A Literary Giant and Activist is Gone

Welcome to Today in Books, our daily round-up of literary headlines at the intersection of politics, culture, media, and more.

A Literary Giant and Activist is Gone

Ngũgĩ wa Thiong’o has died at the age of 87, leaving behind a legacy of literary greatness as a groundbreaking African writer whose work focused on Kenya from colonial rule to democracy. The author was jailed, he and his loved ones were assaulted, and he self-exiled from Kenya as his accomplishments received widespread attention. He was an advocate of works written in African languages, and even criticized his then-friend and fellow author Chinua Achebe for writing in English. In his last years, he struggled with health complications. Read more about Ngũgĩ wa Thiong’o here, and this piece about decolonizing your bookshelf, inspired by the author’s Decolonising the Mind.

AI Brings Blue Books Back Into Classrooms

I honestly had no idea what a Blue Book was when I started reading this article on surging sales of the books to combat student AI reliance in the classroom, and I’m glad I missed out because their use as tools to demonstrate subject mastery through a sort of pop quiz essay sounds anxiety-inducing. The sales seem to be mostly coming from universities, where there’s a higher bar of expectation and accountability for students to learn the material. It’s troubling to hear about students becoming reliant on AI–there’s a whole podcast about this sitting like a coiled snake in my queue because I am a parent of kids who will be going to school in this AI era–and while it sounds like the in-class essay is a helpful tool, we’ll very likely need more robust systems to ensure students are actually learning because the tech is only going to get more sentient sophisticated and embedded in our lives.

Sir Ian McKellen is Doing Cool Things With Shakespeare

No, he’s not sitting at an exclusive cafeteria table in matching leather jackets with The Bard, but he is opening an all-trans and nonbinary rehearsed reading of one my Shakespearian favorites, Twelfth Night. I really wish I could get to London for this production at The Space Theatre in London on July 25, just ahead of London Trans Pride, but, hey, I’ll take the global livestream. This debut production of Trans What You Will is directed by Phoebe Kemp who says, “Twelfth Night already toys with gender and performance – it feels like Shakespeare wrote it for us. This reading is about joy, solidarity and showing what’s possible when trans and nonbinary artists are at the centre of the story.”

Celebrating 20 Years of AND TANGO MAKES THREE

The beloved banned book And Tango Makes Three is 20 years old! The book saw critical acclaim and scooped up awards when it published so many years ago, even as it placed high on the banned books list because it depicts…a happy gay family. Read Kelly Jensen’s interview with authors Peter Parnell and Justin Richardson “about the book, its legacy, and where and how they continue to find the energy and enthusiasm to continue fighting back against rampant censorship.”