Sponsored by Holiday House.
Written by Elizabeth Spires and illustrated by Caldecott Medalist Emily Arnold McCully, Kate’s Light shares the exciting true story of Katherine Walker, one of the first female lighthouse keepers. When Kate’s husband died, she was determined to stay on as the keeper of Robbins Reef Lighthouse. Kate convinced the board that she could do the job alone and was known for her many rescues. Kate’s Light brings the turn of the century to life. There is extensive additional material in the back of the book that includes an About Kate Walker section, photos, and a source list.
Welcome to Check Your Shelf, where the weather’s getting slightly warmer and the pandemic fatigue is getting stronger. Let’s library.
Libraries & Librarians
News Updates
A Tennessee librarian was fired for allegedly burning books by Trump and Ann Coulter.
The Boston University Student Government has endorsed a boycott against the use of in-person library services until library staff receive full workplace accommodations.
The University of Michigan’s Shapiro Undergraduate Library temporarily closed after the discovery of three brown recluse spiders. * shudder *
Cool Library Updates
Camden’s “hoodbrarian” brings a love of books to her community.
Worth Reading
Where are we?: The latest on library reopening strategies.
Why aren’t more public librarians eligible for the COVID vaccine?
Addressing algorithmic bias in library systems.
These Afghan citizens are working to build libraries memorializing women killed by bombers.
No, Yale University’s Beinecke Library is not designed to kill human beings in order to save its rare book collection in the event of a fire.
Book Adaptations in the News
Netflix is turning Lupita Nyong’o’s picture book, Sulwe, into an animated musical film.
Mindy Kaling’s production company is adapting Sanjena Sathian’s novel Gold Diggers for TV.
It’s been awhile since we’ve had a Stephen King adaptation update, but there’s going to be a new feature adaptation of The Running Man.
Holly Madison’s memoir Down the Rabbit Hole is being adapted as a TV series.
Amblin Television will produce a series based on Walter Mosley’s Easy Rawlins mysteries.
Did you know Anthony Bourdain wrote a thriller in 1997? Well, now it’s going to be adapted as a TV series.
Mila Kunis is starring in a feature adaptation of Luckiest Girl Alive by Jessica Knoll.
Roughcut TV picked up adaptation rights to Sarah Vaughan’s Little Disasters.
The Perfect Girlfriend by Karen Hamilton will be adapted as a TV series.
The Great Gatsby is going to be adapted as an animated feature.
Update on season 2 of Lovecraft Country.
Casting updates for Conversations With Friends, Killers of the Flower Moon, The School for Good and Evil, Are You There God? It’s Me, Margaret, and The Marsh King’s Daughter.
Books & Authors in the News
Brit Bennett, Amanda Gorman, and Ijeoma Oluo are all included in Time’s 2021 Time100 Next List.
Poet and activist Lawrence Ferlinghetti has died at 101.
Why baseball teams are obsessed with the book Thinking, Fast and Slow by Daniel Kahneman.
Numbers & Trends
In a new survey from the Authors Guild, 71.4% of respondents said that their income had declined since the start of the pandemic, mainly due to canceled speaking engagements.
Award News
The Bram Stoker nominees are out.
Here are the finalists for the 2021 Audie Awards.
The British Science Fiction Association released the shortlist for the 2020 BSFA Awards.
The finalists for the Aspen Words Literary Prize have been announced.
The 2021 Carnegie Medal longlist is out.
Martina Cole wins the Crime Writers’ Association Diamond Dagger.
Sandra Cisneros will receive the Chicago Literary Hall of Fame’s Fuller Award for lifetime achievement.
The Poetry Society of America named N. Scott Momaday the 2021 recipient of the Frost Medal for distinguished lifetime achievement.
National Book Award winner Charles Yu establishes a new prize for young Taiwanese American creative writers.
Pop Cultured
Tim Burton is making a live-action Wednesday Addams series for Netflix.
Here’s the first trailer for Cruella.
On the Riot
8 libraries to visit post-pandemic.
A beginner’s guide to the most popular ebook formats.
Virtual book festivals to get excited about in the next three months.
10 of the best bookish holidays and how to celebrate them.
How poetry is helping this reader through the pandemic.
Black, Latinx, and millennial readers are the backbone of the book world.
Annotation: how to get the most out of your books. (Meanwhile, I’m over here having cold sweats and flashbacks to high school English classes where we were forced to “actively read” every assigned book, which turned reading into an absolute nightmare. This link, however, is entirely optional.)
I read slower now, and maybe that’s a good thing.
It’s the weekend – go do something nice for yourselves! I’ll see you all on Tuesday.
—Katie McLain Horner, @kt_librarylady on Twitter. Currently reading The Missing American by Kwei Quartey