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
- ALA Reports Strong Attendance at 2019 Annual Conference. The article also covers highlights and major issues from the conference. (Publishers Weekly)
- ALA Votes to Strip Melvil Dewey’s Name From Its Top Honor, citing the influential librarian’s history of sexual harrassment, racism, and anti-Semitism. Although Dewey championed the admission of women to graduate programs in librarianship, he also preyed on female students and librarians. More than a few women came forward with stories of harrassment in the early 20th century (at a time when speaking out meant risking one’s career and reputation); Dewey was even “kicked out of the profession’s most prestigious association” after an industry cruise. [source: Erin Blakemore, History.com] As to his views on race, the resort owned by Dewey and his wife refused entry to African Americans, Jews, and other minorities, even after he was censured by the NY State Board of Regents. (Publishers Weekly)
- Booksellers Challenge Leadership at ABA Children’s Institute Town Hall (Publishers Weekly)
Literary Losses
Judith Krantz was a hugely successful, best-selling author of glitzy, “sex-and-shopping” novels set among the rich, though her heroines were often poor to begin with. (The “sex-and-shopping” descriptor comes from her 2001 memoir Sex and Shopping: The Confessions of a Nice Jewish Girl.) Popular in the 1980s and ’90s, Krantz’s ten novels sold over 80 million copies and were published in over 50 languages.
Krantz worked for 30 years as a fashion editor and journalist—among other articles, she wrote “The Myth of the Multiple Orgasm” for Cosmopolitan magazine—before publishing her first novel, Scruples, in 1978. Princess Daisy came next, followed by a string of other bestsellers. Several also became television miniseries produced by her husband, Stephen Krantz.
Ms. Krantz died on Saturday, June 22, 2019, of natural causes. She was 91.
Obituaries & tributes: CNN; The Guardian; Los Angeles Times; and a tribute by Jennifer Weiner in Time
Bibliography & Biography: Goodreads; Wikipedia
Worth Reading/Viewing
- How Underrepresentation Affects Racial Narratives and American Kids (Christine Ro, Book Riot) Well-written and well-thought-out examination of racism and unconscious bias in children’s media and in education, and the effects it has on kids.
- Torn apart: the vicious war over young adult books. (Leo Benedictus, The Guardian) Read the whole article, because there’s a lot of nuance to this story.
- Rinse, read, repeat. In Durham, laundromats are becoming libraries (The News & Observer) A brilliant idea, and one that is clearly working.
- Librarians Are Secretly The Funniest People Alive (ElectricLit) pulls together some of the best music videos by librarians, from “All About Them Books” to “Librarian Rhapsody.” Have fun!
- ‘Highly concerning’: picture books bias worsens as female [and minority] characters stay silent (The Guardian)
- ‘There’s no safety net’: the plight of the midlist author (Alison Flood, The Guardian)
- Over 40 and loving it: let’s celebrate fiction with positive older [female] characters (The Guardian) Amen to that.
Book & Movie Announcements
Are you excited for Erin Morgenstern’s new book, The Starless Sea? If it’s as good as The Night Circus (or even close), I can’t wait!
Bookish Quote
That’s it for this week!
Rita @ View From the Books
Love your shared pic, above, lol!
Onto the YA Critics War. This article was so depressing to me and I just want to share my thoughts. I can understand both sides, really. As a liberal I support proper representation of those considered minority or inferior in this culture. On the other hand… censorship! Ugh, I guess my final take on it would be as long as it is fiction, stories do not have to be written accurately about a certain era, selected representation of a certain class of people, or even a religion. I wouldn’t be interested in such books, but remember folks– it’s fiction, it’s made up (!), it’s the work of one individual’s imagination. I will always support a person’s free choice of writing, as well as a person’s free choice of reading. We can’t lose sight of that basic mantra in the whirlpool of political correctness.
Lark
Love that quote! 🙂
Nicole
LOL @ that last quote. 😀
The plight of the midlist author thing is rather scary. Especially for an aspiring author. Still… it’s scary but it doesn’t change the dream.
Nicole recently posted…Sunday Shuffle ~ the Playlist Book Tag edition
Lark_Bookwyrm
It is dismaying. But no, it hasn’t dissuaded Robin, either—and I wouldn’t want it to. I think some writers are just compelled to write; they want to be published, and will work toward it, but they’re going to write regardless. Still, a day job is a good thing to have.
Nicole
A day job is a great thing to have. It makes writing time harder to come by (I’m hoping I can maybe make a part-time day job work financially) but a day job is a wonderful safety net to have.
Nicole recently posted…The Identity Crisis Book Tag
Lark_Bookwyrm
Yes. Particularly if one is on one’s own. Having a life partner who can extend their health insurance to you, and make sure that at least the basics of food and shelter are handled, makes it easier, but most writers don’t have that when they’re starting out, and some never do. And even established writers can have their circumstances change unexpectedly, and find themselves needing, for one reason or another, the security or health insurance a day job provides. I wish you success, both with your writing and your job situation!