News & Notes is a weekly Saturday post featuring book- and publishing-related news, links to interesting articles and opinion pieces, and other cool stuff.
NOTE on paywalls: Publisher’s Weekly and The Guardian may require you to sign up for a free account in order to read their content.
Bookish News
- Purely AI-generated art can’t get copyright protection, says Copyright Office (The Verge)
- Literary Organizations Release Joint Statement Decrying Anti-Trans Executive Order (Publishers Weekly)
- Publishers, Authors Guild, and More File Lawsuit Against Idaho’s Discriminatory Book Banning Bill (Book Riot)
- “Torrenting from a corporate laptop doesn’t feel right”: Meta emails unsealed. “Meta’s alleged torrenting and seeding of pirated books complicates copyright case.” (Ars Technica)
- Bookshop.org now offers e-books! The catch is that you have to read them in Bookshop’s app (available for iOS and Android) or in a web browser, unless they are sold without DRM, in which case you can download them. Bookshop says they “are working with Kobo to support Kobo devices later this year,” but no, you won’t be able to read them on your Kindle or B&N Nook ereader.
- Neil Gaiman accuser files civil lawsuit alleging rape, sexual assault and human trafficking. And DC Comics pull Neil Gaiman title while Amazon Prime series set to go ahead. (both articles, The Guardian).
Worth Reading/Viewing
- Black Literary Movements (Book Riot) An excellent overview, with plenty of authors to explore during Black History Month.
- Nora Roberts is happily defying genres, 250 books in (AP) In an interview, Nora Roberts talks about her writing, her career, and what genre(s) her books fall under. “My roots are in romance and I have a lot of respect. But I don’t write romance anymore. I do write relationships.” Continuing, she clarifies, “…I write novels. It’s that simple – suspense, thrillers, fantasy.”
- Meet-cute at Mansfield Park: can modern covers turn young readers on to Jane Austen? (The Guardian)
Book lists
- Love-Full: SFF Recs With Polyamory! (Every Book a Doorway) Polyamory isn’t a thing I seek out in romances, though I’m okay with it when well-written. But if you’ve been wanting more polyamorous relationships in your books, here are a bunch of recommendations for novels in which polyamory is either plot-relevant, subtly present, normalized as part of the worldbuilding, or just shows up in the ending. Check the comments, too, because there are more recs there.
- 10 SFF Books To Read During Black History Month (A Dance With Books)
Bookish Quote
Anne - Books of My Heart
I always appreciate your work on these posts.
Anne – Books of My Heart recently posted…Series on Saturday: Jill Shalvis Edition @JillShalvis #SeriesOnSaturday
Lark_Bookwyrm
Thank you, Anne! I keep my eyes open during the week, adding links as I come across them, then do a quick check of my main book news sites on Friday. I don’t always have time to do a News & Notes post, between freelance work and other commitments, but they’re fun to put together when I can.
Nicole @ BookWyrmKnits
Books are definitely doing the hard work of getting me through stuff right now…
Nicole @ BookWyrmKnits recently posted…One More 2025 Reading Challenge—Turtle Recall
Annemieke @ A Dance With Books
Thanks for sharing my post <3
Annemieke @ A Dance With Books recently posted…Books by Black Authors I Still Want to Read | Top Ten Tuesday 468 | Black History Month