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WORDS

You’re A Scientist. You’re Describing Your Work. Now You Can’t Use The Words “Diversity,” “Excluded” And…

Among them are terms that Trump and others might dislike, such as diversity, inequities, or multicultural. But there are also words that almost certainly get caught in the dragnet inadvertently, including women and historically. - Fast Company

Strike At New York Magazine Averted As Union And Vox Media Agree On Contract

"The three-year provisional deal, which is still subject to a ratification vote ..., creates guardrails around the publication’s use of AI tools and addresses inflation concerns with wage increases. While the general agreement was reached on Friday, final details were hammered out on the contract over the weekend." - The Hollywood Reporter

The Painfully Self-Conscious World Of The Alt-Fiction World

They’re trying to carve out their own space, away from the prissy bullshit of the mainstream literary world, where they can write something real. They’re enraptured by the surging raw nowness of the internet, and they think literature that tries to rise above that is blinding itself to the way we actually live today. - The Point

Scrappy Melville House Publishes Jack Smith Reports

Founder Dennis Johnson said such “crash publishing” required hard work and help from printers, retailers and more. But the Jack Smith Report, he said, would “launch into a very different book culture than the last time we were in this predicament, in 2016. People are very afraid." - The Guardian

What’s Your Writing Worth To An AI Company?

“They’re trying to establish the idea that the rights to train on books are worth $5,000. You can’t do that by going to the latest bestseller. So you do that by going to the backlist — to people who aren’t collecting royalties — and telling them, ‘Look, would you like some free money?’” - Bloomberg

That Time Hemingway And Ford Madox Ford Started A Paris Literary Journal

“The original name of the magazine was to be the Paris Review. The name was switched because the first serial advertisement was from Compagnie Transatlantique." - LitHub

How Bridget Jones Outlasted The Critics

What happens when Lizzie loses her Darcy: “How will the last cockeyed optimist in popular culture deal with such desolation? Widowhood is no laughing matter, parenting alone even less so.” - The Atlantic

One-Third Of New York Times Subscribers Don’t Subscribe To Its News

"In its full-year results for 2024 The New York Times Company reported ending the year with 10.8 million digital subscribers — an increase of 1.1 million (year-over-year). Of those 10.8 million subscribers, 3.5 million (or 32%) subscribed only to either its Games, Cooking, Wirecutter, Audio or The Athletic products." - Press Gazette (UK)

Digital Subscriptions Will Soon Pay For Entire Newsroom Of Le Monde, Says CEO

"Digital subscriber revenue is expected to cover the costs of Le Monde’s entire editorial staff within the next two years, according to chief executive Louis Dreyfus. The French daily newspaper and online newsbrand ended 2024 with 660,000 subscribers, of which 580,000 were digital." - Press Gazette (UK)

Musk Attacks Wikipedia

Musk’s latest attack—“Defund Wikipedia until balance is restored!” he posted on X last month—coincided with an update to his own Wikipedia page, one that described the Sieg heil–ish arm movement he’d made during an Inauguration Day speech. - The Atlantic

One Of Joan Didion’s Journals Will Be Published This Spring

"Discovered in a filing cabinet next to the American writer’s desk after her death in 2021, Notes to John is addressed to Didion’s husband, John Gregory Dunne, who died in 2003. Its entries begin in December 1999, and recount sessions Didion was having with a psychiatrist at the time." - The Guardian

Deciphering A 1,900-Year-Old True Crime Tale

This papyrus, dating to roughly 130 CE, had been catalogued as written in Nabataean, the language once spoken at Petra. But researcher Hannah Cotton Paltiel determined that it was written in Greek; in fact, it's a prosecutor's notes for a tax fraud and forgery case. - Smithsonian Magazine

Boycotts Aplenty! Giller Prize Cuts Ties With Lead Sponsor Over Protests

The Giller Foundation, which administers Canada's richest fiction prize, said its 20-year relationship with Scotiabank ended Monday. But organizers of the No Arms in the Arts campaign say their boycott of the literary institution will continue. - CBC

The Book Industry Sues State Of Idaho Over Book Banning Law

 The state’s HB 710, enacted last July 1, forbids anyone under 18 from accessing library books that contain “sexual content,” regardless of the work's literary or educational merit. - Publishers Weekly

Giller Prize Ends Relationship With Its Lead Sponsor Following Months Of Protests

"The Giller Prize has parted ways with its lead sponsor Scotiabank more than a year after members of the literary community began protesting the bank's ties to an Israeli arms manufacturer. The Giller Foundation, which administers Canada's richest fiction prize, said its 20-year relationship with Scotiabank ended Monday." - The Canadian Press (MSN)

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