"The green front door leads straight into Kevin Duffy's living room, the nerve centre of Bluemoose books, his independent literary hit factory. It is at a cluttered table in the corner that Duffy has built a business with a success rate that billion-pound publishers regard with envy." - The Guardian
Despite all the claims made for it, the literary canon does not make you morally better, nor does it provide any special insight into non-literary academic fields, nor is it of any help in most practical matters. - 3 Quarks Daily
When confronted with claims that term X causes harm to people with a given characteristic, or that term Y is the only way to describe them respectfully, a fair-minded person can reasonably respond, “What evidence suggests that this is true?” - The Atlantic
In Dayton, WA, about halfway between Seattle and Boise, when the public library's board refused a demand to remove or sequester a list of books that's now grown past 100 titles, right-wing activists began working on a ballot measure to dissolve the public library system. - The Nation
"In a move that some in the industry will welcome as putting at least a temporary stop to industry consolidation, the private investment firm KKR has reached an agreement with Paramount Global to acquire Simon & Schuster for $1.62 billion in an all-cash transaction." - Publishers Weekly
In publishing, too, the technology has the potential to reshape nearly every aspect of the work that goes into producing a book — even the act of writing itself. - The New York Times
Attempted book bans in libraries and public schools have proliferated in Republican states, complaints made on grounds of history, race, gender, LGBTQ+ rights and more. Attempts to ban titles by high-profile authors (Maya Angelou, Amanda Gorman, Art Spiegelman) have attracted national headlines. - The Guardian
"The possibility that a private equity firm could buy Simon & Schuster has made some publishing executives nervous over the past three years, concerned it could lead to staff cuts and fewer book titles." - The New York Times
The Asian American Literary Collective got their "Ghosted World" conference together quickly after the Smithsonian canceled its huge and popular event. One organizer: "This is a healing. It is bittersweet. It is empowering." - NPR
We can't really say "feminism," but if it's feminist to start thinking of your mom as a person when she's 84 years old, then that's what Oprah did for JCO. - LitHub
A writer parent, tasked with teaching her kids in the early days of the pandemic, realizes it's not just that they don't love it - they're dyslexic. And so: "To try and salvage their enjoyment of literature, I divorced the notion of story from the printed word." - LitHub
Hockey romance fans "gravitate to players who remind them of their favorite book boyfriends, and one popular choice is Seattle Kraken center Alex Wennberg. His team initially courted BookTok with posts and hashtags ... and flew out a popular creator for a playoff game." Then things went way wrong. - Washington Post
"The rules of crosswords ... are intimately related to the grammar of language in general. Just as toddlers develop a deep knowledge of different classes of words without being taught what a noun or a verb is, crossword solvers develop strong intuitions about what entries are possible." - The Atlantic
Laura Lippman: "The through line in almost every book that I write is that no one is more capable of bad acts than someone absolutely convinced of their own goodness. People who identify as 'good' scare the pants off me." - Irish Times
