WORDS

Those who love books in this rough time should probably do a little more to keep the literary community going. For instance: “Give yourself permission to enjoy things. And remember that being earnest is best.” - LitHub

831 Books truly, deeply understands its audience (you know, the audience whose dollars fund all other publishing?). “You love holding a book that almost feels like an accessory, like a fashion piece and statement.” - NPR

“Fyodor Dostoevsky — rigorous dialectician and grand inquisitor into the human soul — is having a moment. The American ‘new right’ has enlisted the Russian author in the debate over ‘cancel culture’; simultaneously, his lesser-known works are receiving unprecedented attention among Gen Z, thanks, in no small part, to TikTok.” - Prospect (UK)

“Now, with more than 10,000 regularly working narrators, audiobooks are at the height of diversity casting, but the product can no longer be for the ear and the imagination alone. The actor’s appearance, personal information, social media and politics are also in play.” - Los Angeles Times (Yahoo!)

The goal is to drive down demand for short-term e-book contracts and force publishers to offer e-books to libraries on better terms. - Harvard Crimson

The 12th edition of Merriam-Webster’s Collegiate Dictionary comes 22 years after the book’s last hard-copy update. To make room for the new words (including “hard pass,” “beast mode,” and “adulting”), publishers removed sections which listed and defined places (“Kalamazoo”) and people (“Rimsky-Korsakov”) which people no longer use dictionaries to find. - AP

The shortlist includes Indian-born author Kiran Desai, 19 years after she won the prize, as well as past nominees Andrew Miller and David Szalay. A trio of US writers - Susan Choi, Katie Kitamura and Ben Markovits - will also be up for the prize when the winner is announced in November. - BBC

Humans do not think or speak in sentences; we think and speak in thoughts, which interrupt and introduce and complicate one another in a neat little dance that creates larger, more complex ideas.  - The New York Times Magazine

The finalists include three American authors, two Britons, and one Indian, Desai, who won the prize in 2006. - The Guardian

A large majority of shareholders voted to reject a bid by notorious newspaper destroyer Alden Global Capital in favor of a somewhat lower (but still favorable) bid by the Hearst Corporation, whose Texas holdings already include the major dailies in Houston, San Antonio, and Austin. - Nieman Lab

He made the perhaps-foolhardy decision to ask his first patron for her opinion. That patron was Gertrude Stein. She did not hold back. - Artnet

Across the US, parents, educators, and community groups are trying AI-powered tutors that listen as children read, correct mistakes in real time and adapt lessons to each student’s reading level — though questions remain about the risks of using AI and whether it can actually improve literacy skills. - CNN

“A panel of five judges … will assess 15,000 words of a novel in progress, and both winner and runner-up will receive not only money, but mentoring from Mantel’s literary agency, AM Heath; the publishing house John Murray; and the creative writing charity Arvon.” - The Guardian

The major imprints have been churning out a robust collection of books (more than 20 this year, by my count) that explain, extol, deride, fictionalize, and occasionally incorporate AI. - The Atlantic

“It can be a very difficult thing to spend years and years working on a project only to be faced with a barrage of awards announcements and nomination requirements and social media posts about longlists and shortlists.” - LitHub