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5 votes
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‘It's time the Girl With the Dragon Tattoo grew up’ – Karin Smirnoff on her shocking sequel
13 votes -
Terry Pratchett was fantasy fiction’s Kurt Vonnegut, not its Douglas Adams
47 votes -
Literature Map: The more people like an author and another author, the closer together they move
17 votes -
Early California woman mystery writer: the life and times of Lange Lewis
11 votes -
Tim O'Brien, author of the Things They Carried, announces new book America Fantastica
10 votes -
The Summer Book (1972) – Tove Jansson's novel about love, family and nature, will make you nostalgic for your own childhood
5 votes -
Metro 2033 author Dmitry Glukhovsky sentenced to eight years in prison for criticizing Russia's invasion of Ukraine
43 votes -
Interview with Colson Whitehead: ‘A city summons you into its weird drama’
4 votes -
Ann Patchett talks about her new book, running a bookshop, and resisting censorship
8 votes -
Sex education book 'Welcome to Sex' is a best-seller, but has been pulled off one Australian retailer's shelves after a conservative backlash, including death threats against one of the authors
‘Taking a leaf out of Trumpism’: Yumi Stynes on the ‘misguided’ backlash to sex book The book has been criticised by campaigners including Rachael Wong, the chief executive of Women’s Forum...
The book has been criticised by campaigners including Rachael Wong, the chief executive of Women’s Forum Australia, an organisation critical of pro-trans activism. Speaking to 2GB’s Ben Fordham on Tuesday, Wong called it a “graphic sex guide for children”, adding that she felt “physically ill at the thought of children reading it”. Other conservative media figures have amplified the criticism.
“This book was a response to genuine questions asked by adolescents to [magazine column] ‘Dolly Doctor’ for more than 20 years. [Dr Melissa Kang, one of the co-writers], was exposed to what kids were too ashamed to ask anyone else.”
Critics have taken particular issue with small sections of the book that address inclusive sexual practices beyond penetrative sex, including “fingering”, “oral sex”, “scissoring”, and “anal sex”.
They are also critical of the inclusion of what they term “gender ideology”. Others are accusing the authors of “grooming” children – a term that is increasingly misused.
The backlash has been so intense Big W stopped selling the book in-store after staff members were abused, although the retailer has defended it and it remains available online.
"I've seen people saying to me 'I want to kill you' or 'You should die'," Stynes told SBS News.
72 votes -
Brandon Sanderson is your god
16 votes -
Kim Stanley Robinson talks about his latest book "Ministry for the Future"
5 votes -
Who are your favorite children's authors?
Parents of young kids: Who are your favorite authors for reading to your young kids? I have a soon-to-be 4 year old who loves books and I'm always looking for new ideas. I'll start off with a few...
Parents of young kids: Who are your favorite authors for reading to your young kids? I have a soon-to-be 4 year old who loves books and I'm always looking for new ideas. I'll start off with a few of her favorite authors, with a good title from each (not in rank order).
Alice and Martin Provensen - Our Animal Friends on Maple Hill Farm
Julia Donaldson - Room on the Broom
Kaya Doi - Chirri and Chirra
Margaret Mahy - Dashing Dog
Anne Hunter - Possum's Harvest Moon
Paul Goble - The Girl Who Loved Wild HorsesI'll single out the Chirri and Chirra books with an explanation because they're very different from the others. They are translated from Japanese, and despite having super simple plot lines, the drawings are a lot of fun and a wonderful complement to the text.
29 votes -
Cormac McCarthy has died
@Publishers Weekly: BREAKING NEWS: Cormac McCarthy, a preeminent voice in American literature over the better part of the past half-century, died today at his home in Santa Fe, N.M., his publisher, Knopf, confirmed. He was 89. Full obit to follow.
69 votes -
Leo Tolstoy on finding meaning in a meaningless world
10 votes -
Borges and $: The parable of the literary master and the coin
1 vote -
Chuck Tingle goes mainstream...ish
9 votes -
Join the Counterforce: Thomas Pynchon’s postmodern epic Gravity’s Rainbow at fifty
6 votes -
Roald Dahl books rewritten to remove language deemed offensive
14 votes -
I was a sensitivity reader – until I realised why I was hired
6 votes -
Book review of 'Games: Agency as Art'
3 votes -
Karin Smirnoff pens new Dragon Tattoo novel – picks up from David Lagercrantz in filling out the late Stieg Larsson's vision for a ten-book sequence
5 votes -
What early American writers knew about our scariest stories
4 votes -
Katrín Jakobsdóttir, crime fiction fan and Iceland's Prime Minister, has published her first thriller novel with her close friend and bestselling author Ragnar Jónasson
4 votes -
Judith Schalansky has become the ninth author to be selected for the Future Library, which asks authors to create a work that will not be revealed to readers until 2114
5 votes -
Pajtim Statovci shares his love of Finnish literature and the books that helped him, a child of immigrants, to find his voice
5 votes -
JK Rowling's new book, about a transphobe who faces wrath online, raises eyebrows
19 votes -
‘I just wanted my life to end’: The mystery of Agatha Christie’s disappearance
5 votes -
Lars Kepler, pen name of husband-and-wife crime fiction-writing team, recommend books that take readers beyond fictitious murders to the soul of Stockholm
6 votes -
With a reputation for having more authors per capita than any other country, Olaf Olafsson leads a literary stroll through Iceland's capital
3 votes -
Some of the world's most celebrated authors have written manuscripts that won't be published for a century – why?
9 votes -
It's time to come clean
22 votes -
Tennessee school board bans Holocaust graphic novel ‘Maus’ – author Art Spiegelman condemns the move as ‘Orwellian’
28 votes -
Joan Didion, ‘new journalist’ who explored culture and chaos, dies at 87
4 votes -
Bill Nighy stars as the voice of Terry Pratchett
7 votes -
How to save the novel - self-censorship and problematic language in modern fiction
4 votes -
A story about living in nature and the value of culture captures the spirit of Finland – Lizzie Enfield explores the remarkable legacy of 'Seitsemän veljestä'
9 votes -
Nawal El Saadawi, Egyptian author and women’s rights icon, dies
7 votes -
HG Wells fans spot numerous errors on Royal Mint's new £2 coin
9 votes -
"If the aliens lay eggs, how does that affect architecture?" - Science fiction writers on how they build their worlds
6 votes -
Explore Indigenous futurisms with these science fiction and fantasy books by indigenous authors
8 votes -
Who did JK Rowling become? Deciphering the most beloved, most reviled children’s book author in history
29 votes -
Legendary science fiction author Ben Bova has passed at the age of 88, due to Covid
10 votes -
Alan Dean Foster—author of novelizations of Star Wars: A New Hope, the Alien franchise, and more—says that Disney has not paid any royalties since acquiring the rights to his books
20 votes -
Harlan Ellison's The Last Dangerous Visions may finally be published, after five-decade wait
7 votes -
Pippi and the Moomins - The antics in postwar Nordic children’s books left propaganda and prudery behind. We need this madcap spirit more than ever
15 votes -
Twenty-five years of His Dark Materials: Philip Pullman on the journey of a lifetime
14 votes -
Louise Glück wins Nobel Prize for Literature
6 votes -
Virtual book events, Monday Sept 21st - Saturday Sept 26th
3 votes