News & Notes is a weekly Saturday post featuring book- and publishing-related news, links to interesting articles and opinion pieces, and other cool stuff
Bookish News
- Small Press Distribution Shuts Down. SPD was “one of the last remaining independent book distributors in the United States”; its demise leaves many independent publishers without way to get their books into bookstores. In follow-up articles, Publishers Weekly notes that Small Press Distribution Clients Scramble to Find New Distributors and SPD Client Presses Race to Claim Books as Ingram Drops a Tight Deadline. The Washington Post also has a very good article on the stituation, which includes interviews with affected small press owners. (Paywall possible on the WaPost article.)
- Another Bookstore Bomb Threat in Utah (Shelf Awareness) This time, it was at Mosaics in Provo, owned by drag artist Tara Lipsyncki and her husband.
- The Hugo Awards Finalists have been announced. (Glasgow2024.org) Best Novel contenders include books by Shannon Chakraborty, Vajra Chandrasekera, Emily Tesh, John Scalzi, Ann Leckie, and Martha Wells. In the running for best novella are works by He Xi, Nghi Voh, Malka Older, Arkady Martine, Wang Jinkang, and T. Kingfisher. Check out the link to see the finalists in all the other categories, as well as the finalists for the Astounding Award for Best New Writer and the Lodestar Award for Best YA Novel. It’s worth noting here that the Hugo Committee agreed to extend Xiran Jay Zhao’s eligibility for the Astounding Award, at the specific request of Dell, which sponsors the award. Last year, Zhao was declared ineligible (despite receiving enough nominations) due to the then-committee members’ concerns over how China’s potential reaction to her book Iron Widow. It’s too bad that other authors and creators whose works were similarly deemed ineligible (including R. F. Kuang and Neil Gaiman) won’t get a second chance as well.
- Sophie Kinsella revealed she has brain cancer (NBC News)
- Google Is Destroying Your Access to News. Scroll down in the same article for book banning news for this week. (Book Riot)
Worth Reading/Viewing
- Vesuvius Challenge 2023 Grand Prize awarded: we can read the first scroll! “Two thousand years ago, a volcanic eruption buried an ancient library of papyrus scrolls now known as the Herculaneum Papyri. In the 18th century the scrolls were discovered. Hundreds of them are now stored in a library in Naples, Italy; these lumps of carbonized ash cannot be opened without severely damaging them.” But now, thanks to a worldwide competition, a team of researchers has deciphered part of one of the scrolls using hi-res CT scans and machine learning. The result appears to be part of a treatise or essay on Epicurean philosophy, previously unknown.
- Red states threaten librarians with prison — as blue states work to protect them (Washington Post; paywall possible)
- Every Book in the Right Time (Molly Templeton, Reactor) (Thank you to Nicole at Bookwyrm Knits for the link.)
- Once Upon a Time, the World of Picture Books Came to Life, thanks to a new museum of children’s literature in North Kansas City, Missouri. It looks utterly cool, and if we still had a preschool or school-aged picture-book reader in the house, I would be planning a trip already. (New York Times; paywall possible)
- ‘Little Women’ and the Art of Breaking Grammatical Rules (John McWhorter, New York Times; paywall possible)
- ‘You’re covered in wrinkles. You’re no longer interesting’: the books making ageing women visible (Briohny Doyle, The Guardian) One thing I personally really lament, as a 60+ year-old woman, is the dearth of older women as main characters in fantasy, sci-fi, and romance. On the other hand, female MCs aged 45-70 are everywhere in the cozy mystery subgenre, so at least there’s that.
- A new book argues that enslaved people co-authored the Bible (review). The book is God’s Ghostwriters: Enslaved Christians and the Making of the Bible by Candida Moss. In it, the author “argues that apostles and early Christians used enslaved scribes, secretaries and messengers to write [and spread] the New Testament and shape the very foundations of Christianity.” (Donna Ferguson, The Guardian)
- ‘We may lose ability to think critically at all’: the book-summary apps accused of damaging authors’ sales (Vanessa Thorpe, The Guardian)
- Survey finds generative AI proving major threat to the work of translators, although literary translation will likely remain in human hands (and brains) for the foreseeable future. (Ella Creamer, The Guardian)
Book Lists
- SEO WTF: Worst SEO Book Titles (So Far) (Smart Bitches Trashy Books) These are those annoying book titles that contain search-engine-optimized words and phrases. Titles like “KIDNAP a fast-paced, addictive, unputdownable crime mystery with a massive twist (MERROW & CLARK Book 2).” Yep, that’s a real example. These are all over Amazon (and presumably other book retailers), and they annoy the heck out of me. They aren’t titles, they are advertisements. Just let me read the blurb, guys — and don’t clutter up my Kindle with this cr*p.
Bookish Quote
