Category: words

Created jointly by the National Book Foundation, the Academy of American Poets, and the Community of Literary Magazines and Presses with $3.5 million from the Mellon Foundation, the Literary Arts Emergency Fund will make one-time grants of $5,000 to $50,000. – Yahoo! (AP)

Emily Powell: “In some ways, it’s hard to say, because our trends have completely evaporated. Before the pandemic, I could have told you, ‘Oh, the first sunny day, and this month will look like this. The second sunny day will look like that.’ But all of those behaviors have gone away. So right now we’re on a relatively steady sales decline and trying to do our best to turn that in a different direction.” – Oregon Public Broadcasting

While some authors say the fiction can help people learn how to resist and persist, Black people in the U.S. say it’s more of a mirror. “Assume where America has always been is a tragedy. What is done in hell isn’t romantic; sacrificing bodies to dystopia isn’t beautiful.” (But fiction can still be a teacher of hope.) – Wired

Natasha Trethewey, former poet laureate of the U.S.: “When people talk about how getting rid of [Stone Mountain] would be erasing history – well, the monument itself is already an erasure of history. So, I’d be interested in figuring out a way that we can tell the fuller story about exactly why it’s there and exactly what it means.” – The Guardian (UK)

The author of Room says, “I generally go out of my way not to be timely or to try and capture cultural moments. It’s very peculiar “- Irish Times

It’s not the language teachers, especially the English-language teachers from places like the Philippines, who are getting paid poverty wages. And what of apps? Uh … “Language ‘learners’ on Duolingo are actually just performing the free labor—or even paying for the privilege—of helping the company improve its proprietary algorithms.” – Boston Review

“Over the last year, deaths, retirements and executive reshuffling have made way for new leaders, more diverse and often more commercial than their predecessors, as well as people who have never worked in publishing before. Those appointments stand to fundamentally change the industry, and the books it puts out into the world.” – The New York Times

— a prequel is hitting the shelves. Fitzgerald’s novel enters the public domain next New Year’s Day, and on January 5 Little, Brown is releasing Michael Farris Smith’s Nick. “The publishers say Nick Carraway will ‘step out of the shadows and into the spotlight’, with the story focusing on his life before his meeting with the enigmatic millionaire Jay Gatsby.” – The Guardian

There aren’t many readings at bookstores these days, so what are authors doing instead? Live-streamed appearances for which attendees buy the book to get a ticket and a #ParkAndRead drive-in book launch. – Publishers Weekly

Publishers have long relied on conservative imprints to churn out money-making bestsellers, but in the Trump era, fissures have emerged between those imprints, right-wing stars, and conglomerate publishers. Now Trump Jr. is bringing the culture wars to the book business, and it may ultimately have profound implications for the industry. – The New Republic