Powell’s Books in Portland, Oregon, is celebrating its fiftieth anniversary this year. Powell’s, said to be the world’s largest independent bookstore, is curating a selection of fifty books to mark the occasion. On the store’s website, booksellers write that the list comes out of the past year of lockdown, which they compare to a “diabolic Chuck E. Cheese ticket blaster”: “It’s been a natural time to appraise how we got to this point of fracture and fragility, and how we heal; we want to know who we’ve been, and who we’re becoming, and for that we’ve always turned to books. Which books have foretold the present, lit our paths, warned us back, egged us on? What books stand with us now, reflecting the present?”
Some staffing announcements at the New Yorker: Parul Sehgal is becoming a staff writer, while Kyle Chayka, Luke Mogelson, and Matthew Hutson have been named as contributing writers.
Tobi Haslett’s n+1 essay “Magic Actions,” an in-depth study of the George Floyd rebellions, has been made into a free downloadable zine.
CNBC looks at how media organizations are handling the return to the office after many journalists have spent the past fifteen months working from home. Most companies are planning to offer hybrid approaches, with employees continuing to work from home part time.
On July 27, Type Books is hosting a virtual event for the launch of In Concrete by Anne Garréta, published by Deep Vellum, with Emma Ramadan and Lauren Elkin