In You’ve Got Mail, Meg Ryan waxed poetic about the coming of fall and the attendant romance of “a bouquet of newly sharpened pencils.” Even for folks whose school days are long behind them, the back-to-school season can provide a bit of motivation or excitement. With summer vacations over and the holiday crush not yet

Summertime is barbecue season! Here are some of the top trends anticipated for summer 2023, according to Better Homes and Gardens and Barbecue Bible: International inspiration: Global and fusion flavor inspirations are big in grilling this year, whether that’s adding gochujang to a marinade or trying an entirely new technique like chichinga, or West African

We’ve all seen the proliferation of artistic content created by generative AI. From visual art to poetry to music, advanced technology is entering realms once thought to be solely the domain of human beings. At the same time, clips of a TED talk by Ethan Hawke on the value of human creativity have begun to

On her Substack, author and Pulitzer finalist Rebecca Makkai recently proposed an award honoring backlist titles: “With the Pulitzer Prize announcements for last year coming on Monday, prizes have been on my mind. And specifically, this pipe dream I’ve had for a while now of starting a new and unconventional prize: one that celebrates the

It is a truth universally acknowledged, that a reader in possession of some free time must be in want of a Jane Austen reading challenge. July has long been an active month for Austen fans (sometimes called Janeites), with conferences, festivals, tours, and book clubs popping up around the world. Austen died in July 1817,

Teacher Appreciation Week is observed May 2–8 2023, but hardworking educators deserve our thanks year-round. Over the past few years in particular, teachers and other school workers have made it known that they feel overworked and underappreciated. In 2022, the National Education Association (NEA) created a video featuring the thoughts of several educators from across

The end of winter is in sight, and, as gardeners know, it’s time for planting once the ground thaws. In recent years, younger generations have taken up gardening, and Millennials are now the largest group of gardeners in the U.S. Many came to the hobby during lockdown in 2020, but the shift has been observed

Cli-Fi (short for climate fiction) is a genre that invites readers to consider the effects of climate change both in their own lives and for future generations. The foundation of the genre is an acknowledgement that climate change is an unignorable crisis. And while it is often speculative, cli-fi is usually grounded in real science.

More Americans than ever are adopting a plant-based diet—at least part-time. The number of people who identify as vegan, vegetarian, or flexitarian has been steadily rising over the past several years, and nonwhite Americans are three times as likely to be vegetarian as white Americans. Most people who adopt a more plant-based diet make the

Since 1976, Black History Month has been observed every February, but its origins date back half a century before its observance was formally established. In 1926, Dr. Carter G. Woodson, founder of the Association for the Study of African American Life and History (ASALH), designated the second week of February—the week encompassing the birthdays of

It’s the most wonderful time of the year…that magical season when publications release their Best Books of the Year lists. And while these lists from The New York Times, B&N, Amazon, Goodreads, NPR, and so many more are populated pretty much exclusively by frontlist titles, this opportunity doesn’t end when the ball drops on December

It seems like hardly a week goes by without the introduction of a buzzy term to encapsulate our evolving relationship with working. Since 2020, we’ve been talking about essential workers, remote work, working parents, the great resignation, unionization, quiet quitting, the gig economy, and how, despite all this talk of work, supposedly no one wants