WORDS

As Anyone With Literary Chops Knows, This Is A Big Deal

Haruki Murakami has a new novel coming out, and the narrator is … what? A woman?! - LitHub

The German Government Really Isn’t Happy About This Guy’s Popular Novella

A fiction author gets a phone call from the government: “Jügler was asked to explain what historical source material he had consulted for Mayfly Season and which period he was planning to tackle in his next book.” - The Guardian (UK)

How Are U.S. Libraries Doing Amid Book Bans And Culture Wars?

It’s rough in these reading streets. “Librarians across the country are fighting to maintain students’ access to books and to keep their jobs amid cuts to library programs and persistent efforts to restrict reading materials.” - Salon

It’s Been A Century Since The Term ‘Scientifiction’ Was Coined

That was for Amazing Stories, a magazine that published Jules Verne, H.G. Wells, and other stories driven both by ideas and some possibly limited characters (who could, however, fill science books with their thoughts). - NPR

As Indie Bookstore Day Gives Stores A Boost, They Talk About Battling Amazon

“There are about 70% more bookstores now than there were six years ago in the United States. After 20 years of declining numbers, they’re coming roaring back.” - Fast Company

no the english language is not like literally goin to pot as we watch lol

While these common gripes point to eccentric speech patterns, they don’t point to grammatical annihilation. English has weathered far worse. … English has lost almost all of the more complex linguistic trappings it was born with to become the language we know and — at least, sometimes — love today.” - The Conversation

After Implosion Of The Adelaide Book Festival, A New Director

Both Newcastle and Adelaide made the decision to invite Abdel-Fattah but only one imploded over it. So what went differently for Rosemarie Milsom? - The Guardian

Does Reading Help?

Books do not create a higher form of conversation but instead allow for a unique ‘fruitful miracle of a communication in the midst of solitude’. Great writers do not reveal to us the admirable depth of their minds: they guide us in cultivating the ability to make sense of words, and things. - Aeon

After Four Decades Out Of Print, Octavia Butler’s “Lost” Novel Is Back

Butler was not happy with her 1978 novel Survivor, and she forbade any reprint of it. But her estate, along with her publisher and agent, agreed that “to deprive readers of the ability to read any of Butler's works would simply be unjust and unfair.” - Los Angeles Times (Yahoo!)

How AI Is Already Changing How People Read

“I believe AI can simultaneously solve the problem of not knowing what to read and the difficulty of maintaining consistent reading habits.” Subscription-based reading platform Millie’s Library is taking things a step further by integrating a conversational AI chatbot into its platform. - Korea Joongang Daily

Book Publishing’s Latest Demographic Category: “New Adult”

“Young Adult” fiction, despite its name, is aimed at teenagers; the "New Adult” category covers actual young adults, 18 to 24 or so. Four of the Big Five US publishers have now launched imprints dedicated to that audience. The subject matter is mostly romance, though publishers hope to expand beyond that. - Publishers Weekly

Algeria’s Leading Author Says He’s Been Sentenced To Prison For His Prize-Winning Novel

Kamel Daoud, who lives in France, said that a court in Oran fined him five million Algerian dinars ($38,000) and sentenced him to three years' imprisonment because his novel Houris, which won the Prix Goncourt in 2024, makes public mention — a crime under current Algerian law — of the country’s 1992-2002 civil war. - AP

“A River Runs Through It” At 50

“In getting to its exalted place, the book had to navigate a tricky set of rapids. Though it sailed through them, a question lingers. ... Would a book like this, with its regional setting and its male and outdoorsy focus, face different challenges in today’s publishing world?” - The New York Times

Book Slop By Any Other Name (Or “Blake Whiting”)

Using AI tools and a pseudonym, unknown culprits are now profiting from my work and that of my colleagues. Worse, they are limiting what we can write about in the future. What publisher wants to publish a second book on an archaeological discovery, no matter how significant? - The American Scholar

How Books Reinforced A Colonialist Mindset

The book became a dominant symbol of the age of development through the efforts of the new international institutions, and the United Nations Education Scientific and Cultural Organization (UNESCO), in particular. - The Conversation

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