News & Notes is a weekly Saturday post featuring book- and publishing-related news, links to interesting articles and opinion pieces, and other cool stuff
Book News
- Happy birthday to Beverly Cleary, who turned 103 on April 12! (Upworthy)
- Booksellers Announce First Annual Romance Bookstore Day to take place on August 17, 2019. So far, about 30 bookstores are involved, but the organizers hope more bookstores will join. (Publishers Weekly)
Worth Reading/Viewing
- Fifty shades of white: the long fight against racism in romance novels (Lois Beckett, The Guardian) This is a long, informative and thoughtful piece, and really worth the time to read.
- The Copyright Lawsuit. What was THAT about?! is a textbook on how to avoid copyright infringement when using images, and a cautionary tale of what can happen when you use someone’s image without a license, even unwittingly. (Jenny, on the Trout Nation blog. Thank you to Caffeinated Reviewer for the link.)
- ‘It is a religion’: how the world went mad for Moomins (Lisa Allardice, The Guardian) If, like me, you never encountered the Moomins as a child and are wondering what’s behind their popularity, this article serves as a good introduction. And if you’re a lifelong fan, the background and insight into author Tove Jansson’s life will prove illuminating.
- When 80 Famous Authors Published Their First (and Last) Books looks at the longevity of a number of famous authors’ careers. Did you know that Jane Austen published all of her novels in six short years? Or that despite how long Agatha Christie’s literary career was, at least 7 famous writers surpassed it? (Literary Hub)
Free Books
- The SYNC Summer 2019 List is out! SYNC is a program of AudioFile in partnership with a number of audiobook recording companies. They offer free downloads of audiobooks for YA listeners–but you don’t have to be in the YA age group to sign up. (You do have to download Overdrive.) Titles range from recent novels to classic plays to nonfiction. This summer’s titles include Akata Witch (Nnedi Okorafor), All the Crooked Saints (Maggie Steifvater), Becoming Kareem (Kareem Abdul-Jabbar), “The Canterville Ghost” (Oscar Wilde), Gulp (Mary Roach), Swing (Kwame Alexander with Mary Rand Hess), Othello (Shakespeare), An Enemy of the People (Ibsen), and a whole bunch more.
Awesome Lists
- 10 Quotes from Ramona the Pest to Celebrate Beverly Cleary’s 103rd Birthday (Book Riot)
- 10 Ways to Support Your Library (Bookish)
Bookish Quote
That’s it for this week!
RO
Stephen King is such a brilliant man, and love that meme. How cool for bookstores to recognize romance novels for one special day! Thanks for the reminder of the Copyright Lawsuit. 103 years young is quite a milestone! Hugs and Happy Sunday! RO
RO recently posted…FRIDAY USELESS STUFF
Lark_Bookwyrm
Have a great week, RO, and thanks for stopping by!