News & Notes – 1/25/2020

January 25, 2020 Lark_Bookwyrm News & Notes 1

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

Courtney Milan sent RWA a letter formally ” offering to settle all claims it holds against [her] in exchange for complete transparency.” It’s brilliant. (As you read it, bear in mind that she’s a lawyer who clerked for Justice Anthony Kennedy. She knows her legal ground.)
RWA didn’t register the “romancewritersofamerica” domain, so someone did this. Satire at its most pointed.
Dreamspinner Press Restructures as Authors Cry Foul for nonpayment of royalties. And RWA did almost nothing to advocate for them. (Publishers Weekly)
ALA Names Tracie D. Hall Executive Director (Publishers Weekly)
In 2019, more Americans went to the library than to the movies. Yes, really. (Literary Hub)

Worth Reading/Viewing

Inside the Spectacular Implosion at the Romance Writers of America (Kelly Faircloth, Jezebel, 1/15/2020) Faircloth’s article explores and contextualizes the current RWA crisis and the factors that led to it, not only during 2019 but throughout the organization’s and the genre’s history. I highly recommend it.
An Open Letter to Stephen King on diversity and quality in art. (Katie McLain, Book Riot)
As a black romance writer, I knew Meghan and Harry would flee British racism (Alyssa Cole, Washington Post) AlyssaCole, a black author of romance and historical fiction, talks not only about Meghan and Harry’s decision to step back from their position and duties as senior royals, but also, briefly but pointedly, about authors of color and RWA’s implosion. I don’t usually link to the Washington Post because of their paywall, but if you haven’t used up your available articles this month, it’s really worth reading.
Publishers defend American Dirt as claims of cultural appropriation grow (Allison Flood, The Guardian)
How Reading Sir Terry Pratchett Helped Me Through My Depression (Caitlin Hobbs, Book Riot) TW: mention of suicide attempts.
Why I Just Can’t Quit Doing the Yearly Goodreads Challenge (Jaime Herndon, Book Riot) Some cogent thoughts on competitiveness, motherhood, reading, and the pros of the Goodreads Reading Challenge
In N.K. Jemisin’s Next Trilogy, the City Is On Fire ( Sona Charaipotra, Publishers Weekly) In an interview, Jemison talks about New York, diversity, Lovecraft, her own work, and racism in SFF.
Pondering the State of ~~Digital~~ Publishing (Thad McIlroy, Publishers Weekly) (strikethrough mine) Weirdly interspersed with thoughts on the author’s train journey from Vancouver to Toronto are some hard facts and opinions on the publishing world in 2019, digital and otherwise.