Weekly Round-Up: Howard Zinn, WALDEN, and Stephen King

From a book-banning bill to Stephen King’s new collaboration, here’s the latest literary news:

• A bill has been introduced to the Arkansas state legislature that seeks to bar books authored by late historian Howard Zinn from being assigned in public schools. Best known for his 1980 book A People’s History of the United States, Zinn analyzed American history from the perspective of “the people who have been overlooked in the traditional history books.” In response to the bill, the Zinn Education Project plans to donate copies of A People’s History to Arkansas teachers.
• Henry David Thoreau’s Walden has been adapted into a video game. USC’s Game Innovation Lab worked over the past ten years to create a game in which the player takes on the role of Thoreau as he survives and finds inspiration in his natural surroundings. Tracy Fullerton, head of the Game Innovation Lab, has made the game, which is still in the alpha stage of development, available for purchase here.
• Stephen King and his son Owen have co-written a new novel to be published later this year. Titled Sleeping Beauties, the book explores what would happen in a world abandoned by women. Though this is the first collaboration for the Kings, it isn’t a debut for Owen, who has previously published three books, a screenplay, and a graphic novel.