It was a joy to wrap-up birthfest with dinner with Ron Kavanaugh, editor of Mosaic Magazine. His self-made gift wrapping was so adorable, I just had to post the photo. (click on it to see it full size.)
A teacher in NY apologizes for tying up a black student during a lecture about slavery.
People doing strange things with their hands: I just couldn't stop looking at this. Handimals? Not literary, but sorta fascinating. And this falls in the same category in a way.
Patricia Cornwell thinks crime novels are getting too graphic. She's one to talk. I had to stop reading her books because the violence was undermining my sense of well-being!
Carleen is getting a lot of traction with her "Buy A Book by A Black Author and Give it To Somebody Not Black" campaign. Now she has released a VIDEO.
Speaking of videos, Colson Whitehead has made one to pub his new novel, Sag Harbor. His is not nearly as lively as Carleen's, but it's still worth a peek. (via)
The NYer has a good round-up of quotes from publishing execs about the meltdown last week. My publisher, Hachette, says that any book that sells less that 40,000 copies is a disaster. (Keep in mind that a work of literary fiction that sells 10,000 is considered a big success.)
And a 9 year old has written a book. File that under: no comment.
Constance Briscoe-- not the African-American Connie Briscoe,but the Afro-British one, defended herself and won a lawsuit filed by her own mother. Apparently, the older Mrs. Briscoe did appreciate her daughter's memoir: UGLY: true story of a loveless childhood.
Shelly reminds us that the late great Odetta marched on the Pentagon in 1981 to make a stand for the murdered children of Atlanta.
Not sure what this critter is, but it's mighty cute!
There are 2 comments on "Saturday Afternoon Links". If you'd like to leave a comment, click here to jump down to the comments entry form.
Comment #1, by Shortino
I had off from work the other day, and I went into the record store to look for Christmas presents. Under "Fresh Arrivals," there was an Odetta Album on vinyl, in perfect condition. My girlfriend loves Odetta and has been looking for her music, so I bought it for her for Christmas. Not two hours later, I got in the car and heard on NPR that she had passed away.
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