Solange Knowles Launches a Rare Books Library
By Wim Langedijk for HURS
Solange Knowles Launches a Rare Books Library
HUR Reads is our definitive shortlist of the most prominent articles from around the web.
By HURS Team
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Solange Knowles Wants to Lend You a Book
Solange Knowles has expanded her Saint Heron Library from 50 to over 2,000 rare and out-of-print books by writers of color, lending them for free through an honor-based system. Now a scholar in residence at USC, she’s deepening her archival work while debuting Azurest Blue, a research journal on architect Amaza Lee Meredith. Her tactile, mail-order library and nationwide pickup events aim to preserve Black creative history and keep these stories accessible to the communities they serve.
THE NEW YORK TIMES
Tatiana Schlossberg recounts her diagnosis with an aggressive leukemia hours after giving birth, launching eighteen months of chemo, transplants and near-constant hospital stays. She writes about the terror of relapse, the strain on her young family and the devotion of her medical team. With her cousin Robert F. Kennedy Jr. pushing anti-science policies as HHS Secretary, she confronts the irony of relying on treatments his agenda threatens, and the fear that her children may grow up without remembering her.
THE NEW YORKER
In Spain, a centuries-old tradition endures: a long lineage of nuns baking and selling sweets to support their convents. At places like Seville’s 14th-century convents, pastries are still bought through wooden turnstiles, a ritual blending devotion and commerce. Rooted in medieval ora et labora and shaped by history, these confections, from yemas to magdalenas, now attract tourists through TikTok as much as locals. Though many convents face closure and aging communities, the practice remains a cherished, quietly resilient part of Spanish Catholic life.
T MAGAZINE
At Leeds’ Henry Moore Institute, Beyond the Visual showcases blind and partially blind artists, including women like Fayen d’Evie, Hillary Goidell, and Georgina Kleege. The exhibition decentres sight, inviting visitors to touch, listen, and engage with art through multiple senses. Creative audio descriptions and collaborative works reveal how blindness can enrich everyone’s experience, challenging traditional hierarchies and proving that accessibility can drive innovation in UK museums.
FRIEZE
Bella Freud’s new podcast Fashion Neurosis explores how clothes shape who we think we are. Drawing on her own childhood, where fashion was dismissed and bodies were shamed, she explains how seeing others dress boldly became a revelation. Now, in conversations with guests like Nick Cave and Rosalía, she uses clothing as a way to talk about confidence, insecurities and identity. The result is unexpectedly honest, emotional conversations about why what we wear matters more than we admit.