So many books, so little coverage . . .

How do we get the word out about the exciting literary and cultural life at Stanford? CYNTHIA HAVEN, the arts and humanities writer at the News Service, has one answer:  She’s launched a Stanford book blog titled  “The Book Haven.” “Given the reduced coverage on books and book news nationwide, it’s only logical that book lovers change the way we cover Stanford’s book world,” Haven said. The blog will not only cover books per se, but will include readings, lectures, book events, publishing news, library events, literacy studies – “anything to do with the written word.” Consider the current offerings: a new writers’ residence, sponsored by the Djerassi Resident Writers Program, to honor the late English Professor DIANE MIDDLEBROOK; a recent reading by award-winning Iranian writer Shahryar Mandanipour; HERANT KATCHADOURIAN, professor of human biology, emeritus, talk about guilt, and his book of the same name; a lecture by the visionary behind the revived Library of Alexandria, Ismail Serageldin. The target audience for the new year, Haven said, is the world at large – but meanwhile, she considers it a holiday present to the Stanford community. Haven also welcomes comments on the various posts, so please join the conversation. And she invites members of the campus community to send book news to her at Cynthia.Haven@stanford.edu. Her only proviso is that the news should not have such a narrow or specialized focus that it would elude a general audience. A subscriber button will be added soon; meanwhile, go to the bottom of the main page, click on (Entries) RSS, then at the top of the page choose an option (for example, Google) to “Subscribe to this feed.”