TOPEKA, Kan. (WIBW) – Kansans have been encouraged to pick up a copy of a new book and share what makes them happy to join in Kansas Reads to Preschoolers Month. The Kansas State Library says that Governor Laura Kelly recently signed a proclamation to officially designate November as Kansas Reads to Preschoolers Month. State…

Vikram Sridhar recalls witnessing a Baul singing performance when he was in school. “At that time, I didn’t fully understand it, but the singer’s voice left a profound impact on me. Even though I couldn’t comprehend the language, there was something in his voice that resonated within me,” he says, “I was fascinated how he…

Author Daniel Soha, a former Beach resident now living in southwest Scarborough, has recently released his book of short stories Vignettes. Photo by Marcia Dubsky. By MARCIA DUBSKY Daniel Soha is an award-winning author in the French language and has written five novels in French and translated two books of poetry. Soha grew up and…

Here are the finalists for the 2023 Governor General’s Literary Award for young people’s literature — illustrated books. The Governor General’s Literary Awards are one of Canada’s oldest and most prestigious literary prizes.  The prizes, administered by the Canada Council for the Arts, are awarded in seven English-language categories: fiction, nonfiction, poetry, young people’s literature — text, young people’s literature — illustration, drama and French-to-English translation. Seven French-language…

The Vulnerablesby Sigrid NunezRiverhead, 256 pages, $28 Early on in The Vulnerables, the just-published novel by Sigrid Nunez set during the Covid lockdowns, the narrator comments that the government measures, confining people to their homes and punishing them if they break the rules, are “for the good of all: understood.” Nunez has a penchant for…

The prestigious French literary award went to “Watching Over Her,” or “Veiller Sur Elle,” an almost 600-page novel set in 20th-century Italy. Jean-Baptiste Andrea received the Goncourt Prize, France’s most prestigious literary award, on Tuesday for his novel “Watching Over Her.” The novel, published by L’Iconoclaste, is a sprawling fresco that follows Michelangelo “Mimo” Vitaliani,…

It was a stormy summer day, dead in the middle of August, with lightning sheeting the sky and a deep underwater gloom pervading the parking deck. My three-year-old had fallen asleep in his car seat on our way to the children’s museum, and I could hardly believe my luck: a whole hour to spend on…

Senjuti was born and raised in Bankura, a small town in India. A reluctant economist, fierce feminist and history enthusiast, she spends most of her time reading. Her interaction with other people is largely limited to running away from them or launching into passionate monologues about her last perfect read or her latest fictional crush.…