BY ISABEL RODRIGUEZ ’21
In celebration of March’s Women’s History Month, Michelle Obama starred in the YouTube original special, “BookTube: A Discussion with Michelle Obama.” The series is divided into seven short videos in which Obama discusses her record-breaking memoir, “Becoming,” and answers questions from a panel of YouTube personalities.
BY ISABEL RODRIGUEZ ’21
Since its first publication in 1967, Gabriel García Márquez’s “One Hundred Years of Solitude” has been met with international acclaim. Despite its popularity, the novel has not been adapted into a film or TV show in the 50 years since its publication. Now, for the first time ever, the story will be told on screen.
BY ISABEL RODRIGUEZ ’21
On Jan. 24, online storytelling platform Wattpad announced that they will enter the print industry with their own publishing division, Wattpad Books. The website announced that, starting in the fall of 2019, Wattpad Books will publish six Young Adult (YA) titles, all stories that are popular on Wattpad.
BY ISABEL RODRIGUEZ ’21
Since the release of George R. R. Martin’s “A Dance with Dragons” in 2011, fans have been impatiently awaiting the sixth book in Martin’s “A Song of Ice and Fire” series, “The Winds of Winter.” An ongoing joke with “A Song of Ice and Fire” fans is that winter is not coming soon enough.
BY ISABEL RODRIGUEZ ‘21
Stephen Dillon, an assistant professor of critical race and queer studies at Hampshire College, spoke to a packed crowd at Amherst Books last Friday night. His new book, “Fugitive Life: The Queer Politics of the Prison State,” focuses primarily on the work of underground women activists in the United States during the 1970s.
BY ISABEL RODRIGUEZ ’21
Sonia Sotomayor, the third woman and first-ever Hispanic person to hold a Supreme Court seat, has recently released two autobiographies, now abridged for young readers. Her writing journey began in 2013 with her autobiography, “My Beloved World,” which she then adapted into two new books designed for young readers.
BY ISABEL RODRIGUEZ ’21
Vice President Mike Pence’s worst nightmare takes shape in a story about a male bunny falling in love with another male bunny. Pence is known for being against same-sex marriage — he signed a religious freedom bill as governor of Indiana in 2015, which according to CNN, would allow businesses to turn away same-sex couples “in the name of ‘religious freedom.’”
BY ISABEL RODRIGUEZ ’21
Poets, Essayists, and Novelists (PEN) held its annual Literary Awards commemoration at New York University on Feb. 20. Since it formed in 1963, the PEN American Literary Awards has honored authors of various genres, including but not limited to fiction, essays, biography, poetry, science writing, sports writing and drama and offers grants and fellowships.
