The parents of Trayvon Martin have signed a book deal with Random House’s One World imprint. Rest in Power: The Enduring Life of Trayvon Martin will be published in January. The book was acquired by Chris Jackson, the editor in chief of One World. “Everyone who's been reading the manuscript is in tears by the second chapter,” Jackson told the Hollywood Reporter. “It's not just about the mournful story about losing a child, but it's also how that moment ignited this global movement.”
For the first time in over a century of publishing, The Arizona Republic is backing a Democrat for president. The paper endorsed Hillary Clinton, writing, “When the president of the United States speaks, the world expects substance. Not a blistering tweet.”
In the New York Times Magazine, Wil S. Hylton profiles Maryland State Attorney Marilyn Mosby, who made headlines first for prosecuting the officers involved in Freddie Gray’s death, and later for dropping the cases against the remaining officers after the first four trials ended in acquittal or a hung jury. Mosby recounts the childhood loss of a cousin to gun violence, growing up in a family of police officers, and losing faith in the justice system after Gray’s death. Although the public supported Mosby’s investition and resulting trials, she felt resistance not only from the police, but from prosecutors in her own office. “I’m trying to reform the system from within,” Mosby said. “Ninety-five percent of the elected prosecutors in this country are white. Seventy-nine percent are white men. As a woman of color, I represent 1 percent of all elected prosecutors in the country.”
How does The Angel of History author Rabih Alameddine deal with writer’s block? Posting pictures of art to Twitter. His twenty-five thousand followers can watch Alameddine’s feed to see how his current works are progressing: “If I post a whole series of Matisse, then I’ve reached a dead end. If I do Monet, I’m going nowhere.”
George R. R. Martin, Stephen King, and J. K. Rowling top the Hollywood Reporter’s list of 2016’s most influential writers. Emma Donoghue, Jeffrey Toobin, and Margaret Atwood earn mentions as well.
After Google used an online collection of eleven thousand free and unpublished books to teach its artificial intelligence network Google Brain “to generate fluent, natural-sounding sentences,” authors were not impressed to learn that a machine was becoming more literate by reading their books. Author Rebecca Forster asked: “Is this any different than someone using one of my books to start a fire?"
