As anti-government protests rippled across Turkey, Elif Batuman went out into the streets to report on the occupation of a small park in the European neighborhood of Taksim by peaceful protesters. "This morning, forty thousand demonstrators are said to have crossed the Bosphorus Bridge from the Asian side of the city, to lend support in Taksim. Hundreds of backup police are reportedly being flown into Istanbul from all around the country... On my street, spirits seem to be high. Someone is playing 'Bella, Ciao' on a boom-box, and I can hear cheering and clapping. But every now and then the spring breeze carries a high, whistling, screaming sound, and the faint smell of pepper gas." For more on the protests as they develop, follow the #occupygezi hashtag on twitter.
The Millions's Bill Morris shares advice he received before attending his first BEA: "When I told my agent I was planning to attend a book fair for the first time in my life, this year's Book Expo America in New York, she said, 'I avoid it like the plague. It's basically a lot of people—primarily made up of aspiring writers—scrambling for free books.... BEA really is a madhouse.'"
It probably won't come as a surprise, but with an annual revenue of $37.9 billion, Google is the world's largest media owner.
The New York Times Magazine profiles National Book Award winer Column McCann, who shares his thoughts on writing a historical novel that "touches the present" and avoids "any stink of stasis."
The Paris Review praises Margarethe von Trotta's biopic of Hannah Arendt, one of the twentieth century's most influential thinkers, praising her for bringing "Arendt's work back into believable—and accessible—focus." For more on von Trotta and her long history of lefty filmmaking, read her interview with the Believer.
