Author: Jamie Canaves

Hidden Text In Medieval Manuscript Discovered By College Students

Rochester Institute of Technology students enrolled in an Innovative Freshman Experience course found a hidden text thanks to a class assignment. the objective of which was to create a multispectral imaging system. It turns out this 15th-century medieval manuscript leaf contained hidden text you needed a UV light to uncover.

Rosario Dawson & Ava DuVernay Producing & Starring In Comic Adaptation

Well this is an awesome team: Ava DuVernay and Roberto Patino will produce, with Rosario Dawson starring, the DC/Vertigo comic adaptation series of DMZ for HBO Max. “Set in a near-future America embroiled in a bitter civil war, the titular DMZ refers to Manhattan itself, which has indeed become a demilitarized zone devastated and isolated from the rest of the world.”

Journalist, Travel Writer, & Transgender Pioneer Jan Morris Has Passed Away

In sad news: Jan Morris—journalist, travel writer, transgender pioneer, and author of 30+ books—has passed away at the age of 94. She was known for many things, including her history books (Pax Britannica Trilogy), climbing Mt. Everest with Edmund Hillary and Tenzing Norgay, and her 1974 memoir Conundrum, where she wrote about her gender transition in her ’40s.

The Neuroscience of Audiobooks

Consider some of the recent studies around the neuroscience of audiobooks, or how listening to audiobooks affects our brains.

President-Elect Joe Biden’s Puppers To Have Picture Book

President-Elect Joe Biden will not only be bringing dogs back to the White House, but his German shepherds Champ and Major will be featured in a picture book from Dial Books for Young Readers. You can look forward to Champ and Major: First Dogs by Joy McCullough and illustrated by Sheyda Abvabi Bestbeing, on January 19th, fittingly the day before Joe Biden is sworn in as president.

Chaos Walking Trailer

The dystopian sci-fi series by Patrick Ness, Chaos Walking, has been adapted to film starring Tom Holland and Daisy Ridley. The film has had some bumps in production, having been originally slated for a March 1, 2019 release, which has been moved to a 2021 release, but we now have a trailer.

Amazon’s Best Of 2020 List

Amazon’s editors have selected their best of books of 2020, including the best book (A Knock at Midnight: A Story of Hope, Justice, and Freedom by Brittany K. Barnett ), their top 20, and their best by categories which includes children’s books, romance, cookbooks, and many genres. A lot of the year’s great books are here if you’re looking for your next read.

Reading Habits Around The World In 2020

Global English Editing gathered statistics from Pew Research, Amazon’s bestsellers page, and other sources to create an infographic showing the world’s current reading habits and how they changed during the pandemic. It would be interesting to compare how countries’ governments handled the pandemic with whether reading time went up or down for that country.

Jail Bans Physical Books For Limited Ebooks Via Tablets They Profit From

Allegheny County Jail in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania used to allow inmates to receive books sent directly from Barnesandnoble.com and Christianbooks.com. But they’ve banned that in order to implement a new tablet program that allows inmates the use of tablets to read 263 selected materials, family photos, and video visits. The tablet program, however, “costs money out of an inmate’s pocket and baked on those fee[s],” Allegheny County gets more than $4 million in kickbacks.

Joy Harjo Reappointed U.S. Poet Laureate

Joy Harjo, who is an enrolled member of the Muscogee Creek Nation, is the U.S. poet laureate and the first Native American poet to serve in that role. Now she’ll be taking on the role for a third term, having been reappointed as only the second poet laureate to serve three terms in a row in the position’s 77 years of existence.

Douglas Stuart Wins the 2020 Booker Prize for SHUGGIE BAIN

The 2020 Booker Prize has been awarded to Scottish author Douglas Stuart for his debut novel, SHUGGIE BAIN.

Wonder Woman 1984 Will Stream At Same Time As Theater Release

On December 25th, not only will Wonder Woman 1984 release in theaters, despite the pandemic, it will also be available to stream on HBO Max. The catch–if you can even call it that–is that it’ll only stream for one month and you need to have an HBO Max subscription. Here’s hoping they’ll finally work with Roku for an HBO Max channel.

Unseen JRR Tolkien Essay Collection To Publish In 2021

JRR Tolkien’s previously unpublished collection of writings, The Nature of Middle-earth, will be released in 2021 by HarperCollins with authorization from the Tolkien estate. According to Chris Smith, HarperCollins’ deputy publishing director, the collection shows his exploration of Middle-earth, revealing “the journeys that he took as he sought to better understand his unique creation.”

Barack Obama Follows In Wife’s Footsteps With Massive Sales Of Memoir

Michelle Obama’s memoir, Becoming, sold 725,000 copies on its first day, then continuing to sell 10 million copies. Now Barack Obama’s new memoir, A Promised Land, has sold 887,000 copies on its first day, breaking publisher Penguin Random House’s first day sales record.

Here Are the Winners of the 2020 National Book Awards

A look at the winners and finalists of the 2020 National Book Awards, which were held virtually for the first time.

