Freedom Libraries and the Fight for Library Equity

Freedom libraries in the south provided Black residents with access to spaces and books, whether in church basements or private homes.

https://apple.news/ArlMLVuJKRniOZANfA2w2WQ

 

READING ON THE COUCH. Stuff right next to it. The near-empty bookshelves are near-empty because recently I’ve lugged bag after bag of books to the Salvation Army store. I’ll eventually keep 15-20. It feels good. Like a dorm room.

 

Hanya Yanagihara’s Audience of One

…It’s still easy to find readers talking online, with odd pleasure, about the emotional devastation that reading “A Little Life” brought upon them. TikTokers post videos of themselves crying after finishing the book.

https://www.newyorker.com/magazine/2022/01/17/hanya-yanagiharas-audience-of-one

 

A little film about great ‘New Yorker’ cartoonist George Booth. You’ve seen his stuff:

https://youtube.com/watch?v=AYlRXgnapj8&feature=share

 

Politics & Prose becomes first unionized bookstore in D.C. This is from the ‘Washington Post’:

https://www.washingtonpost.com/dc-md-va/2022/01/03/politics-and-prose-first-unionized-bookstore-dc/

 

Why your local library might be hiring a social worker. An NPR story.

Anna McGraw works at the Central Library in downtown Indianapolis. A big part of her job is building relationships with visitors and helping answer their questions. But the information she provides is rarely about books. 

https://apple.news/AIvZ7B2iVQ66ZP0L-cCNW0g

 

Dismay as UK’s first specialist Black bookshop forced to close

New Beacon Books in north London announces it will close and move online only after more than 55 years

https://www.theguardian.com/books/2021/dec/29/uk-first-specialist-black-bookshop-shut-new-beacon-dismay?CMP=Share_iOSApp_Other