The Hate U Give (THUG for short) was published in 2017. The setting, events, and characters of this coming-of-age story are largely inspired by Thomas’s own life. It was a number-one New York Times Best Seller, made the 2017 National Book Award Longlist, and was adapted into a movie in 2018. The protagonist is Starr Carter, a … Continue reading “Book Notes: The Hate U Give”
May 2020 marks the return of the most popular young adult dystopian series. Suzanne Collins brings us back to Panem with a new book. “The Ballad of Songbirds and Snakes” is a prequel which takes place 64 years before the events the first trilogy. 10 years since Suzanne Collins published the first book in the … Continue reading “Book Notes: Return to the Hunger Games!”
Joe Sacco has been creating works of comic non-fiction for more than two decades, illustrating conflict, war and human atrocity through the medium of graphic art. For his latest book — “Paying the Land”—Joe Sacco travels to the Arctic regions of Canada and tells us the history of the Dene Nation, an indigenous people living … Continue reading “Comic Notes: Joe Sacco “Paying the Land””
What more pleasant way to pass the time while practising listening to English? The Harry Potter website, Wizarding World, is having some famous faces and voices read the chapters of the first book in the series, Harry Potter and the Philosopher’s Stone. The readings were kicked off by none other than Harry himself: actor Daniel … Continue reading “Harry Potter Reads Harry Potter”
Watch the video to find out what was happening in the world of popular music in 1967.
African American novelist Colson Whitehead has joined an exclusive club of only four authors who have won Pulitzer Prizes for literature for two different novels. After 2017’s prize for The Underground Railroad, Whitehead has been awarded the 2020 prize for The Nickel Boys, set in the Civil Rights era and based on the true story … Continue reading “Double Pulitzer for Colson Whitehead”
The next couple of free online streaming treats from the UK’s National Theatre are Frankenstein and Shakespeare’s Antony and Cleopatra. The National Theatre has been making filmed shows available at 8 p.m. French time every Thursday, and available for a week on demand. The next two fit brilliantly with Shine Bright LLCE File 2 Freaky … Continue reading “Frankenstein and Antony and Cleopatra in Your Living Room”
You may know him best as Captain Picard in the series Star Trek, or Professor Xavier in the X-Men films, but Sir Patrick Stewart is a classically trained actor who was a member of the Royal Shakespeare Company for 16 years. Currently in lockdown in Los Angeles, Stewart decided to start reciting a Shakespeare sonnet … Continue reading “Patrick Stewart Reads Shakespeare”
Evocative American painter Edward Hopper was to be the subject of an exhibition at the Fondation Beyeler in Basel, Switzerland this spring. But since visitors can’t go to the museum, the museum can come to them online. Hopper’s paintings are wonderful jumping off points for creative writing, or, as film director Wim Wenders explains, for … Continue reading “Edward Hopper: Telling Stories”
What is the song being described here?