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Welcome to Today in Books, where we report on literary headlines at the intersection of politics, culture, media, and more.
Crazy Rich Asians Heads to Broadway
Kevin Kwan’s glitzy, gossipy, gloriously fun Crazy Rich Asians is set to become a Broadway musical directed by Jon M. Chu, who also helmed the 2018 film adaptation, and friends, I could not be more excited. The music from the film is excellent—I defy you to watch the wedding scene backed by Kina Grannis’s cover of “Fools Rush In” with dry eyes—and the story lends itself to colorful sets and costumes that should be stunning on stage. Chu is no stranger to musicals (he directed the film adaptation of Lin-Manuel Miranda’s In the Heights as well as the two-part Wicked adaptation coming to the big screen later this year), and he’s got a strong team with playwright Leah Nanako Winkler, Helen Park (who was nominated for a Tony for her score of the KPOP musical), Amanda Green (the first woman to be elected president of the Dramatists Guild of America), and Singaporean songwriter and producer Tat Tong. The confidence index is high on this one.
Taylor Pops Up the Tortured Poets Department
If you’re in L.A. or willing to make a last-minute journey, you still have time to visit Taylor Swift’s Tortured Poets Department pop-up at The Grove. Presented in partnership with Spotify, the set “boasts a letter drop area where fans can share what song they are most looking forward to, and a poet’s study full of books to pose with” just in time for National Poetry Month. Peep exclusive photos at Elle, and tell me: who do you think TayTay’s favorite poets are?
Big Five Unite to Fight Iowa Book Banning Bill
Hachette, HarperCollins, Macmillan, and Simon & Schuster have joined Penguin Random House (one of the original plaintiffs) in a lawsuit against the state of Iowa over SF 496, a law banning books with sexual content—that’s code for: books that acknowledge that sex is a thing and that LGBTQ+ people exist—from Iowa Schools. Sourcebooks has also joined the suit, whose initial plaintiffs include authors Jodi Picoult, John Green, Malinda Lo, and Laurie Halse Anderson. May their efforts succeed.
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