#literature-and-public-life

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Philosophy
fromPsychology Today
13 hours ago

How Storytelling Informs Relationships

Complexity involves understanding interdependence and multiple perspectives, essential for resolving conflicts and nurturing relationships.
Arts
fromHyperallergic
10 hours ago

Beloved CUNY Social Practice Art Program to Shut Down

SPCUNY, an artist-led project, will close in February 2027 as co-directors Chloë Bass and Gregory Sholette leave their academic roles.
History
fromMedievalists.net
1 day ago

New Medieval Books: Flattening the Medieval Earth - Medievalists.net

The myth of medieval flat earth originated around 1600, contrary to the belief that medieval people thought the Earth was flat.
Books
fromPsychology Today
1 day ago

Do You See Yourself in a Story?

Comic books have evolved into a serious medium for exploring trauma and psychological depth, exemplified by works like Maus.
Film
fromABC7 Los Angeles
1 day ago

Beyond breaking news: local reporter follows his passion for film making

Sean Au emphasizes the emotional connection movies create between characters and audiences, inspiring his journey as a filmmaker.
Social media marketing
fromSlate Magazine
2 days ago

They Were Once Essential to So Many Writers. Now They're Quietly Vanishing Across the Internet.

A writer reflects on building connections in a writing community and the impact of AI on friendships and careers.
Television
fromThe Atlantic
2 days ago

Seven Documentaries for Fans of Fiction

Documentaries can effectively tell engaging stories, appealing even to those typically averse to the genre.
fromwww.theguardian.com
1 day ago

Two super hosts team up for a fun new series: best podcasts of the week

The first episode challenges Shakespeare's vision of a villainous Richard III, while a future episode will consider the Ross and Rachel of early modern history, Henry VIII and Anne Boleyn.
Podcast
US Elections
fromBuzzFeed
2 days ago

I Was A Lifelong Progressive. Then I Started Listening To Bari Weiss - And Everything Changed.

Experiencing a 'red pill' awakening leads individuals to abandon liberal values for conservatism or far-right beliefs.
fromOregon ArtsWatch * Arts & Culture News
3 days ago

Special series: -Ism Storytellers, mixed race * Oregon ArtsWatch

In 2025, Dmae Lo Roberts embarked on a statewide storytelling experience focusing on personal stories from both artists and community members. These stories are a form of living oral history.
Portland
Running
fromiRunFar
4 days ago

Building Community the Old Fashioned Way

Building relationships through shared training experiences enhances the running community.
Brooklyn
fromBrooklyn Paper
5 days ago

Building stories and community: The rise of the Brooklyn Book Bodega * Brooklyn Paper

Brooklyn Book Bodega aims to increase access to books for children and families in New York City, addressing disparities in book availability.
East Bay food
fromwww.berkeleyside.org
5 days ago

Around Berkeley: Mortifying stories, 'The Odyssey' read aloud, printmaking festival

The West Berkeley Community Print Festival features local artists, art-making activities, and community engagement on April 11.
OMG science
fromwww.scientificamerican.com
4 days ago

Medieval poets wrote about auroras. Their work is providing clues to the solar cycle

Three consecutive nights of auroras in 1204 over Kyoto were linked to solar events traced through tree rings and historical literature.
fromPrx
5 days ago

The World

Waves of deadly Israeli airstrikes in Beirut and southern Lebanon are threatening to derail the US-Iran truce, raising concerns about regional stability.
World news
Independent films
fromFilmmaker Magazine
5 days ago

"Personal Storytelling, Experimentation, and a DIY Spirit": A Look Inside LAFM 2026

This year's festival showcases debut features emphasizing personal storytelling and experimentation from both international and local filmmakers.
Education
fromThe Nation
6 days ago

Diminished Lives: an Assault on the Humanities

Students are increasingly trained for corporate jobs at the expense of arts and humanities education.
Cancer
fromNature
1 week ago

Engaging the head and the heart: why scientists turn to poetry

Poetry and medicine intertwine, enhancing the healing process and providing emotional support in palliative care.
Books
fromBig Think
1 day ago

4 classics that were basically written as propaganda

Authors often write novels to promote ideologies and influence public opinion through emotional appeals and symbolism.
Higher education
fromPoynter
1 day ago

Student journalists may produce a quarter million bylines a year. Here's what that looks like - Poynter

