Because the process is as simple as it is stultifying, memorizing a poem always begins as a crime. The tedium of repetition reduces the hewn gemstone to a pile of gravel in which only the occasional dull agate stands out. But as you run your hands through the rock, the lines come together again. - Washington Post
“Get invested enough in Connections, and its easy to feel like Liu holds a weird sway over your life, as a chosen one who’s been endowed with the power to make or destroy thousands of people’s days in one fell swoop.” - Slate
At Baldwin & Co in New Orleans, the founder believes "his independent bookstore sells more books by Baldwin than any other, anywhere. ‘They're our No. 1 seller,’ he said. ‘Every single week, we have recurring orders. Every single week, we are ordering large shipments of James Baldwin books.’” - LitHub
Sure seems like it. But “the meteoric rise of African publishing is one of the most remarkable stories of the last 25 years. If you want to capture how the 21st century has reinvented what it means to read, write, and publish, go to African literature.” - LitHub
And he wrote nothing about it. He didn’t add it to “the book's 2011 update — even after Munro herself sat down with him, asked him to turn off the tape recorder and spoke to him about what happened. He said he viewed the situation ‘as a private family matter.’” - CBC
"Vivendi has updated its plans to separate into … three new companies. One of these would be newly named company, Louis Hachette Group, which includes Vivendi’s 63.5% majority stake in Lagardère, the parent company of Hachette Livre, and 100% ownership of Prisma Media, which is primarily a magazine publisher." - Publishers Weekly
"According to school records, only about 50 books were checked out by students during the 2023 fall semester. In response, the administration has decided to take a different approach, rebranding the library as a student union — a communal space for students to interact and complete school work." - The Nation
The study, commissioned by the charity the Reading Agency, saw 15% of adults reporting that they have never been regular readers, and 35% saying that they are lapsed readers, meaning that they used to read regularly for pleasure, but rarely or never do now. - The Guardian
The pigments used in bookbinding cloth in the 19th century gave book covers some vibrant colors — hues attained with lead (blue), chromium (yellow), mercury (red), and, most poisonous of all, arsenic (green), which flakes off onto your hands. And yes, this attracts some purchasers. - The Washington Post (MSN)
Though book bans have been a familiar tactic in culture wars, today we’re witnessing an attack on libraries themselves as social institutions. There’s a reason for this escalation. - Washington Post
In the first half of 2024, print sales of middle reader books, intended for children ages 9 to 12, dropped by 5 percent from the same period the previous year, or 1.8 million fewer units sold, deepening a dip in the market for children’s books that’s held since 2022. - The New York Times
The Romance Writers of America has seen its membership, once more than 10,000, fall by 80% over the past five years, and the organization has filed for bankruptcy. The decline comes after a long series of conflicts, misunderstandings and missteps concerning diversity and discrimination. - The New York Times
The publishing industry is suffering from a damaging gender imbalance. According to a recent UK publishers’ survey, 83 per cent of marketing, 92 per cent of publicity and 78 per cent of editorial staff in Britain’s publishing industry are female. - The Critic
