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Welcome to Today in Books, our daily round-up of literary headlines at the intersection of politics, culture, media, and more.
Plagiarism Complaint Against WHITE FRAGILITY Author Dismissed
I can’t keep the allegations of plagiarism in academia straight, there have been so many. But the plagiarism complaint against Robin DiAngelo, author of White Fragility, crossed the threshold of big publishing news. The instances cited in the complaint were not against her book, which hit bestseller lists at the height of the Black Lives Matter and George Floyd protests, but against her 2004 doctoral thesis, titled “Whiteness in Racial Dialogue: A Discourse Analysis.” The University of Washington reviewed the complaint and determined the evidence didn’t meet the threshold for plagiarism under the institution’s definition. It isn’t lost on anyone, DiAngelo included, that the recent spate of plagiarism complaints in academia have been largely lodged against Black academics or those connected to DEI work.
Sparkling Vampires in Spaaaaaace
I never watched Twilight nor did I read the books (I know, I missed a whole cultural moment), but I cannot see Robert Pattinson’s name without thinking “sparkly vampire.” He is neither of those things in the adaptation of Mickey7 by Edward Ashton, which follows a man helping to colonize an ice planet. The job is so dangerous that Mickey Barnes has to be reprinted again and again after perishing on the job until it’s complete. Bong Joon Ho is directing and I LOVED Parasite, plus this looks like a fun(?) one, so it’s on my watch list. Check out the trailer here!
2024 Caine Prize Winner Announced
I thoroughly enjoy checking out lists and awards highlighting and celebrating books published in countries that aren’t the U.S. or UK. There’s a whole world of books beyond what I see on the shelves of my local bookshop and go-to online retailers. So I had to check out the winner of this year’s Caine Prize for African Writing, and that honor goes to South African writer Nadia Davids for “Bridling,” which you can read in the Georgia Review if you click that link. I loved what author and Chair of Judges Chika Unigwe had to say about the story and the prize:
“Bridling is an impressive achievement, a triumph of language, storytelling and risk-taking while maintaining a tightly controlled narrative about women who rebel. It embodies the spirit of the Caine Prize, which is to celebrate the richness and diversity of short stories by African writers. That is to say, to challenge the single story of African literature.”
Power-Ranking the Books of 2004
Jeff and Rebecca turn the time-machine dial to “2004” to pick the 10 books from that year that mattered the most.