In response to complaints, Facebook has suspended New York magazine art critic Jerry Saltz. Saltz has 55,000 followers (on Twitter and Instagram, he has more than 150,000) and frequently publishes what you might call “provocative” pictures and posts to his feed. One of the more recent pieces that he wrote that gained him a lot of attention was an article complaining about the conservatism of the art world, illustrated by images of penises, martyrdom, and defecation. He wrote, in response to Facebook’s move: “To all the purity police who complained that my medieval and ancient pics were ‘sexist,’ ‘abusive,’ and ‘misogynist’: congratulations!! You got me axed from Facebook. You pay in blood, but not your own. xxo.”
Andrew Solomon has been named president of the PEN American Center. He’s the author of The Noonday Demon: An Atlas of Depression, and Far From the Tree, about the families of children affected by cognitive, physical or psychological disabilities.
The New York Post is launching a comedy site, Internet Action Force, that features short (supposedly funny) videos about stuff in the news.
Guardian and Observer staff have voted for Katharine Viner, the current editor in chief of the US Guardian, to succeed Alan Rusbridger, the current editor in chief of the entire operation, after he steps down. The vote will make sure that Viner is on a short list of three candidates being considered for the position. (The Guardian is the one of the only papers that allows employees to help determine who will be in charge.)
Finalists for the LA Times Book Prize have been announced. The fiction list includes Donald Antrim, Jenny Offill, Jesse Ball, Helen Oyeyemi, Eimear McBride, and Diane Cook, among others.