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Saving French Indies, A New FSG President, and Old Book Smell: This Week in Book News

by | Oct 29, 2021 | Publishing News | 0 comments

Happy (almost) Hallowe’en, writers! We hope your candy supply is nice and stocked, both for you and also for potential trick-or-treaters, and we hope you’re ready for a nice and spooky weekend. We’ve been busy at KWL preparing for NaNoWriMo (you can find some useful tips and advice on the blog) which kicks off on Monday! We’ll be hosting weekly write-ins so we can all write together; stay tuned to our socials for more details to come.

We had a couple of events this week. First, we hosted a live Q&A with Zoe York which you can catch on our YouTube channel if you missed the life event, and Tara was interviewed on the Author Revolution Podcast talking all things KWL!

We have two weeks of publishing news to get through today so let’s hop to it!

France is attempting to help save their independent bookstores from online retail giants.

France moves to shield its book industry from Amazon

Sophie Fornairon’s independent bookshop has survived the rise of Amazon thanks to a French law that prohibits price discounting on new books, but she says the e-commerce giant’s ability to undercut on shipping still skews the market against stores like hers.

Advocates will be granted a DCMA exception to make accessible eBooks.

Blind People Have Won the Right to Break Ebook DRM-for Now

This rarely happens. A screen reader instead stumbles over these static images, sometimes reciting filename gibberish, leaving a blind reader with no possible way to discern meaning. That’s assuming, again, that an accessible version of the textbook exists to begin with.

The succession battle at scholastic is something right out of an HBO show.

Inside the Real-Life Succession Battle at Scholastic

The powerhouse children’s publisher, known for Harry Potter, had been passed from father to son until Iole Lucchese, a top executive, was given control. When her phone buzzed on June 6, Iole Lucchese was still absorbing a shock that had come the day before. Her longtime boss, M.

An acclaimed Spanish female writer won the Planeta prize, only for her identity to be revealed to be three men.

A woman won a million-euro writing prize . . . then turned out to be three men.

This week, the winner of the Planeta Prize, a Spanish 1-million-euro literary award, was announced: Carmen Mola, a famously private crime thriller writer.

Frankfurt Bookfair returned last weekend in a somewhat subdued fashion.

Frankfurt Book Fair 2021: A Quieter Affair

After a year’s hiatus as a result of the Covid-19 pandemic, the Frankfurt Book Fair returned October 20-22 as a hybrid event, featuring a mix of online programming, in-person presentations, exhibit halls, and the agents center. The number of participants for the in-person fair was significantly scaled down from previous years, with daily capacity limited to 25,000 to accommodate social distancing.

FSG has promoted Mitze Angel to president, marking the first time a woman has held the title.

FSG Promotes Mitzi Angel to President

A publisher and editor who has worked with Sally Rooney, Garth Greenwell and Amia Srinivasan, she will be the first woman to lead the 75-year-old publishing house. Mitzi Angel, the publisher of Farrar, Straus and Giroux – who as an editor signed Sally Rooney and Garth Greenwell – will add the title of president to her role at the storied literary publishing house.

Toni Morrison’s Beloved has been dragged into the Virgina gubernational election.

Beloved is now a detail in the Virginia election-for the dumbest possible reason.

Virginia Republican gubernatorial candidate Glenn Youngkin is running an attack ad against Governor Terry McAuliffe featuring a mother that says McAuliffe vetoed a bill that would let parents protect their children from reading explicit materials in schools.

The Believer, a beloved literary and arts magazine, will cease publication in spring 2022.

The Believer magazine will stop publishing after its spring 2022 issue.

Today, the Black Mountain Institute in the UNLV College of Liberal Arts announced in a press release that it would discontinue the publication of its beloved literary and arts magazine, The Believer . According to the release, “the decision is part of a strategic realignment within the college and BMI as it emerges from the financial impact of the COVID-19 pandemic.”

Book history lovers with money to burn, this is your moment! A First Folio fragment of Shakespeare’s Henry IV is heading to auction.

A super-rare first folio fragment of Shakespeare’s Henry IV is up for auction.

Rejoice, Shakespeare enthusiasts with money to spare: an extremely rare First Folio fragment, of Shakespeare’s The First Part of Henry the Fourth, will be auctioned by Holabird Western Americana Collections on October 29th. Bidders can participate both live and online -a rare opportunity for Folio collectors.

As well as a pocket watch worn by a character in Ulysses (with an expected hefty price tag).

Who will buy the £80,000 watch from James Joyce’s Ulysses?

Big news for fans of James Joyce, or of time: the pocket watch worn by John O’Connell in James Joyce’s Ulysses is going up for auction at Bonhams on November 4th. The 18-carat gold watch and chain could fetch £80,000.

Solange has launched a community library of work by Black creators.

Solange has launched a community library of rare books and art by Black creators.

Cool resource alert: Variety has reported that Solange, through her Saint Heron studio, is launching a community library of “esteemed and valuable” books by Black creators. Readers can borrow any book from the collection of rare, author-inscribed and out-of-print literary works to up to 45 days, free of charge in the U.S.

Uzo Aduba will be hosting Netflix’s Book Club series.

Uzo Aduba to Host Netflix Book Club Series

Netflix is ready to talk books over coffee. The streamer announced Wednesday that it will launch Netflix Book Club, where readers will hear about new books, films and series adaptations, as well as have exclusive access to each book’s adaptation process.

Robert Munsch’s classic, The Paper Bag Princess, is coming to the screen.

Robert Munsch’s classic The Paper Bag Princess has been optioned to become a film | CBC Books

The Paper Bag Princess , written by the beloved children’s literature legend Robert Munsch and illustrated by Michael Martchenko, has been optioned as a live-action film by Universal Pictures. The adaptation was first announced in 2017 and is now official after four years of negotiation.

There’s a scientific reason why we love the smell of old books.

A Scientific Explanation for Your Urge to Sniff Old Books

Inside its dry and musty hull, the smell of old books contains great distances. You sense time travel, of course, but also the soaring aeronautics of ideas. Sometimes a great book sticks the landing, very often they don’t. And sometimes books fail to jump high enough.

You know how much I love the word-of-mouth selling power of TikTok –– this article offers an author’s perspective.

Dirt: Saved by #BookTok

You call yourself a writer. You want to write a novel. You work full-time, you have a life, you take your sweet-ass time. You have doubts. You have worries. You have hopes. You have dreams. You have a Netflix subscription. You have a Tinder profile. You have a gym membership (that you rarely use).

I really enjoyed this (mildly snarky) piece on fictional booksellers.

I Am Haunted by Joe’s Stupid Little Bookselling Apron

Joe from the Netflix hit You is a disturbing guy. He’s a stalker, a serial killer and, most unnerving to me personally, he’s a bookseller who wears an apron. I’ve been a bookseller for almost five years and I’ve never once worn an apron, nor have I seen another bookseller wear one unless they were pulling double duty as a barista.

I did not get a single one of these right, but this “famous author first bio” quiz was a lot of fun nonetheless.

Can You Guess These Famous Writers Based on Their Very First Author Bios?

One of my favorite things to do in used bookstores is to pick up old editions of early books by now-famous writers, just to see what kind of packaging their books received when they were just starting out. Turns out that some of the biggest names in English-language literature also began their careers with scant author bios, tepid reviews, and random blurbs!

Have a fantastic and safe Halloween!

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