The PW Morning Report: April 22, 2009

By Craig Morgan Teicher -- Publishers Weekly, 4/22/2009 6:49:00 AM

A daily roundup of publishing news from across the Web: Chavez as the Next Oprah? Kite Runner makes another top ten; China opens its publishing market to foreign investors; Elements of Style turns 50; Authors sue Penguin.

Is Hugo Chavez The Next Oprah?
The Venezuelan President gave President Obama a book when they met the other day—Open Veins of Latin America: Five Centuries of the Pillage of a Continent by Eduardo Galeano—and it quickly shot from #54,295 on Amazon to #2.

Kite Runner Among Ten Most Challenged Books of 2008
Apparently Morganton-Burke County is proud of the fact that its debate about whether to teach Hosseini’s bestseller in schools put it on the American Library Association’s top-10 list for last year.

China Courts Foreign Investors to Grow Publishing Market
China is interested in developing its formerly highly guarded publishing industry with the help of foreign investors.

Penguin Signs E-Book Deal in China
Companies like Penguin are taking advantage of the above invitation.

E.B. White’s Elements of Style Reissued in 50th Anniversary Edition
E.B. White and William Strunk Jr.’s Elements of Style has been the central reference work on how text should be styled for 50 years. Since 1959, it’s sold 10 million copies, and Pearson/Longman has just issued a 50th anniversary edition of the book.

Authors of Style Guides Suing Penguin
Shelly Branch and Sue Callaway, authors of What Would Jackie Do?, are suing Penguin for breach of contract, among other charges.