Since her debut novel, Girl in Translation (which was translated into 16 languages), Jean Kwok has earned the coveted status of international bestselling author. Her newest work, Searching for Sylvie Lee, is a Today Show Book Club pick and earned Jean another spot on the New York Times bestseller list. It comes with a list of encomiums as long as a kite string: O Magazine, Buzzfeed, the Washington Post, CNN, Time, Newsweek, and more. Language plays a key role in all of Jean’s fiction, and together with reading, it has been central to Jean’s own [...]

YES, say four researchers from universities in China, Thailand and Italy. More precisely, the study they conducted on Chinese university students in the throes of learning beginner-level English showed that the students who studied while pedaling stationary bikes did significantly better than their counterparts who studied while merely stationary, sitting at their desks. Wheel of linguistic fortune What’s more, the researchers reported, “effects were present even when tested after a month.” Along the lines of the adage about how you never forget how to ride a bike once you learn, the “bicycling bilinguals” of the study [...]

While American children are busy unloading their haul from a night of trick-or-treating, Mexican children—and their parents—are spending the day making sweet offerings and celebrations in honor of their dead. Día de los Muertos, or Day of the Dead, is an important holiday in Mexico, and one that other Latino countries and communities (including some in the U.S.) also celebrate. UNESCO has added the commemoration to its list of Intangible Cultural Heritage. A mezcla of indigenous and Christian beliefs The Día’s history is a mezcla, or mix, of Aztec ritual and Catholic observance, the latter courtesy [...]