Latest news with #WaterforElephants
Axios
09-05-2025
- Entertainment
- Axios
Utah bans more books from schools — including bestseller "Water for Elephants"
Utah has banned two more women-authored books from public schools statewide. The latest: The state Board of Education this week added Sara Gruen's bestselling 2006 novel "Water for Elephants" to a list of 18 titles forbidden in public schools. In March, the board banned "Tricks" by Ellen Hopkins — the author's third book to appear on the state's list of "objective sensitive materials." By the numbers: Utah has banned 18 titles from schools since state lawmakers in 2024 ordered schools to remove any book or other content if at least three districts deem it to be inappropriate. 16 of those books were written by women. How it works: Per guidance drafted by the state board of education, districts forward complaints of "sensitive materials" to a committee where parents outnumber educators, to determine whether the content should be restricted. To decide what counts as "sensitive material," districts use criminal statutes that define "pornographic," "indecent" or "harmful" material for children. Those laws allow for content with "serious literary, artistic, political, or scientific value for minors," taking into account the children's ages. But the book-banning law requires districts to "prioritize protecting children from the harmful effects of illicit pornography over other considerations" as they decide which books to forbid. Zoom in: "Water for Elephants" was targeted by Davis, Tooele and Cache school districts. "Tricks" was flagged by Davis, Tooele and Washington districts. The intrigue: Davis School District — which briefly banned the Bible in 2023 — has been one of the contributing districts for all 18 banned books. "Water for Elephants" chronicles the memories of a fictional veterinarian who works for a traveling circus during the Great Depression. It was a No. 1 New York Times bestseller. A 2011 film adaptation starred Reese Witherspoon and Robert Pattinson, and a Tony-nominated stage musical opened on Broadway last year. Zoom out: It's not the only Utah-banned book to get Hollywood treatment. Judy Blume's "Forever" inspired an 8-episode Netflix series that launched this week. The 1975 novel, which describes a teen couple's "first time," was considered controversial by late 20th-century standards. Catch up quick: The state has banned four books from schools so far this year. "Like a Love Story" by Abdi Nazemian was listed among "The 100 Best YA Novels of All Time" by Time Magazine in 2021, along with "Forever." "Damsel" is the second book by Elana K. Arnold to be banned in schools. Both books were added to the "sensitive materials" list in January. Here are the other books on the list:
Yahoo
03-04-2025
- Entertainment
- Yahoo
NaNoWriMo closes: How scandals rocked a novel writing community
This week, NaNoWriMo announced that it was officially shutting down. National Novel Writing Month, shortened to 'NaNoWriMo', was a US non-profit organisation that encouraged people to try and write a 50,000-word novel every November. NaNoWriMo director Kilby Blades announced the closure of the company via a 27-minute YouTube video posted yesterday. She explained that it was the result of financial issues with the company and the various reputation-damaging controversies. Related French-Algerian writer Boualem Sansal given five year prison sentence Women's Prize for Non-Fiction 2025: Neneh Cherry, Yuan Yang, and Rachel Clarke in shortlist Started in 1999 with just 21 participants, NaNoWriMo grew in popularity as people tried to collectively keep up with its daily word-count writing goals. In 2006 it became a non-profit company and for its 2022 edition, 413,295 participated. Based around using the dreary weather of November as an excuse for wannabe writers to sit down and finally pen their novel, NaNoWriMo has participants write an average of 1,667 words a day. It didn't need to be high-quality writing, you just had to meet the word count. If you did, by the end of November you'd have a 50,000-word draft in your hands. Then, hopefully you'd also have the mettle to turn that into something more polished. As the community grew, so did the organisation's goals. NaNoWriMo created a young writers programme, an in-person writing camp, and paperback copies of finished scripts. It even boasted the genesis of some successful novels such as Sara Gruen's "Water for Elephants". But alongside the successes, trouble also brewed. A huge number of its users dropped the organisation in 2023 when it faced scandal as multiple users complained NaNoWriMo hadn't acted to remove a moderator accused of grooming children on another site. This wasn't helped by many writers already choosing to shun the organisation over their recent stance on AI, claiming it could be a helpful tool in creative writing. Defending their pro-AI stance, NaNoWriMo argued that 'not all brains have same abilities', an argument many found ableist and patronising. Due to these scandals, it became increasingly difficult to run the finances of the non-profit. "We recognize that the closure of NaNoWriMo represents a huge loss to the writing community, and that grief over this outcome will be exacerbated by the challenges of the past sixteen months,' Blades explained. 'This is not the ending that anybody wanted or planned. And – believe us – if we could hit the delete button and rewrite this last chapter, we would. But we do have hope for the epilogue.' Although this is the formal end of NaNoWriMo, its goal of getting people to use November as a chance to write is still available for anyone who wants to give it a try.
Axios
13-03-2025
- Entertainment
- Axios
Mark your calendars: Broadway lineup
Walton Arts Center's next Broadway season lineup for this fall through spring 2026 is here. How it works: A subscription starting at $350 covers tickets for the regular six-show lineup and gets you first dibs on tickets for the additional five bonus shows. Single tickets for all shows will be available later. The regular series includes: A Beautiful Noise: The Neil Diamond Musical — Oct. 14-19 "Kimberly Akimbo" — Dec. 9-14 "Water for Elephants" — Feb. 24-March 1, 2026 "Some Like it Hot" — March 17-22, 2026 "Mamma Mia!" — April 21-26, 2026 "& Juliet" — May 26-31, 2026 Plus: Bonus shows "Clue" — Nov. 7-9 "Mrs. Doubtfire" — Dec. 19-21 "The Music Man"— Jan. 16-18, 2026 "Beauty and the Beast" — Feb. 3-8, 2026 "Moulin Rouge! The Musical" — July 8-12, 2026
