There is a thriving counter-current of transnational African literary life that confounds rather than caters to an international taste for “digestible” fiction.
Humans and computers are collaborating to create a new genre of ‘synthetic literature’. But how does it work and can a computer ever really be creative?
The history of the library is replete with mechanical marvels. More than collections of books, libraries are social, cultural and technological institutions that house the very idea of a society.
School children read books at Palipis beach in Mandar, West Sulawesi.
The books were brought by library boat.
Pattingalloang, which was part of a network of moving libraries called Pustaka Bergerak.
Urwa/Pustaka Bergerak
Lukman Solihin, Indonesian Education Standard, Curriculum, and Assessment Agency (BSKAP Kemdikbudristek)
Indonesian politicians and public figures say Indonesians have a low interest in reading. But people in disadvantaged areas defy this perception; they always welcome new books with joy.
Terry Pratchett opted to have his crushed by a steamroller.
A banana on the salt lake plain at Salar de Uyuni, Bolivia, hints at themes of genetics, food and human journeys in three books recommended by fly scientist Thomas Merritt.
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The membership base of South Africa’s trade union movement has undergone significant changes which begs the question: has it moved away from its working class roots to become a middle class movement.
Some have suggested that the publisher and author of ‘Mandela’s Last Years’ were simply attempting to cash in on the Mandela legacy. This is not a basis for the withdrawal of a book.
Saturday is Love Your Bookshop Day –
but bookshops face many challenges.
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Despite dire predictions, bookstores are doing well: they are curators of taste and community hubs. But their challenges are many – from the arrival of Amazon Down Under to a ‘post-truth’ climate that devalues knowledge.
Former Globe and Mail newspaper reporter turned novelist Omar El Akkad contemplates his debut book American War in his publisher’s Toronto office in this 2017 file photo.
(THE CANADIAN PRESS/Chris Young)
Astronomer Bryan Gaensler picks five speculative and science fiction novels worth reading, including Omar El Akkad’s American War.
Cover art from “Annie Muktuk and Other Stories,” Norma Dunning’s first book filled with sixteen Inuit stories which portray the unvarnished realities of northern life via strong and gritty characters.
(University of Alberta Press)
The peach looms large in Georgia history and lore. Today the Georgia peach crop is dwindling, but its history remains deeply entwined with Southern history, politics and culture.
The cover of “Yo Soy Muslim,” one of the new books for young readers out this August. From the imprint, Salaam Reads.
(Simon & Schuster)
Book publishing is starting to take note of calls for inclusivity and diversity. A new imprint, Salaam Reads, may finally help educators round out their inadequate classroom reading lists.