LAIKA’s Next Stop-Motion Film Is Based On a Fantasy Novel by the Lead Singer of The Decemberists
LAIKA, the studio behind Coraline and ParaNorman, have announced that their next stop-animation project currently in production is based on the book Wildwood by the Decemberists lead singer and songwriter Colin Meloy. Wildwood takes place in Portland, Oregon, in an enchanted wood. LAIKA CEO Travis Knight is directing. “The Night Gardener is a beautiful and timeless story that quickens the pulse as often as it breaks the heart,” Knight said in an interview with The Hollywood Reporter. “It’s gonna be one helluva movie.”
LeVar Burton to Receive Lifetime Achievement Award at 2022 Emmys
Roots star and Reading Rainbow host LeVar Burton will receive a lifetime achievement award at this year’s first annual Children’s & Family Emmy Awards. The ceremony is expected to be held in person at the Wilshire Ebell Theater in Los Angeles this December.
Award-Winning Novelist Rolando Hinojosa-Smith Dies at 93
Rolando Hinojosa-Smith, the award-winning author of 15 novels, died on April 19th in Cedar Park, Texas. He was 93. His daughter Clarissa Hinojosa said the cause of his death was complications of dementia. Dr. Hinojosa-Smith wrote stories in Spanish and English about race, power, class, money, and war set in a fictional version of the lower Rio Grande Valley of Texas, where he was raised. “He captured people in realistic ways that reflected their humanity,” Jaime Mejia, a professor of Chicano literature at Texas State University in San Marcos, told the New York Times. “He could convey their humor and tragedy whether they were working class, middle class, petty, loyal, honest or pretentious.”
London Catholic School Teachers Strike Over Cancelled LGBTQ Book Talk
The diocese cancelled the author visit and fired several governors. Now the school is closed due to a staff shortage as teachers strike in protest.