1. It was the centenary of the American novelist James Baldwin’s birth last Friday. Here’s three pieces celebrating his life and work:

a) a New York Times piece, From Harlem to Selma to Paris, James Baldwin’s Life in Pictures https://tinyurl.com/2p9vcvst

b) this week’s episode of the Radio 4 series, Words & Music, celebrating Baldwin https://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/m0021jtz

c) Free-to-read for this week only, The Paris Review’s ‘Art of Fiction’ interview with Baldwin from 1984 https://www.theparisreview.org/interviews/2994/the-art-of-fiction-no-78-james-baldwin

2. English-medium education and gender equality is a new report by the UK Open University for the British Council which investigates the impact of English-medium education (EME) on gender equality at secondary school https://www.teachingenglish.org.uk/publications/case-studies-insights-and-research/english-medium-education-and-gender-equality

Girls’ education is a global development priority and part of the United Nations’ Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs). The EMEGen project explored the impact of the rapid rise of English as a Medium of Education on gender equality in low- and middle-income countries. The research found that girls, particularly those from poorer families and minority communities, are significantly underrepresented in English-medium education at secondary level compared to boys. English-medium polices thus create gender- and class-based educational inequalities. While English-medium education is not inherently superior to local-medium education, girls’ comparatively lesser access to it can limit their opportunities and restrict their onwards educational and professional options, many of which require English.

“While English-medium education is not inherently superior to local-medium education” seems to put things very gently, it seems to me!

PDFs of the report itself, the usefully brief (!) policy brief, and the accompanying set of Open Educational Resources below. There’s also a good short video on the project here https://youtu.be/UAKRR9G3oaE

You can find the OU project website here https://wels.open.ac.uk/research/projects/emegen

3. I mentioned the Silent Way about a month ago. Here’s a short video interview with expert Silent Way practitioner Luisa Piemontese https://youtu.be/YWSLtlwZ5X8

4. Here’s (at least) everything you need to know about this year’s Booker Prize longlist https://thebookerprizes.com/the-booker-library/features/13-things-you-need-to-know-about-the-booker-prize-2024-longlist Links to each of the individual books at the top of the page, plus lots of other links to lead you astray throughout the piece. Plus, an extract from each book on the longlist here https://thebookerprizes.com/the-booker-library/features/read-extracts-from-the-booker-prize-2024-longlist

5. And, finally, from the Cocoa Runners blog, Wake up and smell the cocoa! https://cocoarunners.com/site-news/wake-up-and-smell-the-cocoa/