Student journalists are actively producing a significant volume of work, contributing to campus life and press freedom despite challenges faced by student media.
US Elections
fromIndependent
2 days ago

Colum McCann: Never in my 40 years in the US have I felt an atmosphere as poisonous as this

Donald Trump is likened to a carnival barker, enticing people with promises and taking their money.
Arts
fromHarvard Gazette
4 days ago

Getting to know your colleagues' creative side - Harvard Gazette

Harvard's annual Staff Art Show showcases the artistic talents of 215 staff members across multiple campus locations.
Film
fromFuncheap
4 days ago

Librarians on Film: Clips + Commentary (SF Main Library)

Librarians are depicted in various ways in cinema, showcasing both stereotypes and positive representations through selected film scenes.
Media industry
fromPoynter
5 days ago

Saving local news also means saving the archives - Poynter

Loss of local news archives leads to a significant loss of memory, culture, identity, and reality.
Writing
fromwww.theguardian.com
5 days ago

Helen DeWitt turns down $175k Windham-Campbell prize over promotional requirements

Helen DeWitt declined the Windham-Campbell prize due to promotional requirements amid personal struggles, emphasizing the difficulty of such obligations for writers.
Philosophy
fromApaonline
1 day ago

Doing Philosophy in a Borrowed Tongue

Experiencing a second language can create a profound sense of self-difference and challenges in communication for international students.
fromHarvard Gazette
2 weeks ago

Writing us back from the brink - Harvard Gazette

"We're talking about political leaders who were moved by an enormous sense of responsibility and fear for the world."
Russo-Ukrainian War
Digital life
fromwww.dw.com
2 weeks ago

The pleasure of books in the digital age

The debate over digital archiving versus physical books highlights the unique engagement and sensory experience that books provide in a digital age.
Books
fromwww.theguardian.com
1 day ago

Ghost-Eye by Amitav Ghosh review a climate-crisis novel let down by its prose

Cliché-laden prose can undermine the impact of a well-crafted plot and important themes in a novel.
fromArtnet News
5 days ago

The Philosopher Who Predicted Our Post-Literate Art Moment | Artnet News

Flusser believed that the transformation brought about by new media would reshape the world, leading to a consciousness defined by images rather than the written word.
Arts
Writing
fromFuturism
5 days ago

We Talked to a Writer Accused of Publishing An AI-Generated Essay in The New York Times

AI was involved in the conceptualization and editing of a personal essay published in the New York Times.
Books
fromwww.theguardian.com
2 days ago

Too hot to handle? Why it's time for straight male authors to rediscover sex

Straight male writers often avoid writing about sex, fearing it may seem exploitative or gratuitous, unlike their female counterparts.
Media industry
fromPoynter
6 days ago

Student newspapers still dominate campuses. This newsletter shows what else is possible. - Poynter

Tomo Chien's newsletter, Morning, Trojan, offers a unique independent news source for USC students, blending hard news with humor and engaging a large subscriber base.
Philosophy
fromApaonline
6 days ago

Promoting Civic Friendship: The Transformative Power of Public Spaces

The neighborhood in Lisbon faces challenges due to population growth, infrastructure strain, and a need for community-driven solutions like SAAL.
Books
fromwww.cbc.ca
2 days ago

How the publishing industry is navigating a surge of AI-generated content | CBC News

John Degen's novel will feature a 'Human Authored' label, indicating it was written without AI assistance, amid industry concerns over AI use in writing.
Philosophy
fromBig Think
5 days ago

The important role of ignorance in building a better society

Total freedom without laws leads to chaos; social contracts are essential for order and security in society.
Writing
fromThe Nation
1 week ago

My Years-Long Fight to Say "They"

The author reflects on their journey of writing about their experiences as a Jehovah's Witness and the challenges faced in publishing.
Books
fromBustle
4 days ago

The 10 Best New Books Of April

April brings new novels from beloved authors and exciting debuts, perfect for leisurely reading in the sun.
Books
fromKqed
5 days ago

11 New Books for April That Step Inside Someone Else's World

Keefe's latest book examines modern London's ties to the financial elite through a tragic incident involving a young man's death in the Thames.
Psychology
fromPsychology Today
1 month ago

