Arts
The Arts
Chloé Zhao Is The First Woman Of Color To Win Oscar For Best Director
Chloé Zhao has won the Oscar for directing Nomadland, becoming the first woman of color to win the award and the second woman to win (Katheryn Bigelow, was the first). Zhao was also the first woman to get four Oscar nominations in a single year, in the Best Film Editing, Best Adapted Screenplay, Best Director and Best Picture categories.
Louise Erdrich Takes Home Aspen Words Literary Prize For ‘The Night Watchman’
In a virtual ceremony, Louise Erdrich was named the winner of this year’s Aspen Words Literary Prize, for her novel The Night Watchman. The $35,000 prize goes to a work that “illuminates a vital contemporary issue and demonstrates the transformative power of literature on thought and culture.”
An ‘Overjoyed’ LeVar Burton Welcomes Chance To Guest-Host ‘Jeopardy!’
LeVar Burton will host a week of Jeopardy! this summer, after nearly 250,000 people signed a petition backing the actor and director’s long-held aspiration to try out for the job that was left vacant by Alex Trebek, who died last year.
Missing Travel? This ‘Irreverent Guide’ Visits Anthony Bourdain’s Favorite Places
The new book World Travel: An Irreverent Guide is credited to Anthony Bourdain. But it was not really written by the bestselling author, chef and TV personality who died in 2018.
Not Heading To Paris This Summer? The Louvre Has Digitized 482,000 Artworks
“The Louvre is dusting off its treasures, even the least-known,” said Jean-Luc Martinez, President-Director of the Musée du Louvre, in a statement on Friday. “For the first time, anyone can access the entire collection of works from a computer or smartphone for free, whether they are on display in the museum, on loan, even long-term, or in storage.”
BOOK REVIEW: ‘The Final Revival Of Opal & Nev’ Is A Faux Music History That Rocks
To say that The Final Revival of Opal & Nev is a sly simulacrum of a rock oral history is to acknowledge only the most obvious of this novel’s achievements. Walton aspires to so much more in this story about music, race and family secrets that spans five decades. And, all the glitzy, quick-change narrative styles don’t detract attention from the core emotional power of her story. I tell you, even many of the fake footnotes in this novel are moving.
Neither #OscarsSoWhite Nor #OscarsSoMale — What A Difference A Pandemic Makes
This past year of masks, lockdowns, and capacity restrictions has been the most catastrophic 12 months in the history of movie theaters. It has also been a banner year for diversity at the Oscars.
‘Today, I Am A Witness To Change’: A Crowdsourced Poem Against Anti-Asian Hate
LISTEN BY RACHEL MARTIN April is National Poetry Month, a celebration of poets and poetry that’s been in place for 25 years. Last month, as the U.S. grieved over attacks
‘I Feel Like I’m An Olympian’: Youn Yuh-jung On Her Historic Oscar Nomination
Youn Yuh-jung is an institution in Korean cinema. Her career spans five decades and includes starring roles in classic Korean films and famous TV dramas. Now, at 73, she has newfound fame in the U.S. for her role in the Oscar-nominated film Minari.
BOOK REVIEW: A Daughter Struggles To Escape Her Mother’s Shadow In ‘Libertie’
Libertie, a new novel by Kaitlyn Greenidge, is inspired by the life of Dr. Susan Smith McKinney-Steward, the third African American woman to earn a medical degree in this country.
Northwest Native Brandi Carlile Talks Ambition, Avoidance And Finally Finding Her Place
Growing up poor in Washington state, singer-songwriter Brandi Carlile learned about harmony and rhythm while performing as a backup singer for a friend’s dad, who worked as an Elvis impersonator.
A Poem On How The Human Spirit Survives Overlapping Crises
In Dr. Fady Joudah’s poem “House of Mercury,” a severe summer storm has blown over Houston. The storm’s destructive winds woke up the narrator’s father, who hears the “snaps and creaks” of the two oaks in the front yard. But it was a “nearly uprooted fig tree,” the poem notes, that brought the father to tears.