Between The World And Me Official Trailer

Ta-Nehisi Coates’ Between the World and Me, a nonfiction book written in the format of a letter to his son about being Black in America, was first adapted by the Apollo Theater for stage and has now been adapted by HBO into a television special, premiering November 21 at 8pm on HBO Max. And here’s the official trailer which I can’t stop watching–it’s so well filmed with so many amazing actors.

2021 Andrew Carnegie Medals for Excellence Shortlist

The 2021 Andrew Carnegie Medals for Excellence shortlist has been announced! The three fiction finalists are A Burning by Megha Majumdar, Deacon King Kong by James McBride, and Homeland Elegies by Ayad Akhtar. The three nonfiction finalists are Fathoms: The World in the Whale by Rebecca Giggs, Just Us: An American Conversation by Claudia Rankine, and Memorial Drive: A Daughter’s Memoir by Natasha Trethewey. Once again we have another award list perfect for selecting your next excellent read from.

Tananarive Due’s Not Yet Published Novel Will Be Adapted To TV Series

Author Tananarive Due‘s not yet published novel, The Reformatory, has sold its adaptation rights to be a limited TV series. While we may not be able to read the novel yet, we can read an excerpt at Boston Review.

18 Literacy Charities To Donate To This Year

Donating for the holidays or for the CARES Act tax deduction? These literacy charities are doing great work locally and on larger scales.

Watch Free Interview With Oprah and Obama On AppleTV+

Oprah sat down with Barack Obama for her AppleTV+ show, The Oprah Conversation, and they of course talked about his just released memoir A Promise Land. You can watch the episode for free on AppleTV+ until December 1st. Here for book tour Obama.

Patton Oswalt Is Writing A Comic

Actor Patton Oswalt, who is known for his love of superheros, is writing a comic. Dark Horse’s Black Hammer universe will have a new anthology, Black Hammer: Visions, and Oswalt will write the first issue. There will be eight issues, each a standalone story, with a different writer, and you can look forward to Mariko Tamaki and Kelly Thompson each writing an issue.

Poets House Suspends Operations

Poets House has announced that it has suspended operations effective immediately due to budgetary issues created by the pandemic. Executive director Lee Briccetti announced retirement in 2021. “Poets House has a world-class poetry library of 70,000 books that is free and open to the public at its beautiful space in Battery Park City,” and hopefully they will be able to reconfigure and reopen in late 2021, when the pandemic is estimated to be under control.

Romancing the Runoff: Romance Authors Raise Funds for Georgia Runoff Election

Romance writers unite to launch Romancing the Runoff, an auction to help support fundraising efforts for the Georgia Senate runoff elections.

Academic Libraries Ask UK Government To Look Into E-Book Pricing

Over 2,500 UK university staff members have written a letter asking the UK Government to investigate academic e-book pricing, which they claim is excessive, with some instances of 200% price increases. Citing examples of print copies costing £44 with the e-book version costing “£423 for a single e-book user and £500 for three users,” they say the pricing is forcing them to choose books based on price and “not what is best for learning.” Publishers are defending the prices claiming shared-use and different format.

Black Panther 2 Will Not Use CGI Body Double For Chadwick Boseman

Black Panther 2 is supposed to commence filming in 2021 but, with the lead actor Chadwick Boseman having passed away in August, many question how. Victoria Alonso, Marvel Studios EVP, answered in a recent interview with Argentinian newspaper Clarín that CGI will not be used to create a body double: “No. There’s only one Chadwick and he’s not with us.”

Romancing the Runoff Fundraiser

Stacey Abrams, who has written romantic suspense novels under the pen name Selena Montgomery, has inspired many romance authors to come together to raise money for Fair Fight, the New Georgia Project, and Black Voters Matter for the Georgia Senate Runoffs. Running November 18th through the 24th, you can donate money directly or by purchasing auction items, which include signed books, critiques, virtual pajama parties, and more!

Burbank, CA School District Faces Unique Anti-Racism Book Ban Situation

A complicated book challenge arises in Burbank, California, putting antiracism and teaching methodology under the spotlight.

Randomly Read First Pages Of Books Without Knowing The Book

Have you already formed a judgement about a book before you start reading the first page? Wonder if your opinion of a classic book would be different if you didn’t know you were reading it? Here’s a fun site that allows you to randomly read the first page of a book, prejudgment, before finding out what you’re reading.

Black Lightning Will Have CW Spinoff Show

Black Lightning, the CW show based on the DC comic character created by Tony Isabella and Trevor Von Eeden, has just had the pilot for a spinoff series, titled “Painkiller,” get the greenlight at the CW. Jordan Calloway will star as Khalil Payne / Painkiller and the pilot episode will air as the seventh episode in Black Lightning’s fourth season.

Public Votes Half Of A Yellow Sun As Winner of Winners

Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie’s novel Half of a Yellow Sun won the Women’s prize for fiction thirteen years ago. Now, in a public vote by more than 8,500 people, the book has been voted the winner of winners as it was voted the best out of the 25 past winners, in honor of the 25th anniversary of the award.