Almost 60 years after the Mongomery bus boycott of 1955, public buses in Montgomery, Alabama continue to be a discriminatory space.

Allen Toussaint, legendary pianist from New Orleans, passed away this week at the age of 77.

Sofia Quintero gave praise to Walter Dean Myers for teaching her how to write for marginalized groups in her books, or, in her words, “how to stop writing white.”

Barnes and Noble highlighted the twentieth anniversary of the death of Nigerian writer and activist Ken Saro-Wiwa. Saro-Wiwa was an outspoken critic of what he saw as internal corruption in the government which was taking advantage of the oil-rich Niger delta. The three suggested books, The Looting Machine, The Bright Continent, and Americanah, address this corruption.

Professor Emerita Barbara Herrnstein Smith asked, “What was ‘close reading‘”? Smith examines the role of close reading in Anglo literature over the course of the past century compared with its current role in the discourses of the digital humanities.
The National Book Award finalists in young people’s literature were released this week!

See our recap of Johanna Drucker’s talk on the status of the digital humanities. 

The webinar series continues this week with Jericho Brown and jessica Care moore. Click here for more information on the webinars! In case you missed this week’s webinar with Nikky Finney, click here for a video of the conversation.