Every year, staggering numbers are entered into the statistics documenting the murder of trans people across the globe. Transgender people, particularly transgender women of color, face some of the world’s most vicious violence compared to other marginalized groups. Today is Transgender Day of Remembrance, often abbreviated to TDOR, a day we use to commemorate the lives lost to and endangered by bigotry. This day is the culmination of Transgender Awareness Week, a week that seeks to promote education on issues facing the trans community, particularly issues of violence and discrimination. Image via Webster Journal TDOR is a solemn holiday, …
In the summer of 2016 I had a decision to make. What, the heck, was I going to write my senior thesis about? I had been an English major for the past three years, and without tooting my own horn too loudly, I was doing pretty darn well. I had gotten exceptional grades in my literature classes, had been appointed a teaching apprentice, and was well on my way to graduating a semester early cum laude. I’m not bragging (well, not a lot), but rather trying to communicate that I did actually care about my thesis and I wasn’t just trying to troll …
In 2006, Brigid Hughes, a Brooklyn-based literary editor founded A Public Space. A Public Space is an independent nonprofit literary magazine that publishes fiction, poetry, essays, and art, and has published the work of some incredible authors, including Haruki Murakami, Daniel Alarcón, Anna Deavere Smith, and Jesmyn Ward, among others. A Public Space declares its mission to be “to seek out overlooked and unclassifiable work, and to publish writing from beyond established confines.” Last year, they launched their own book publishing imprint, APS Books. APS Books’ mission reflects that of the magazine, and continues A Public Space‘s tradition of publishing purely original, innovative writing. We …
The dedication portion of a book is on of the most oft skipped over, for understandable reasons. After all, what do any of us care about the personal affections of an author we’ve never met? But for this reason, the dedication page is an opportunity for authors to slip in little jokes like small treasures uncovered only by that completionist breed of readers who must read every single line of text in a volume, including the copyright. Here is a healthy list of some of the most amusing book dedications that, if they don’t encourage you to read the …
A lot is going on for J.K. Rowling at the moment, what with the recent publication of Lethal White, the most recent Robert Galbraith book, and the approaching premiere of The Controversies Crimes of Grindelwald. And now she’s got one more item on her list: a lawsuit against her former personal assistant, Amanda Donaldson, for over $30,000. Rowling is accusing Donaldson of taking advantage of her access to Rowling’s personal bank accounts by using them to buy herself fancy makeup, fancy candles, and two fancy cats. It is currently unknown whether the cats were bought together or if the second …
