Short news items from the world of book publishing:
04/26/2024
ABFE Adds Support to Challenges to Iowa Book Banning Law
American Booksellers for Free Expression, the free expression initiative of the ABA, has filed an amicus brief in support of two lawsuits that challenge parts of Iowa’s “Don’t Say Gay” and book banning law.04/25/2024
Azuki Partners with Digital Entertainment
Digital manga app Azuki has teamed with manga distributor Digital Entertainment to add seven manga series to its library.04/24/2024
NYBF to Host Publishing Boot Camp
The New York Book Forum will host 'Publishing Boot Camp 101,' a one-day event for prospective and early-career publishing professionals, at the Macmillan offices in lower Manhattan on June 17.04/24/2024
Linda Ewing and Jeremy M. Davies Take the Helm at Coffee House
Minneapolis-based indie publisher Coffee House Press has announced the appointment of Linda Ewing to executive director and the promotion of Jeremy M. Davis to editor-in-chief.04/23/2024
PPN Conference Will Address 'Publishing for the Greater Good'
The Publishing Professionals Network meets April 26 in Berkeley, Calif., with a keynote on climate from novelist Aya de Léon and panels on topics from agenting and book promotion to printing and manufacturing.04/23/2024
Bookwire Partners with Aptara for Digital Solutions
Germany's Bookwire and U.S.-based Aptara have partnered to share expertise in digital book publishing solutions and distribution.04/23/2024
EU Excludes Books from Law to Fight Late Payments
The European Parliament has decided to exclude the book sector from a law that allows only 30 days for payments involving B2B transactions.04/19/2024
Greg Ruggiero Returns to Seven Stories
After 17 years at City Lights, the nonfiction editor known for publishing Noam Chomsky and Angela Y. Davis has returned to Seven Stories Press, where he began his book publishing career in 1998.04/19/2024
New York Book Forum to Host June 6 Fundraiser
The nonprofit will host a fundraiser at the Baylander in Manhattan on June 6 to support its continued sponsorship of literary and literacy-related programming.04/18/2024
Oxford UP Union Condemns Layoff of Unit Chair
The Oxford University Press USA Guild called the layoff of Scott Morales, its unit chair and strategy and transformation coordinator for the Press, "an illegal and retaliatory act."04/18/2024
HarperCollins Partners with ElevenLabs on AI Audiobooks
HarperCollins has inked an agreement with audio AI company ElevenLabs to create audiobooks for HarperCollins' foreign language business using ElevenLab's text-to-speech technology.04/17/2024
Airwave Podcast Network to Launch Imprint with BenBella Books
Airwave Books, an imprint of indie publisher BenBella Books, will feature nonfiction books by creators from the Airwave podcast network.04/17/2024
Mo Crist to Join Bloomsbury as Editor
Crist, who has served as an acquiring editor at W.W. Norton since 2020, will join Bloomsbury's adult trade team on May 7, reporting to Callie Garnett.04/17/2024
StreetLib and IBPA Collaborate to Provide Digital Tools to Indie Publishers
Digital-first distributor StreetLib, based in Italy, is partnering with the Independent Book Publishers Association, helping indie publishers distribute e-books and audiobooks globally.04/16/2024
Viz Manga Adds Marvel Comics to Digital Subscription Service
The platform will now offer such Marvel manga titles as 'Deadpool: Samurai' and 'Spider-Man: Fake Red.' The move follows a 2022 collaboration between Viz Media and Marvel to bring various Marvel IP into manga format.04/16/2024
NEH Announces $26.2 Million in Grants
The National Endowment for the Humanities will fund 238 humanities projects nationwide, including the writing of nearly 80 book manuscripts.04/16/2024
Oren Kessler Wins 2024 Sami Rohr Nonfiction Prize
Kessler's 'Palestine 1936: The Great Revolt and the Roots of the Middle East Conflict' is the winners of the the Sami Rohr Prize for Jewish Literature's nonfiction award.04/12/2024
Tony Grimminck Named CEO of Scribd
Grimminck, who joined Scribd almost five years ago as CFO, has served as interim CEO since last fall when company cofounder and longtime CEO Trip Adler stepped down.04/11/2024
Former SPD Client Presses Launch GoFundMes
Black Lawrence Press and Rose Metal Press, which were formerly distributed by the now-shuttered Small Press Distribution, have launched GoFundMes to recoup losses.04/11/2024
Authors Withdraw Books from PEN Award Consideration Over Gaza Response
Maya Binyam and Christina Sharpe are among several authors to withdraw their books from the 2024 PEN Literary Awards over PEN America's response to the war in Gaza. Sublunary Editions also declined consideration for this year's awards.04/11/2024
Kundiman to Host 20th Anniversary Reading
To celebrate its 20th anniversary, the Asian American literary organization will hold a reading at the New Orleans Poetry Festival on April 20 featuring Sally Wen Mao, Tiana Nobile, and Jane Wong.04/11/2024
2024 Guggenheim Fellows Announced
Ned Blackhawk, Jamel Brinkley, Beth Nguyen, Tracy K. Smith, Justin Torres, and Ed Yong are among the writers to receive this year's Guggenheim Fellowships.04/11/2024
Knopf to Publish Memoir by Alexei Navalny
Navalny's posthumous memoir, 'Patriot,' which he began writing following his 2020 poisoning and completed shortly before his death in 2024, is slated for October 22 with a first print run of 500,000.04/11/2024
'Poetry in America' Returns for National Poetry Month
The fourth season of the PBS series premiered on April 1 and will run through the spring, highlighting the work of such poets as Frank O'Hara, Tracy K. Smith, and Phillis Wheatley.04/11/2024
