A trailer has been unveiled for The Circle film adaptation.  TIME  reports that the story for this project comes from  Dave Eggers’  2013 science-fiction novel. The video embedded above offers glimpses of  Tom Hanks   as Eamon Bailey  and  Emma Watson   as Mae Holland . The theatrical release date has been set for April 28, 2017. Here’s more from  USA Today : “The Circle’s game changer: SeeChange cameras, glass eyeballs that fit anywhere and transmit real-time footage wirelessly. Mae steps into the SeeChange world and instantly explodes from entry-level employee to being famous worldwide for sharing her life, fears and ambitions with millions of strangers.” (via  Slash Film )  

A librarian in Illinois discovered that Islamophobia is a problem among some people that have come into her public library branch. While gathering materials for a discussion group called “The Quran: Is It a ‘Good Book’?, library director Karen Danczak Lyons said that she found that texts had been defaced with comments such as,  “lies cover to cover,” and a swastika.  The New York Times  has a scoop: The authorities say there has been a spate of hate crimes targeting libraries, their books or patrons — offenses officials said they had rarely seen before. These crimes coincide with  a recent report by the F.B.I. that attacks against American Muslims surged last year.  

Gregg Schigiel  has signed a deal with Image Comics. In the past, he has worked on the SpongeBob comic series. For this new project, Schigiel intends to create a new children’s comic series entitled Pix. The first volume will be released on February 22. Here’s more from the press release: “Pix is a superhero—but she also believes herself to be a fairy and a princess to boot. And if that weren’t enough for one teen to juggle, in PIX, VOL. 1 she’s got attacking electronics, secret crushes, a magic 8-ball monster, cell service issues, a dragon war, a bad date, worried moms, a furtive frog, and a malevolent monkey, all jockeying for her attention.”  

A.J. Jacobs  has lived an incredibly interesting life. To the delight of his readers, he chronicles his experiments in articles for Esquire magazine and in his funny books which include The Know-it-All, The Year of Living Biblically, My Life as an Experiment, and Drop Dead Healthy. Recently, we spoke Jacobs to discuss  the intricacies of writing , the Global Family Reunion event, and all the experiments he has intends to tackle in the near future. Check out the highlights from our interview below… Q: How did you land your first book deal? A:  I wrote an article for a (now-defunct) magazine called The Nose. It wasn’t even an article. It was a silly little chart about the alleged similarities between  Elvis Presley  and  Jesus Christ  (Jesus walked on water in The Sea of Galilee; Elvis surfed in the movie Blue Hawaii — that kind of thing). For some reason, I was deluded enough to think I could stretch it into a short book. So I sent it to a bunch of editors and one ― a wonderful man name

  Journalist   A.J. Jacobs   plans to host a new podcast called Twice Removed. With   this genealogy-themed project , he will attempt to prove that every person on earth is related to one another in some way. Here’s more from the press release: “In each episode of Twice Removed, A.J. and team dive deep into a guest’s family tree. They build a road map down through that tree to the most interesting people and stories. At the end of that road map is a mystery relative.” Some of the guests who have signed on to appear this season include writer  Dan Savage ,  comedian   Abbi Jacobson , and Food Network star  Ted Allen . Through this interviews, a variety of different topics will be explored such as bootleggers, political scandals, and African revolutions. Gimlet will release the first episode on December 13.

  R.L. Stine   and   Marc Brown   have signed a deal with Scholastic. The two legendary children’s books creators intend to collaborate on a picture book entitled Mary McScary. Here’s more from the press release: “Mary spends her days being scary. She scares her mom, her dad, her pets, and even a balloon! But Mary has met her match when her cousin Harry McScary comes to visit. He’s not afraid of anything, until Mary finds a way to give Harry the scare of his life.” Orchard Books, a Scholastic imprint, has set the release date in September 2017. This project marks the second time that Stine and Brown have worked on a book together. Little, Brown Books for Young Readers published  their first book, The Little Shop of Monsters , back in August 2015. < Previous Article Next Article >