… they’re not quite so likely to sell their judgment for $5. The New York Times reports that a sizable number of ‘online reviews’ from book readers / movie patrons / new product owners have been bought and sold. It’s a booming market, let’s give it a thumbs up.

The University of North Texas just made poetry-writing a smidgen more financially rewarding in America. The Rilke Prize comes with $10,000 — for a book of poetry of “exceptional artistry” by a writer who already has at least two books in print.

Today in the roundup: Thea Temple pushes The Writer’s Garret ahead, reviewing Hairspray and the Bard on the go.

Today in the roundup: Steve Nicks helps the troops, Hip Pocket defeats the heat and new operas heading to Santa Fe.

Art&Seek has found events for the kids in the dog days of summer (Zooniversity), events for parents (Merle Haggard and Mayhem, which is actually a festival, not Merle’s intended effect), plus Miami Vice at the Texas Theatre.

Kathryn Stockett’s novel The Help has already entered publishing legends and Hollywood lore. Rejected by 60 publishers, the novel about Jim Crow-era black maids became a bestseller – and now it’s a DreamWorks film release. Along the way, an outsider from Arlington helped The Help, and it may return the favor.

The were children when they suffered a brutal, forced exile — trekking across the Sahara with many dying along the way. They survived a refugee camp in Kenya. Then they came to North Texas. Now four of the famous ‘lost boys of Sudan’ are grown up — and appear in a graphic novel.

The rise of trendy 7th Street in Fort Worth hits some snags, SMU Press is back (kind of), Liz Mikel is looking at Broadway and UNT arts folks will benefit from a wealthy man’s will — all in this roundup.

As a whole, Texas received 14 grants totaling more than $2 millionfrom the $40 million awarded by the National Endowment for the Humanities. In North Texas, we’re looking to develop some oral history around the JFK assassination while putting a lot of historic photo negatives into a cold vault.

First profiled on Art&Seek, author and UNT teacher Miroslav Penkov is now on NPR. His debut book is a bittersweet, slightly magical history of his native Bulgaria, complete with cross thieves, tragic lovers and a young man who buys the corpse of Lenin on eBay.