A Kobo Original, Larry Kramer, and Omegaverse Copyright: This Week in Book News

Happy Friday, everyone! Can you believe June is almost here? It seems like just yesterday I was saying the exact same thing about May. Time really is moving even more strangely than usual in quarantine doesn’t it? Let’s take a look at the biggest news hitting the publishing world this week.

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First, some Kobo news. Our Kobo Originals team has collaborated with West End Phoenix to create a collection of stories by Canadian literary voices, reflecting on COVID-19 life. The first collection is out now, with proceeds going to Community Food Centres Canada and their Good Food Fund specifically set up to assist those in need during the Covid-19 Pandemic. Be sure to check it out!

Telegrams from Home, Vol. 1 ebook by Claudia Dey – Rakuten Kobo

Read “Telegrams from Home, Vol. 1 Life Under Lockdown During COVID-19” by Claudia Dey available from Rakuten Kobo. Some of Canada’s greatest literary voices join forces in the first installment of Telegrams from Home, Vol. 1: Life Unde…

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Simon and Schuster have selected Jonathan Karp as their new CEO.

Karp Named CEO of Simon & Schuster

Jonathan Karp, who joined S&S in June 2010 as publisher of Simon & Schuster’s flagship imprint and was promoted to president and publisher of Simon & Schuster Adult Publishing in 2018, has been tapped to succeed the late Carolyn Reidy as president and CEO.

Frankfurt Bookfair is continuing to move forward with their plans for a slightly scaled back event, and have released new details as to what that will look like.

Frankfurt Organizers Fine-Tune Upcoming Fair

The Frankfurt Book Fair will be limited to 20,000 fairgoers at any one time to ensure safety, said book fair director Juergen Boos. Meanwhile, Random House, Holtzbrinck, and Bonnier have announced that they won’t exhibit, but will take part in other events.

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By now we’re all familiar with the rescheduling of publication dates due to Covid-19. This article examines how publishers have been making these decisions.

https://www.forbes.com/sites/rachelkramerbussel/2020/05/27/how-publishers-decided-to-move-publication-dates-during-the-covid-19-pandemic/#7c88ea0a49dc

The comic book industry came to a screeching halt when the pandemic hit the US, and while things are starting to slowly pick up again, it’s probable that it’s going to be very different when it comes back.

https://ew.com/books/quarantine-future-of-comics/?utm_medium=social&utm_term=A5929CC4-A115-11EA-BE43-E8AA4744363C&utm_campaign=entertainmentweekly_ew&utm_source=twitter.com&utm_content=link

The Book Industry Charitable Foundation, which helps support booksellers in need, has never been busier and are an example of how the book selling industry is coming together to help one another during these unprecedented times.

The Book Industry Charitable Foundation Has Never Been Busier Helping Bookstores

Last August, I wrote about the Book Industry Charitable Foundation, or “Binc,” a Michigan-based non-profit created to support booksellers who have fallen on hard times. If a bookseller winds up in the hospital or a bookstore has a flood, Binc can step in and pay their bills, no questions asked (okay, there’s a short qualifying application, but that’s it).

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Larry Kramer, AIDS activist and writer, passed away this week at the age of 84.

Larry Kramer, Pioneering AIDS Activist And Writer, Dies At 84

Editor’s note: This story contains language that may be offensive. Larry Kramer was one of the first activists against AIDS, back when the disease didn’t even have a name. In the early 1980s, Kramer witnessed hundreds, then thousands of gay men die before the government took action to stop the spread of HIV.

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23 Poet Laureates have been named recipients of fellowships for community projects around the US.

23 Poets Laureate Receive Fellowships for Projects Around the U.S.

The program, now in its second year, was expanded from 13 poets in 2019 thanks to a $4.5 million grant from the Mellon Foundation. The Academy of American Poets announced on Thursday the 23 recipients of its Poets Laureate Fellowships, who will use the $50,000 grants for civic projects throughout the United States, even as the coronavirus pandemic limits the in-person, community-based initiatives they typically develop.

The Omega-verse was all over the news last weekend, as questions of copyright surrounded the fictional world.

A Feud in Wolf-Kink Erotica Raises a Deep Legal Question

What do copyright and authorship mean in the crowdsourced realm known as the Omegaverse? Omegaverse stories typically feature characters arranged into a wolfpack-like hierarchy of dominant Alphas, neutral Betas and submissive Omegas – plus lots of lupine sex. Credit… Alamy To hear more audio stories from publishers like The New York Times, download Audm for iPhone or Android .

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J.K. Rowling has announced that she will be publishing her newest work, The Ickabog, for free! She’ll be releasing the story as a serial free of charge, with an official publication date this fall.

https://www.jkrowling.com/j-k-rowling-introduces-the-ickabog/

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A writing class in New York made up of essential workers has been writing haikus about the pandemic, and they are beautiful and haunting.

https://www.thecity.nyc/life/2020/5/26/21273146/struggle-in-17-syllables-essential-workers-write-covid-haiku

If you’ve been reading these roundups you know I’ve been enjoying judging the bookshelves in the background of interviews, so you’d better believe I loved this article on the history of the “bookcase flex”.

The Timeless Art of the Bookcase Flex | JSTOR Daily

While the pandemic spread outside people’s homes and life moved indoors, videoconference became the way for many to connect to friends, family, therapists, and workplaces. Client meetings, interviews, and on-air punditry all took place via Skype and Zoom, and, as they did so, a seemingly new set of professional quandaries evolved in real time.

Have a great weekend!  

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Staff Recommendation
Rachel, Author Engagement Intern

Slayer ebook by Kiersten White – Rakuten Kobo

Read “Slayer” by Kiersten White available from Rakuten Kobo. “Will get Buffy fans up in their feels.” -Entertainment Weekly A New York Times and Publishers Weekly bestseller From be…

“I have been a fan of Buffy the Vampire Slayer for the better part of my life, so to say I was excited about a new series taking place in the Buffy-verse would be a wild understatement. The story is fresh and fun, filled with complex female protagonists, a compelling Big Bad, and enough Buffy lore and in-jokes to feel familiar and comforting.”