Bucharest opens Arcul de Triumf to visitors for World Book Night
Thousands of residents in Bucharest, Romania, were this week given the rare chance to see inside the city’s Arcul de Triumf for the country’s Open Books Night—part of this year’s World Book Night celebrations… Read more »
Why are we obsessed with reading books more quickly?
Let’s begin Friday with three questions that look a lot easier to answer than they actually are: How many books do you read in a year? Would you like to… Read more »
Beowulf authorship debate takes another turn; suggests a single author
Hwæt!* This week, the all-action, Grendel-battlin’, sea-voyagin’, crown-of-Geatland-wearin’ hero Beowulf was the subject of renewed debate. Authorship of the Scandinavian epic poem, which dates from between 1,200 and 1,300 years ago,… Read more »
The Netherlands swaps train tickets for books—for one day, at least
Not content with being world leaders in many of the finer things in life (art, architecture, cheese, beer, flowers, bicycles, chips with mayonnaise), last week was Boekenweek (“book week”) in the Netherlands.… Read more »
Waterstones booksellers’ petition for a living wage attracts thousands of signatures
This week, Alison Flood of The Guardian and others reported on the story that booksellers at Waterstones were campaigning for a living wage (in the UK, that’s £9 p/h; £10:55 p/h in London).… Read more »
Everyone we saw at the London Book Fair 2019
The London Book Fair can be a pretty overwhelming place. As one of the biggest trade fairs in the world, you can expect a LOT of people to show up—many… Read more »
Cymru am byth! Welsh-language Braille books included in World Book Day 2019
Bore da!* It seems that Welsh (or Cymraeg)—the Celtic language spoken by our esteemed neighbours over the Severn—is rarely out of the news at the moment. Most recently, Radio 2… Read more »
Dear Dairy: artist makes book out of cheese
Last year we reported on the varied and occasionally distressing objects people used as bookmarks and subsequently returned to public libraries. It was gross. Chief offender among these objects, according… Read more »
Is World Book Day becoming too expensive for parents?
When I was eight, I wore a box to school. Just for one day, mind—it was the inaugural World Book Day, in 1995, and I was dressed as Mr. Strong,… Read more »
Dolly Parton’s Imagination Library lands in Ireland
Country singer, philanthropist, and actual living legend Dolly Parton’s Imagination Library, a charity dedicated to giving free books to children, announced this week that she will be expanding the program to… Read more »