ODU’s annual lit fest highlights resilience in a hard time
“Grit and Grace” is the theme of ODU’s annual literary festival, which runs today through Thursday. It’s a theme that responds to the pandemic, to climate change, to crises of politics and freedom and equality and justice.
The events will be virtual, which makes attending easier (depending on good internet service). Today at 5 p.m., students in ODU’s master’s program in creative writing will give thesis readings: James Beardsley, Lyzzie Golliher, David Jacobson, Raoul Lobo, Bhavika Sicka, Hannah Trammell and Nina White. Starting Monday, guest authors are Hanif Abdurraqib, Nishat Manzoor Ahmed, Rebecca Bengal, Marcelo Hernandez Castillo, Joanna Eleftheriou, Marie Mutsuki Mockett, Daniel Mueller, Luisa A. Igloria, Aimee Nezhukumatathil, Suzanne Strempek
Shea, Jake Skeets, Maggie Smith and Grace Talusan.
Details, links: odu.edu/litfest On Hersey, the bomb and “Hiroshima”: Wednesday at 7 p.m., Lesley M.M. Blume discusses her book “Fallout.” It’s about John Hersey, the author of the classic expose “Hiroshima.” Via Zoom, and free; registration is required: macarthurmemorial. org. See the front page of today’s Break for more.
Robert Mueller on insider’s book: In a rare public statement, the former special counsel pushed back Tuesday against a prosecutor in his office who says in a tell-all that investigators should have done more to hold President Trump accountable. Mueller suggested Andrew Weissmann’s “Where Law Ends” is “based on incomplete information” and said he stands by his decisions. (Washington Post)
The U.S. is entitled to more than $5.2 million from royalties for ex-NSA contractor Edward Snowden’s book, “Permanent Record,” a federal court ruled Tuesday. The U.S. says Snowden violated a nondisclosure agreement. (The Guardian)
Follow-up: “Uncle George and Me”: George Sizemore and Bill Sizemore now are part of a film. The two share a family history recounted in Bill’s book “Uncle George and Me,” about two southern Virginia families linked by a slave-owning ancestor, Bill’s great-great-great grandfather. Now their voices and others’ are in Frederick Murphy’s documentary, “The Other Side of the Coin: Race, Generations & Reconciliation.” Bill Sizemore is a retired Virginian-Pilot journalist. More: historybeforeus.com
The author who won the Arthur C. Clarke Award for sci-fi is donating the money, about $2,600, toward bail for people who protested the verdict in the police shooting of Louisville’s Breonna Taylor. Namwali Serpell, a native of Zambia, won the prestigious award for “The Old Drift.”
James Patterson is doing it again. To help teachers and students during the pandemic, he’s donating $2.5 million for 5,000 teachers to get grants of $500, as well as Scholastic Book Club points, to help create school and home libraries. This year, 100,000 teachers applied. Through the six years of his partnership with Scholastic, Patterson has given $11 million. (Publishers Weekly)
The three most banned and challenged books of the past decade: “The Absolutely True Diary of a Part-Time Indian,” by Sherman Alexie; Dav Pilkey’s “Captain Underpants” series; and Jay Asher’s “Thirteen Reasons Why,” on teen suicide. So said the American Library Association, listing the top 100 as it marked Banned Books Week last week.
New and recent
“Accidentally Wes Anderson” is now a book. Like its Instagram namesake, it presents scenes echoing the film director’s stylized ones. By Wally Koval and Amanda Koval; foreword by Anderson. (Little, Brown, 368 pp.)
Two fantasy novels by major names: Susanna Clarke’s “Piranesi,” 16 years after “Jonathan Strange and Mr Norrell.” “Piranesi” (Bloomsbury, 272 pp.) has fast become a bestseller. … From Christopher Paolini, “To Sleep in a Sea of Stars,” the first adultaudience novel from the author of “Eragon” and the three sequels that are the bestselling YA Inheritance novels. (Tor, 880 pp.)
Also: From Nicholas Sparks, “The Return” … Al Sharpton, “Rise Up: Confronting a Country at the Crossroads” … Reshonda Tate Billingsley, “A Little Bit of Karma” … Jodi Picoult, “The Book of Two Ways.”