BPL, SPL Release Joint Report on Banned Books
The Brooklyn Public Library and the Seattle Public Library have released "In Their Own Words: Youth Voices on Books Unbanned," which documents responses from library patrons ages 13-26 who participated in the libraries' Books Unbanned program.04/11/2024
Inaugural PublisHer Excellence Awards Winners
The awards, which "celebrate women who have brought positive change to the international publishing industry," were announced at the 2024 Bologna Children’s Book Fair this week.04/10/2024
Crown to Publish New Novel by Liane Moriarty
'Here One Moment' is slated for September 10.04/10/2024
Atria to Publish New Nonfiction by Jake Tapper
'The Terrorist Detectives,' slated for fall 2025, is Tapper's first nonfiction book in more than a decade.04/10/2024
Writers and Publishers Network, IWOSC, and PALA Merge
Three California-based literary nonprofits—the national WPN and L.A.-based IWOSC and PALA—have merged into one organization04/10/2024
Literary Arts Names the Winners of the 2024 Oregon Book Award
On March 8, author-illustrator Kwame Alexander emceed the 2024 Oregon Book Awards, hosted annually by Portland, Ore.–based organization Literary Arts.04/09/2024
Draft2Digital to Distribute Self-Published Books to Fable
Under a new retail distribution agreement, the self-published ebook distributor will supply more than 500,000 to Fable, the online bookstore and virtual book club app.04/09/2024
2024 Carol Shields Prize Shortlist Announced
Eleanor Catton and Claudia Day are among the five women authors shortlisted for this year's Carol Shields Prize for Fiction.04/09/2024
Lerner to Distribute APA's Magination Press, Walker Books Australia
Lerner Publisher Services will be the exclusive distributor for the two children's book publishers, beginning August 1 and January 1, 2025, respectively.04/09/2024
2024 International Booker Prize Shortlist Announced
'Kairos' and 'Crooked Plow' are among the six works of fiction shortlisted for this year's International Booker Prize. The winner will be announced on May 21.04/09/2024
Sophie Castille Awards Expand in Second Year
The second annual awards recognizing the best translation of graphic novels into English will be held this fall, and Italy, Poland, and Slovenia are launching their own iterations of the prize.04/08/2024
B&N Teams with Rhino Records on Weekly Feature
Barnes & Noble will feature a classic album from the Rhino Records catalog every week at retail locations across the country.04/08/2024
Consortium Announces Six New Publishers for Distribution
Assembly Press, Bitmap Books, Concord Theatricals, Lanternfish Press, Radius Books, and Sacred Bones Records have joined Consortium Book Sales and Distribution.04/08/2024
Alice James Launches Series for Mid-Career Women Poets
The Jean Valentine series, launched by poetry publisher Alice James Books to spotlight mid-career women poets, will kick off with 'Veer' by Cole Swensen, slated for May 2026.04/05/2024
IDW Lays Off Five Staffers
COO Amber Huerta, who was promoted to the position last May, is among those laid off.04/04/2024
Storiaverse Launches App to Adapt Books into 'Read-Watch' Format
The new mobile entertainment app connects authors and animators to create multimedia stories for adults to "read-watch." Storiaverse has teamed with HarperCollins to adapt several titles.04/04/2024
MCD to Publish Fourth Book in Jeff VanderMeer's Southern Reach Series
'Absolution,' which serves as a prequel to the original trilogy, will be released by the FSG imprint MCD on October 22, roughly a decade after the publication of the first novel in the series, 'Annihilation.'04/04/2024
Knopf to Publish Bill Clinton's Post-Presidency Memoir, 'Citizen'
'Citizen: My Life After the White House' is slated for November 19. Knopf also published Clinton's bestselling autobiography, 'My Life,' in 2004.04/04/2024
Simon & Schuster to Distribute ECW Press
S&S will handle U.S. and open market print sales for the Toronto-based independent publisher, effective September 1.04/03/2024
IPG Partners with Road Runners
Wholesaler Road Runners will represent Independent Publishers Group in the southeastern U.S. gift market beginning April 15.04/03/2024
LibraryPass to Add Picture Books to Its Comics Plus Platform
LibraryPass will expand its Comics Plus platform to include picture books. The platform is currently available through more than 3,000 schools and libraries.04/03/2024
PEN America Report Finds Florida's Censorship Campaign May Be Losing Steam
"Cracks in the Facade: Lessons Learned from Florida’s Ongoing Censorship Campaign" underscores the damage of Governor Ron DeSantis's book banning efforts while suggesting that those efforts are starting to lose support.04/02/2024
New Voices New Rooms 2024 Opens for Registration
Registration is now open for the joint conference for NAIBA and SIBA, slated for August 8-11 in Arlington, Va.04/02/2024
Claire Jiménez Wins 2024 PEN/Faulkner Award
Jiménez’s 'What Happened to Ruthy Ramirez' (Grand Central) has been selected as the winner of the 2024 PEN/Faulkner Award for Fiction.04/02/2024
Rubin Pfeffer Content Joins Aevitas
Rubin Pfeffer and Amy Thrall Flynn of RPC have joined Aevitas Creative Management as executive agent at large and senior agent, respectively. Aevitas will also take on RPC's backlist and client roster.04/02/2024
Silverchair Expands Product, Strategic Partnership Teams
Sven Molter has joined the company as v-p of product, while Hannah Heckner Swain is moving into the new, expanded role of v-p of strategic partnerships.News Brief Archive
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