Book News & Features

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Creators on the Cusp: Meet Roye Okupe, father of African superheroes

5:08am April 29, 2022

by Etelka Lehoczky

Okupe incorporates African myth and history into his books –- his "YouNeek YouNiverse." Here he weighs in on creating Afrocentric comics for a global audience — and on his new book WindMaker Vol. 1.

Among the books banned in Llano County, Texas, public libraries were: Robie H. Harris's It's Perfectly Normal: Changing Bodies, Growing Up, Sex, and Sexual Health; Isabel Wilkerson's Caste: The Origins of Our Discontents; and Maurice Sendak's In the Night

In a lawsuit, a group of Texas library patrons says a book ban amounts to censorship

4:11pm April 26, 2022

by Joe Hernandez

Llano County officials said they wanted to remove "pornographic" material from libraries but actually censored books based on political and religious grounds, the library patrons' lawsuit says.

A visitor reads a book at a book fair during a Publishers Forum in Lviv, Ukraine, Wednesday, Sept. 19, 2018. A regional council in western Ukraine had passed a motion to ban all Russian-language books, films and songs in the region.

Russian invasion upends young, flourishing Ukrainian publishing industry

5:00am April 19, 2022

by Jim Zarroli

After the Crimea invasion, a backlash against Russian books filled with propaganda led to the growth of Ukraine's own book industry. But Russia's latest attacks and Covid have created major obstacles.

The Velveteen Rabbit: 100th Anniversary Edition

Books
Arts

As 'The Velveteen Rabbit' turns 100, its message continues to resonate

5:14am April 12, 2022

by Elizabeth Blair

"To engage children's interest in anything you have to be keenly interested in that thing yourself," Margery Williams Bianco wrote in 1925. Her story endures because it connects to so many people.

Books
Arts

2022 Whiting Awards celebrate 10 emerging writers

8:00pm April 06, 2022

by Fi O'Reilly

The 10 winners of this year's Whiting Awards have been announced; the $50,000 prize honors emerging writers, with the hope of allowing them to concentrate full-time on their work.

Graphic novelist George O'Connor treats the Olympians as both a family and as distinct gods and goddesses, each with their own personality.

Books
Arts

Graphic novels about Greek gods that don't talk down to kids

7:59am April 06, 2022

by Elizabeth Blair

George O'Connor spent 12 years turning the Greek gods into best-selling graphic novels for kids. They're faithful to the ancient myths - which often include gender fluidity.

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Some of the banned books of 2021, according to the ALA.

Efforts to ban books jumped an 'unprecedented' four-fold in 2021, ALA report says

7:29pm April 04, 2022

The American Library Association says libraries faced the highest number of book challenges since they started tracking in 2000. Maia Kobabe's Gender Queer topped their list of most challenged books.

I Color Myself Different, written by Colin Kaepernick and illustrated by Eric Wilkerson

Books
Arts

Colin Kaepernick says 'I Color Myself Different' in his first children's book

8:00am April 02, 2022

by Samantha Balaban

Colin Kaepernick's kindergarten teacher gave his class an assignment: Draw a picture of your family. When he colored his family yellow and himself brown, it became a pivotal moment for his identity.

Madeleine Albright's teaching continues — through these books

11:23am March 24, 2022

by Meghan Collins Sullivan

The first female secretary of state's legacy lives on — not only in the history she made but also in teachings and reflections. Here are some of the books she leaves for us, and future generations.

Yevgenia Belorusets is a writer and photographer living in Kyiv.

In Ukraine, writer-photographer Yevgenia Belorusets documents Kyiv's displaced

9:54am March 16, 2022

by Andrew Limbong

Belorusets' book Lucky Breaks, written in the aftermath of Russia's previous assault into Ukraine in 2014, was published in English this month. The author remains in Kyiv producing art as war rages.

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