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Booksellers Are Sounding The Alarm About A Presidential Memorandum

“The presidential security memo issued last year specifically targets what the regime sees as leftist ideas in books, zines, and other publications, which is a major concern for all of us that care about books and freedom of expression.” - LitHub

Rose Tremain Knows Her Generation Of Novelists Is Dying, But She’ll Keep Going As Long As She Can

“Contrary to what publishers hope and expect, serious writers don’t think obsessively about readers, or even about sales, royalties and prizes. What we talk to each other about, what we dream of, what we can’t live without is the work itself.” - The Guardian (UK)

Ashland, Oregon, Is Known For Its Shakespeare Fest, But Now It’s Got A Murder Fest As Well

OK, you could argue that Shakespeare is a murderfest of his own, but “Mystery Fest has given cozy mystery fans a new reason to discover Ashland, attracting readers who might not otherwise have put the city on their travel list.” - Oregon ArtsWatch

Haitian-Canadian Author’s Book Withdrawn From Goncourt Short List Over Accusations Of AI

“As critics sparred with defenders of Mr. Orélien, who is Black, over whether he was targeted because of his race and his book’s treatment of migrants, he was accused of plagiarism in earlier writings, inflaming the controversy.” - The New York Times

A Guy Who Scammed Writers And Publishers For Years Sure Appears To Be Back, If Hidden, Online

“The messages bear the hallmarks of Bernardini’s original scheme: look-alike emails, carefully replicated fonts and signatures, fluency in industry slang and an intimate knowledge of relationships in the book world.” Then there are the poop emojis. - The New York Times

Survey: How Libraries Are Using AI

Respondents were most likely to use AI for enhancing staff productivity (57.7%), supporting student learning (55.8%), and improving content discovery (53.3%). They were less likely to use AI tools for digital preservation (21.3%) or collection management (27.5%). - Publishers Weekly

A Convicted Prolific Publishing Scammer Seems To Be Back In Business

Over more than five years, Bernardini created some 160 fraudulent internet domains, prosecutors argued, and impersonated hundreds of publishing professionals to obtain more than a thousand unpublished manuscripts. - The New York Times

Wikipedia Is 25 Years Old

In 25 years Wikipedia has transformed from a new and provocative innovation to a stalwart of the internet age. That journey reflects persistent anxieties about credibility, expertise, and user-generated content that have continually haunted our relationship with the online.  - History Today

America’s Largest Young-Adult Book Festival Is Adding Adult Programming

YALLFest, held each fall in Charleston, is adding ROMFest, a parallel programming track for actual grownups, focusing on romance novels. Why are they doing this? Because it turns out that the majority of YALLFest attendees are full-fledged adults. - Publishers Weekly

A Bookseller Confronts The AI Company Trying To Buy His Rare Books

Brandon DiSabatino quickly became concerned that Blue Angel might be trying to buy his books for a similar ulterior—and to him, sinister—purpose. In so doing, he joined the ever-expanding crowd of people who the AI rush has forced to constantly reconsider their reality. - Mother Jones

Schools Report Surge In Library Book Checkouts After Cellphone Bans

Students at Pleasure Ridge Park High School are checking out books at a rate librarians say hasn’t been seen before, coinciding with a districtwide cell phone ban that took effect at the start of the 2025 school year. - Aging Untold

Author Of One Of France’s Biggest Hit Novels Of The Year Accused Of Using AI

C'était ça ou mourir (It Was That Or Die) by Thélyson Orélien has sold over 35,000 copies and been hailed in France’s literary mediasphere as a revelation. On Monday, an anonymous X (Twitter) account claimed the AI-spotting software Pangram found that “this novel was written almost entirely by an artificial intelligence.” - Euronews

How AI Is Changing The Art Of Translation

Many literary translators fear that if machine-assisted translation becomes the norm in book publishing, it could fundamentally change the nature of their profession. - Publishers Weekly

The Powers Of Bibliotherapy

Today, bibliotherapy takes many different forms, from literature courses run for prison inmates to reading circles for elderly people suffering from dementia. Sometimes it can simply mean one-on-one or group sessions for “lapsed” readers who want to find their way back to an enjoyment of books.  - The New Yorker

Nova Scotia Closed Libraries. The Backlash Has Been Intense

Persistent provincial underfunding forced the Annapolis Valley Regional Library system to announce plans earlier this year to permanently close five of its ten libraries. Many are tired of—even enraged by—what they perceive as the government’s assault on culture, treaty rights, and the environment.  - The Walrus

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