The Shift That Happens When You Write a Non-Fiction Book

Writing a book transforms tacit knowledge into explicit frameworks, forcing experts to articulate intuitions they've developed through experience into clear, communicable ideas.
Books
fromwww.theguardian.com
4 days ago

The Guardian view on dystopias for our times: the American nightmare | Editorial

Dystopian fiction reflects current societal issues, as seen in adaptations of Atwood's works and films like One Battle After Another.
Books
fromwww.theguardian.com
4 days ago

The best recent science fiction, fantasy and horror review roundup

Marc Winters investigates a cult's past while facing existential threats in a climate-changed Britain.
Books
fromwww.npr.org
6 days ago

11 new books in April offer a chance to step inside someone else's world

Books provide an alternative to doomscrolling, offering perspectives on anxiety, corruption, and reality.
Books
fromThe Atlantic
6 days ago

Ghostwriting Is Good, Actually

Ghostwriting, when done by humans, can provide valuable support to authors and help share unique perspectives.
#literature
Books
fromSFGATE
6 days ago

'I was just riveted': Plane crashes, dark tech inspire SF book of the year

Kate Folk's novel 'Sky Daddy' explores a woman's obsession with planes and her struggle for connection in a modern, isolating world.
Books
fromThe Atlantic
1 week ago

Unconventional Novels About Conventional People

Aging revolutionaries and conformists share parallel narratives of disillusionment and the loss of youthful dreams in recent literature.
Books
fromVulture
6 days ago

Behold: The National Book Foundation's '5 Under 35'

The National Book Foundation recognizes five authors under 35 for their impactful debut works, focusing on diverse themes and experiences.
#reading
Books
fromConde Nast Traveler
2 weeks ago

Book Lovers, These Towns Were Made for You

Cities are nurturing a return to reading with bookstores, literary festivals, and spaces for readers to enjoy books.
Books
fromConde Nast Traveler
2 weeks ago

Book Lovers, These Towns Were Made for You

Cities are nurturing a return to reading with bookstores, literary festivals, and spaces for readers to enjoy books.
Philosophy
fromHarvard Gazette
1 month ago

Where have all the public intellectuals gone? - Harvard Gazette

Public intellectuals are essential in democratic cultures to articulate unformed ideas and help citizens understand their values, but conditions supporting intellectual life in America are eroding due to social and economic shifts.
Books
fromThe Atlantic
2 weeks ago

How Long Can You Live Your Ideals?

Pat Calhoun chooses parenthood over radicalism, paralleling Elsa Haddish's struggle between her militant past and raising her daughter safely.
fromFast Company
1 month ago

Moltbook: The conversation we should be having

Running AI infrastructure costs are astronomical. Back in 2023, it was estimated that OpenAI spends around $700,000 per day to run ChatGPT—about 36 cents per query. However, in 2024 with the release of its higher-performing o3 model, some queries cost over $1,000 of computing power. Consequently, OpenAI CEO Sam Altman reports the company is even losing money on its $200 ChatGPT Pro subscriptions.
Artificial intelligence
Books
fromwww.theguardian.com
2 weeks ago

Children and teens roundup the best new picture books and novels

Bear finds hope in a tiny seed after his forest disappears, needing help from other animals to nurture it.
fromInsideHook
1 month ago

Are the Humanities Poised for an Academic Comeback?

Many colleges and universities have made cuts in these programs, often bolstering STEM programs at their expense. It's a situation that has sparked no small amount of impassioned editorials. The headline of a recent article at The Guardian by Alice Speri referenced an 'existential crisis at U.S. universities,' and Speri's reporting features numerous examples of undergraduate and graduate programs facing cuts or outright elimination.
Higher education
fromPortland Monthly
1 month ago

How to Make Book-Loving Friends IRL in Portland

The third Wednesday or Thursday evening of each month, comic book shop Books with Pictures ( 1401 SE Division St) hosts this open-invite book club devoted to a wide variety of graphic novels-from the Bitter Root series, about a family of sympathetic monster hunters during the Harlem Renaissance, to an illustrated retelling of the 1872 queer vampire murder mystery Carmilla. Sometimes artists and writers join to talk about their latest work.
Arts
Writing
fromThe Atlantic
2 months ago

Taking the Internet Novel Offline

Depicting internet-mediated life requires new narrative strategies that ground online behavior in familiar forms like family drama to keep readers engaged.
Philosophy
fromApaonline
1 month ago

