More than 2.6 million books were self-published in 2023 – many of which are uploaded to the dominant platform, Amazon’s Kindle Direct Publishing – and they can’t all be masterpieces. Nevertheless, the idea that self-publishing is the preserve of hopeless hobbyists producing books no one wants to read is at least a decade out of date. - The Guardian
The chair of the Alabama Republican Party said board members believe the Fairhope library is in violation of state policies to protect children from inappropriate materials. The books cited by the upset parents included “Sold,” a National Book Award finalist about a girl who is sold into sexual slavery in India. - CNN
“Books matter,” said Thibaut Willems, owner of Le Pied à Terre independent bookshop in Paris’s 18th arrondissement and one of the booksellers taking a stand by limiting their orders of Hachette Livre books and placing them on lower shelves. - The Guardian
Coming at a time of heightened tensions between the two countries, the decision is prompting an outpouring of emotion in communities on both sides of the border, which in places has been marked simply by flower pots. - AP News
“Who are we if not citizens of the Capitol, tuning in to the show, priming ourselves for the emotional punch of the next death, feeling moved to send sponsor gifts to children who are stuck in caves and trees, awaiting the moments of their demise?” - Slate
Writing about your life? “To farm it out to a machine that trawls the internet and cobbles together a fake version of you is not just academic dishonesty, it’s a broader degradation of our memories and our humanity.” - The New York Times
Admission of desire for revenge on the page also reeks of shame: it’s the thing that every writer—certainly every memoirist—grapples with but generally never talks about. - LitHub
In 2024, more than 4,600 academic papers were retracted or otherwise flagged for review, according to the Retraction Watch database; during a six-week span last fall, one scientific journal published by Springer Nature retracted more than 200 articles. - InsideHigherEd
The agency provides financial support to a wide array of cultural and educational institutions, including art, science and history museums, zoos, aquariums, botanical gardens and historic sites. Libraries of all types – public, academic, school and research – also benefit from the agency’s funding. - The Conversation
"I am committed to steering this organization in lockstep with this Administration to enhance efficiency and foster innovation," Keith Sonderling wrote in a press release. - NPR
The Haskell Free Library and Opera House, built in 1904, has been declared a heritage site on both sides of the border and has long been considered a symbol of harmony between Canada and the U.S. The border line literally runs across the floor of the building. - CBC
Navalny’s Patriot, released eight months after his death in a Russian prison, took the autobiography prize. Matar’s My Friends beat Percival Everett’s James for fiction; Carson’s collection Wrong Norma won for poetry; Adam Higginbotham’s Challenger: A True Story of Heroism and Disaster on the Edge of Space won for nonfiction. - AP
