Welcome to Today in Books, our daily round-up of literary headlines at the intersection of politics, culture, media, and more.
It is a beautiful May day here in Portland, Oregon and my capacity to offer my normal blend of incisive critiques and insouciant observations is severely compromised. Time for a good old-fashion, let’s clear out the digital closet link drop!
Book cover clichés have reached crisis point. What’s a reader to do? [The Bookseller]
A Visit to Shel Silverstein’s Archives [Publisher’s Weekly]
In search of “Brodernism”: Where is this maximalist cult of difficulty? [The Berliner]
Rachel Kushner on the 20th Anniversary of Less Than Zero [The Paris Review]
The Great Language Flattening [The Atlantic]
A new documentary checks out the many ways libraries are a ‘Free For All’ [NPR]
Can Religious Parents Veto Books in Public Schools? [Strict Scrutiny]
The New York Times’ Poetry Reading Challenge [The New York Times]
Trump Orders End to Federal Funding for PBS and NPR [WBUR]
Read Your Resistance: Book Bans and Bravery: A Conversation with Samira Ahmed [Chicago Review of Books]
The Gruffalo Coming Back After 20 Years with New Books [BBC News]
Elena Ferrante’s Neapolitan novels get a new cover in special edition. [Today.com]
Kathy Bates Is Still ‘Crushed’ That Her 1990 Film ‘Misery’ Wasn’t More Violent [People]
‘Brokeback Mountain’ Getting 20th Anniversary Re-Release This Summer [Deadline]
Columbia Lecturer Creates ‘Resistance Summer School’ After University Eliminates Her Course On Race [Black Enterprise]
Why I love the Calligraphr font-creation app [The Verge]
Maria Popova and McNally Jackson to reissue forgotten masterworks [Kottke.org]
Asimov Press’ New Book, Written in DNA [Asimov Press]