Barack and Michelle Obama have sold the world rights to their forthcoming books to Penguin Random House. The deal was made after an intense bidding war in which offers from Penguin, HarperCollins, Macmillan, and Simon & Schuster reportedly went over $60 million, with the times reporting that the number “stretched well into eight figures.” Although the amount has yet to be confirmed, it will likely be a historic amount for memoirs from a president and first lady—Bill and Hillary Clinton’s post-presidency books sold for a combined $18 million. The Times notes that President Obama’s memoir “could provide a chance to reframe and highlight the former president’s legacy, at a moment when a new Republican administration is making an effort to dismantle some of his signature legislation.”
Ursula K. Le Guin, Junot Diaz, and Ann Patchett were among fourteen new members inducted into the American Academy of Arts and Letters this week. Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie and Zadie Smith were added as honorary members. The official induction ceremony will be held in May.
BuzzFeed investigates how “hyperpartisan political news gets made.” After looking at nearly identical articles on Kellyanne Conway’s alleged TV ban from websites Liberal Society and Conservative 101—which are owned by the same parent company—Craig Silverman concludes that “all it takes to turn a liberal partisan story into a conservative one is to literally change a few words.”
At Der Spiegel Veit Medick profiles Alex Jones, the Infowars host and conspiracy theorist who claims to talk regularly on the phone with Trump. Among other things, Jones believes that gay marriage is a conspiracy “to get rid of God,” and that “the government possesses weather weapons it can use to create artificial tornadoes.” According to Medick, “there is no subject on which Jones does not have his own version of the truth to offer, one supported by no facts whatsoever.”
CNN has confirmed that they will attend this year’s White House Correspondents’ Dinner. The news organization will bring journalism students as their guests instead of celebrities. In a statement, CNN said, “We feel there is no better way to underscore our commitment to the health and longevity of a free press than to celebrate its future."
Tonight at Symphony Space, authors and actors pay tribute to Clarice Lispector.
