News & Notes – 5/02/2026

May 2, 2026 Lark_Bookwyrm News & Notes 0

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. Both The New York Times and the Washington Post have paywalls, but allow a small number of free articles per month.

Bookish News

The Book News Isn’t All Bad. Lots of good news from the book world, curated by Molly Templeton for Reactor.
Lost copy of seventh-century poem in Old English discovered at Rome library (The Guardian)
Lawmakers Tweak School and Library Policies to Allow for Nuance (Publishers Weekly)
Audible Updates Royalty Plan for ACX Authors (Publishers Weekly)
New Report Weighs Pros and Cons of AI in the book industry. (Publishers Weekly)
Hachette Responds to Employee Union Bid (Publishers Weekly)

Worth Reading/Viewing

Will AI end anonymity? I tested it. “Artificial intelligence can echolocate authors through their prose. Your digital fingerprint is at risk.” (Megan McArdle, Washington Post) Claude Opus 4.7 was able to identify a number of samples as having been written by McArdle—even unpublished ones. For those of us with blogs, that’s an unnerving thought.
How Library of America Helped Shape the Modern American Literary Canon (Max Rudin, Literary Hub)
Reading and Recovery. SBTB contributer Lara on reading as escape, and how reading Regency romance helped her deal with a difficult health diagnosis.
‘Relentless’ focus on literacy undermines reading for pleasure [in children], says report (The Guardian) But there are positive signs, and there are things parents can do to foster a love of books and reading—reading aloud to children is key.
Whining About Publishing Since 139 AD (Anne Trubek, Notes From a Small Press) On authors, books, and publishing in Ancient Rome, with links to sources.
Books as Luxury Items (Sarah at Smart Bitches Trashy Books)
Are Shakespeare’s Commas Really That Important? Daniel Hahn on different translations of Shakespeare. (Literary Hub)