Roxane Gay Calls Out Midwest Writers Workshop For Fatphobia
In a Twitter thread, Roxane Gay called out the Midwest Writers Workshop for weight discrimination against activist and writer Sarah Hollowell. It was when Hollowell was under consideration to be brought on to the organization’s Board of Directors that a board member said, “do we really want someone like her representing us?” and made discriminatory comments about Hollowell’s weight, according to Gay. Both Hollowell and the MWW director responded–Hollowell to express the pain she’s experienced as a result of the Board’s conduct, and Director Jama Kehoe Bigger to acknowledge, and apologize for, the organization’s wrongdoings.
National Book Foundation And NYC Partner On Raising Readers Initiative
The National Book Foundation is launching an adult-focused reading initiative, Raising Readers, implemented in partnership with the New York City Department of Youth and Community Development. Raising Readers aims “to empower adults who work with and raise children to expand their own love of books and reading, in order to better model the habit of reading for pleasure with the young people in their lives.” The initiative was created after the NBF received a Mayor’s Grant for Cultural Impact from the New York City Department of Cultural Affairs.
Not Even Lupita Nyong’o Can Get Tickets To Black Panther
Lupita Nyong’o got on Twitter to say she, one of the stars of Black Panther, couldn’t get her hands on advanced tickets to the movie (she wasn’t terribly mad, as you might imagine). They went on sale this week and became Fandango’s best-selling tickets to a Marvel Cinematic Universe film to date. Deadline also reported that the film is already outstripping Captain America: Civil War in that regard.
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Sponsored by Dreaming Of Manderley by Leah Marie Brown.
Manderley Butler is too busy fetching coffee in her job as an assistant to an internationally famous mystery writer and proofreading manuscripts for real writers to even think about working on her own novel. But when her wealthy, eccentric employer decides to relocate to the South of France for the summer, Mandy decides to do something completely out of character: she abandons responsibility in favor of Cannes. Will Mandy find love with a rich, handsome Frenchman and step into the spotlight of her own life in this modern retelling of Daphne du Maurier’s classic romantic thriller Rebecca?