Houghton Mifflin sell HMH Books & Media to HarperCollins
Learning technology company Houghton Mifflin Harcourt announced Monday that it has entered into a definitive agreement to divest HMH Books & Media, its consumer publishing business, to...
View ArticleScholastic halts distribution of book by 'Captain Underpants' author
A children's graphic novel by the creator of the popular "Captain Underpants" series was pulled from circulation last week by its publisher, which said that it "perpetuates passive racism." Scholastic...
View ArticleThe battle for Tribune: Inside the campaign to find new owners for a...
A coalition of wealthy business executives has put together an 11th-hour offer to buy the entire Tribune Publishing chain (including the Baltimore Sun and the Chicago Tribune) that a special committee...
View ArticleA guide to neopronouns
A personal pronoun is a form of speech that stands in for a person or group of people. She is having opinions online; they are fighting in the comments; and, of course, as in the Prince song made...
View ArticleThe rise and rise of Amanda Goreman
On Wednesday, Penguin Random House announced that the hardcover version of Gorman's poem, with a foreword by Oprah Winfrey, enjoyed the highest first-week sales of any poetry book ever published. She...
View ArticleIt's a no: Amazon warehouse workers vote against unionizing In historic...
Amazon warehouse workers in Alabama will not be forming a union. The vast majority of votes cast by Amazon's workers in Bessemer, Ala., were against joining the Retail, Wholesale and Department Store...
View ArticleThe surge of print books sales continues
Unit sales of print books rose a remarkable 29.2% in the first quarter of 2021 over the same period in 2020 at outlets that report to NPD BookScan. Though some of that gain was due to the slump in...
View ArticleChildren's author Constance C. Greene dies aged 96
Constance C. Greene, the prolific author of children's books, died on April 7. She was 96. Among her many books, she is best known for A Girl Called Al, an ALA Notable Book that reviewers called "a...
View ArticleSexual assault allegations against biographer halt shipping of his Roth book
Earlier this month, the biographer Blake Bailey was approaching what seemed like the apex of his literary career. Reviews of his highly anticipated Philip Roth biography appeared before the book came...
View ArticlePublishing industry sales up 16% through February
Figures from AAP's StatShot program indicate that the book buying sales increase of 2020 has carried into the early months of 2021. According to the 1,359 publishers who submit sales to AAP, revenue...
View ArticleNew blog from the Library of Congress
The Library of Congress has launched a new blog: Guardians of Memory: Preserving the National Collection. "Today we are launching a new blog covering preservation at the Library of Congress: Guardians...
View ArticleNorton halts publication of two books by Blake Bailey
Following multiple allegations of sexual misconduct leveled at the author, W.W. Norton announced that it will cease publication of the newly released edition of Blake Bailey's Philip Roth: The...
View ArticleWriters orgs form #DisneyMustPay joint task force
Half a dozen professional writers' organizations have joined with the Science Fiction and Fantasy Writers of America in forming a joint task to press the Walt Disney Company to ensure it pays all...
View ArticleRevealed: Lord Byron's £4,000 check that helped create modern Greece
Racked by fever, prone to fits of delirium, consumed by his last great passion – the liberation of Greece – Lord Byron lay on his sickbed. It was 18 April 1824. The great Romantic poet would be dead...
View ArticleThousands of supporters join staff at Mike Pence's publisher in campaign...
More than 200 members of staff at Simon & Schuster have signed a petition calling for the publishing house to cancel its seven-figure book deal with former vice-president Mike Pence and commit to...
View ArticleAnthony Thwaite obituary
The poet Anthony Thwaite, who has died aged 90, was a mover and shaker in postwar English literary life. He was in turn literary editor of the Listener and the New Statesman, and co-editor of...
View ArticleJason Matthews, spy novelist, dies at 69
Jason Matthews, who parlayed his 33 years as a CIA officer into a second career as a best-selling spy novelist, writing scenes so gripping and vivid that some readers thought he was violating the...
View ArticleReport urges library leaders to address decline in public library usage stats
In a report published this week, veteran London-based bookseller, library advocate, and former Waterstones managing director Tim Coates warns that U.S. public library usage statistics show a steep...
View ArticleObituary note: John Cullen
John Christopher Cullen III, the renowned literary translator who translated more than 50 novels and works of nonfiction into English, died on April 15, the Times-Picayune reported. He was 79 years...
View ArticleHarperCollins completes purchase of HMH trade division
HarperCollins, the second largest trade publisher in the U.S., has completed its acquisition of Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Books & Media. HC, which is owned by Rupert Murdoch's News Corp, agreed to...
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