ArtsJournal: Arts, Culture, Ideas

WORDS

2025 Was A Very Tough Year For Libraries. These Are The Top Stories

Federal funding, the freedom to read, perpetual or temporary access to print and digital collections, and AI innovations saw new and unpredictable developments on a weekly basis. - Publishers Weekly

Authors Sue AI Companies Over Copyright (Again)

The group of authors, which includes two-time Pulitzer Prize winner John Carreyrou, are among those who opted out of the proposed $1.5 billion settlement of the lawsuit against Anthropic, announced in September. - Publishers Weekly

Mass Market Paperbacks Are About To Disappear From The US Market

“The decision made this winter by ReaderLink to stop distributing mass market paperback books at the end of 2025 was the latest blow to a format that has seen its popularity decline for years.” - Publishers Weekly

How A Linguist Constructed The Na’vi Language For The “Avatar” Films

Paul Frommer’s initial parameters were that the language had to sound “nice” (director James Cameron’s word), since they are a relatively peaceful race, and that it had to be feasibly easy for actors to learn to pronounce. Beyond those, almost everything — phonetics, grammar, vocabulary — was up to Frommer. - Deutsche Welle

How Audiobooks Infiltrated My Reading Habits

Like many audiobook devotees, I’m sheepish about my conversion, which seems blasphemous for a writer at the Book Review. I wonder whether listening “counts” as reading.  - The New York Times

Death Of The Dictionary?

Like the rest of the analog world, legacy dictionaries have had to adapt or perish. - The New Yorker

What If The Audience Prefers AI-Written Books?

I can write a book for my own reasons, but I can sell the book only if readers like it more than what they can get from, say, a chatbot. If readers prefer A.I.-generated fiction, then authors won’t be able to stop it. - The New Yorker

Popular British Children’s Author Is Dropped By Publisher After Allegations Of Harassment

David Walliams, “one of Britain’s most successful children’s authors, was reportedly the subject of complaints that he had ‘harassed’ junior female staff at HarperCollins UK, prompting the publisher to decide it would no longer release new titles by the author.” - The Guardian (UK)

Why I Stopped Reading Print, And Embraced Audiobooks

“Here’s what I love about listening: I can do it all the time, not just while sitting still. I read … while making my bed, brushing my teeth, unloading the dishwasher, commuting to work, waiting in line, driving and occasionally while falling asleep.” - The New York Times

Romance Fiction Is Booming, And It’s Not Just Because Of Love

“It is possible, with your small candle, to make your way in the darkness. One delight, against all this. The world crumbles, and lipstick sales go up. And so, too, do sales of romantic fiction.” - The Guardian (UK)

Literary Authors Are Writing Romances Under Pseudonyms And Never, Ever Talking About Romance In Public

Gross. "Every type of writing requires specific attention to detail. For people not to take that seriously (and to ask for your help in promoting their work when they don’t do anything to help boost other people’s work) is pretty shitty behavior.” - LitHub

Has The UK Fallen Out Of Love With Non-Fiction?

A recent report from NielsenIQ found that trade nonfiction sales have slipped sharply. In volume terms, the category is down 8.4% between last summer and the same period this year – nearly double the decline in paperback fiction – and down 4.7% in value. - The Guardian

Today’s Challenge For Writers: Don’t Write Like AI

Increasingly, both professional writers and everyone else is facing a new, unwelcome constrained writing challenge: don’t sound like AI. - ArtsHub

Why The Striking Staffers At The British Library Are So Furious

“(Library executives’) stated ‘values’ included a roll call of abstract nouns: openness, honesty, compassion, equality and fairness. Yet staff tell a story of gross mismanagement, woeful pay and an executive board who are completely out of touch with the day-to-day running of the library.” - The Standard (London)

PEN America Lists The Most Banned Books Of The 2020s (So Far)

Many of the titles censored in school districts around the US relate to race, sexual violence or LGBTQ+ issues, but that’s not the case with the top two: John Green’s Looking for Alaska and Jodi Picoult’s Nineteen Minutes. As usual, the list includes classics by Toni Morrison, Margaret Atwood, and Maya Angelou. - Publishers Weekly

Our Free Newsletter

Join our 30,000 subscribers

Latest

Don't Miss

function my_excerpt_length($length){ return 200; } add_filter('excerpt_length', 'my_excerpt_length');