Is this the same Britain that ruthlessly cut libraries in underserved areas all across the country? The report "recommends that the government should 'support the development of a network of hubs providing cultural spaces, workspaces and free, fast internet access.'" - The Guardian (UK)
She is the thirteenth woman to win in the prize's 120-year-old history. "The prize is worth just €10 but guarantees renown and massive book sales. Most winners prefer to frame rather than cash their Goncourt cheque." - The Guardian (UK)
"Giraud, 56, a French writer of novels and short stories, was declared winner ... after the jury voted 14 times. After a final vote ended in stalemate, the president of the Goncourt Academy cast a deciding vote, choosing Giraud over her closest rival, Giuliano da Empoli." - The Guardian
"Young people with no personal memories of a time when the Irish language was championed as a form of resistance by republican IRA inmates on hunger strike ... are the driving force behind a cultural revival that has breathed new life into a language long in decline." - The New European
"'Swearing produces effects that are not observed with other forms of language use. Thus, swearing is powerful,' a group of scientists from universities in the UK determined. 'It generates a range of distinctive outcomes: physiological, cognitive, emotional, pain-relieving, interactional and rhetorical.'" - New York Post
One ongoing effort to pin down the instable entity that is translation involves finding metaphors or analogies for it. This epistemological parlor game has resulted in a list that is long and still growing. The examples are instructive even if limited. - Hudson Review
That word, chosen by Collins English Dictionary in the UK is "permacrisis." Among the other top choices are "vibe shift," "Partygate," "quiet quitting," and "splooting." - CBS News
"The piece, titled 'How About McCarthyism?' was originally published in 1954 in French in Le Figaro littéraire, although Steinbeck wrote it in English. The piece is being published in English in The Strand magazine." - The Guardian
By Monday afternoon, the letter had attracted more than 625 signatures from authors, translators and agents. The signatories included more than 75 who identified themselves as Penguin Random House employees. - The Wall Street Journal
"'The court finds that the United States has shown that the effect of the proposed merger may be substantially to lessen competition in the market for the US publishing rights to anticipated top-selling books,' Judge (Florence) Pan said in her two-page order." - The Wall Street Journal
How did an Italian press for $150, buy the rights to a book about the slaughter of 150 Africans, usurp its form, and deny the poet any ownership over the result? - The Walrus
Some presses are exploring printing on cheaper and thinner paper, postponing reprints for older books and publishing fewer titles to reduce costs and avoid increasing recommended retail prices. - The Guardian
Peter Brooks warns that our “mindless valorization of storytelling” makes us more susceptible to those with more malevolent intentions — “inertly accepting the notion that all is story, and that the best story wins.” - The New York Times
Some cite studies that have shown people who listen to books retain less than those who read them, which is bound up with how tempting it is to do other things while listening. - Wired
The mailroom was out of control. Employees helped themselves to books, telephone calls to Hong Kong, extra sandwiches during press week. They had a softball team. My duties included babysitting for the publisher’s assistant’s children. - LitHub
