The Guardian covers a new UN report that describes the widespread abuse of female journalists online. “The Chilling: Global Trends in Online Violence Against Women Journalists” was a survey of more than nine-hundred reporters in 125 countries. Unesco, the UN agency that commissioned the study, points out that this abuse has systemic implications: “Online violence against women journalists is designed to belittle, humiliate, and shame; induce fear, silence, and retreat; discredit them professionally, undermining accountability, journalism and trust in facts.”
The Baffler has excerpted John Keene’s new introduction to Echo Tree, a new collection of short fiction by Afrofuturist pioneer Henry Dumas, who was killed by a police officer in 1968. Keene writes, “Written more than fifty years ago, Dumas’s visionary fiction, with its focus on the social and psychological challenges facing Black boys and men, both in urban northern and rural southern settings, possesses considerable relevance and resonance for today.”
At The Nation, Maggie Doherty on the rise of “adjunct lit.”
At Slate, an interview with Alison Bechdel on her new book The Secret to Superhuman Strength, a graphic memoir about the author’s exercise history. Asked if writing and drawing these books has gotten easier over time, Bechdel says, “No. To me, these books all feel impossible at the outset, which is why I want to do them. I’m trying to figure something out. If I already had it figured out, there’d be no point in doing the book.” At The Cut, Maggie Lange writes that fitness is an ideal subject for a memoir: “The book’s real subject is life force. And what better subject is there? It necessarily deals with aging, desire, pain, pleasure, fun, failure, capricious taste.”
This Thursday at 8 PM EST, Larissa Pham talks about her new book Pop Song: Adventures in Art and Intimacy with Mary H.K. Choi in a virtual event hosted by Powell’s Books.