The Humanities Challenge: Expanding the Circle of Philosophy

Philosophy offers transformative insights and vision into human life, and public humanities must evolve beyond traditional academic formats to make philosophy accessible to broader audiences through innovative, engaging methods.
Books
fromThe Atlantic
1 month ago

How Not to Recommend a Book

Reader's advisory—the skill of matching specific books to individual readers' preferences—is essential for successful book club experiences and literary recommendations across libraries, bookstores, and online platforms.
Books
fromHarvard Gazette
1 month ago

'New trick' at 50: Fiction. And now, raves. - Harvard Gazette

Epidemiologist Janet Rich-Edwards was inspired to write her debut novel 'Canticle' after attending a Radcliffe lecture on medieval nuns' liturgical books, discovering a connection between academic scholarship and creative fiction writing.
Books
fromThe Atlantic
1 month ago

Six Books You'll Have to Discuss With a Friend

Reading in public creates social connections and marks readers as members of an enthusiastic community that spans all walks of life and geographic locations.
fromPoynter
1 month ago

What are your favorite nonfiction books by journalists? - Poynter

"Race Against Time: A Reporter Reopens the Unsolved Murder Cases of the Civil Rights Era" quickly became one of my favorite nonfiction books written by a journalist. I appreciated how he showed the grueling, day-to-day work local journalism requires, and how many layers of people fought him in revealing the despicable work of the Ku Klux Klan.
Books
Books
fromHarvard Gazette
1 month ago

That's a book? - Harvard Gazette

Italo Calvino used tarot card decks as a computational system to generate interconnected narratives, predating modern AI by decades and demonstrating how structured systems can create complex literary works.
Books
fromwww.theguardian.com
1 month ago

What we're reading: writers and readers on the books they enjoyed in February

Claire Baglin's 'On the Clock' uses narrow focus on fast-food work to reveal profound truths about contemporary alienation and precarity with compassion and emotional depth.
#reading-habits
Books
fromThe Atlantic
1 month ago

When Did Literature Get Less Dirty?

Philip Roth's Zuckerman Unbound functioned as a response to the controversial reception of Portnoy's Complaint, with Roth's protagonist expressing regret over writing sexually explicit material that drew accusations of anti-Semitism and misogyny.
Books
fromThe Atlantic
2 months ago

C'mon, Professors, Assign the Hard Reading

Assigning whole novels in literature classes restores deep reading, rebuilds attention, and enables students to engage meaningfully despite technological distractions.
Books
fromwww.theguardian.com
2 months ago

Is listening to an audiobook as good as reading?

Audiobooks and comics are legitimate, effective forms of reading that expand access, boost literacy, and contribute significantly to the publishing industry.
fromThe Atlantic
2 months ago

A Biography Without 'The Boring Bits'

Sophia Stewart poses a choice that many biographers struggle with: "what to do with the boring bits."
Books
Books
fromPoynter
1 month ago

When newspapers cut book coverage, communities lose more than reviews - Poynter

Newspaper book coverage is rapidly shrinking despite a $30 billion publishing industry, with major outlets cutting book sections and reducing book-review staff.
fromwww.theguardian.com
2 months ago

Most Indians don't read for pleasure so why does the country have 100 literature festivals?

Sounding amused, publisher Pramod Kapoor recalls the reaction of the Indian cricketing legend Bishen Singh Bedi when he learned Kapoor was printing 3,000 copies of his autobiography. Only 3,000? he protested. I fill stadiums with 50-60,000 people coming to see me play and you think that's all my book is going to sell? Kapoor, the founder of Roli Books, explains that Bedi's legions of admirers were unlikely to translate into book buyers. That was in 2021.
Books
Books
fromwww.npr.org
2 months ago

February may be short on days but it boasts a long list of new books

February brings multiple commemorations and a wave of new, translated and genre‑blending book releases that invite readers to dive into fresh literary work.
Books
fromDefector
2 months ago

Fanfiction's Total Cultural Victory | Defector

Fifty Shades of Grey's transition from fanfiction to mainstream publishing transformed the industry, proving fanfiction-originated romances can be highly lucrative and culturally influential.
Books
fromHarvard Gazette
2 months ago

The stories behind the books - Harvard Gazette

Harvard's library collection includes books that use layered images, movable elements, and raised type to create interactive, tactile, and accessible reading experiences.
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