Map
Geoff Sawers has designed maps detailing the rich literary landscapes of the United States, England, and Wales.
●
●
Monkeys and Donkeys
Yann Martel’s anticipated follow-up to Life of Pi, Beatrice and Virgil, now has a cover. Yes, that’s a monkey riding a donkey.
●
●
So many wobbly assumptions
Laura Miller pokes some holes in that Dartmouth study about how little classic literature appears to be influencing contemporary writers.
●
●
A Shape-Shifting Body
Over at The New Yorker, Hilton Als writes about Beyoncé’s Lemonade, Prince, Cecil Taylor, Octavia Butler, and time travel. He writes, “Toward the end of the film, [Beyoncé] moves further back into the past and examines her roots, we see any number of sharply dressed women sitting in the natural world, talking among themselves. This will remind readers of that extraordinary scene in Beloved, when the elder commands those who have gathered in a clearing to love their hands, themselves—because if they don’t, who will?”
●
●
You Can’t Take His Word for It
“The suit is the most recent legal move in a years-long dispute between Burton and the broadcaster that originated the series.” New York Magazine‘s Vulture blog reports that LeVar Burton is being sued by WNED-TV in Buffalo, NY over the continued use of his famous Reading Rainbow tagline, “but you don’t have to take my word for it.”
●
●
Turkish … Delight?
C.S. Lewis’s greatest fiction of all time was convincing American children that turkish delight was going to taste good. Here are a couple pieces on food and writing to sate your unjustly titillated appetite.
●
●