“The Department (of Corrections) first proposed banning incarcerated people from receiving physical books last year in order to tamp down on drugs making their way into prisons. … (The focus will be shifted) to ban ‘misbehaving’ third-parties selling publications laced with drugs to incarcerated people.” - Arkansas Advocate
“This year’s Booker prize shortlist features some very familiar names – previous winners Marlon James and Douglas Stuart ..., along with Pulitzer winner Elizabeth Strout and prominent British speculative fiction writer M John Harrison. Novelist and poet Luke Kennard and debut novelist Rebecca Perry are also in contention for the £50,000 prize.” - The Guardian
When you view the centuries-long history of American librarianship through a Pennsylvania lens, it’s more complex, nuanced and fascinating than many people realize. - The Conversation
More than 40 Ukrainian publishing houses and numerous bookstores have been seriously damaged — and some simply obliterated — in targeted attacks by Russian drones and missiles since the summer began. Over 13 million books — a third of the country’s annual print run — were destroyed in two months. - AP
A court filing unsealed Thursday details internal messages and testimony laying out how OpenAI employees—including executives—talked about the company’s use of pirated books to train an early ChatGPT model, as well as their technology’s potential impact on authors. - The Wall Street Journal
Across categories—fantasy, horror, even coloring books—writers say they’re seeing AI-generated listings crop up on their Amazon author pages. Some of these works are in entirely different genres from their usual work. - The Atlantic
“(The literature-and-human-rights advocacy group) has named Phil Klay as its new president. … Klay's appointment comes after novelist Dinaw Mengestu resigned from his post as president in July following the organization’s report on cultural boycotts and the ‘rising isolation and exclusion’ of Israeli and Jewish writers.” - Publishers Weekly
“Under the scheme, readers accrue points that can be redeemed for a few cents. People will have to log 50 daily reading sessions (of 15 minutes or more) on a government website to earn S$1 (80 cents US). ... One reading session is allowed daily.” - The Guardian
Joseph-Beth Booksellers, which has two locations in metro Cincinnati, is the third independent retail business that B&N has acquired in three years. The chain bought Denver’s Tattered Cover in 2024 and the Bay Area's Books Inc. last year; both companies had filed for bankruptcy. - Publishers Weekly
The criminalization of left-wing literature and those who publish or distribute it, the booksellers said, should also concern mainstream bookstores, which should be able to carry “a broad range of viewpoints without fear of government scrutiny or interference. - Publishers Weekly
As AI-generated writing floods the internet, more people are trying to detect which creators are using such tools to spin up copy. That means writers penning all their own work—and people who acknowledge using chatbots for help—are trying to master something they never worried about before: how to sound human. - The Wall Street Journal
“Under the amended administrative code, books that discuss gender-transition procedures or ‘gender ideology,’ or that ‘promote’ the existence of more than two biological genders, must be removed from youth sections and relocated to sections for adults.” Noncompliant libraries will lose their state funding. - The Advocate
U.S. title output reached roughly four million in 2025, up about 32 percent in a single year, and around 3.5 million of those were self-published titles with ISBNs, up nearly 39 percent on the year before. Self-published books outnumbered traditionally published ones by more than five to one. - Rachel Alterberry
