Short news items from the world of book publishing:
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.04/02/2024
S&S to Distribute BenBella
Simon & Schuster will handle worldwide sales and distribution for Dallas-based indie publisher BenBella Books, effective January 1, 2025.04/02/2024
10th Brooklyn Bookstore Crawl to Be Held April 20–27
The 10th annual Brooklyn Bookstore Crawl will be held starting April 20 and culminating with Independent Bookstore Day on April 27. A group of 25 independent bookstores in the borough will participate in the week-long event.04/02/2024
Jennifer Custer to Head Maria B. Campbell Associates London Office
Custer has been named director of the London office of the literary scouting firm effective April 8, joining the company from Eccles Fisher Associates, where she has led U.K. scouting for the last four years.04/01/2024
Glénat Éditions to Expand into Own English-Language Rights Representation
The Grenoble, France–based publisher of comics, graphic novels, and manga, had been represented in the North American and U.K. markets for 12 years by VIP Brands Ltd., the international comics licensing group.04/01/2024
Mary Oliver's Papers, Plus Event for Emerging Poets, Land at Library of Congress
The papers of poet Mary Oliver have been donated to the Library of Congress by Bill and Amalie Reichblum, the executors of Oliver’s estate, who have also created a fund for an event celebrating emerging poets in Oliver's name.04/01/2024
Joy de Menil Joins Avid Reader as V-p, Executive Editor
The former director of Belknap Publishing at Harvard University Press is a veteran of such imprints as Viking and Random House.04/01/2024
DiTrapano Foundation Marks Fifth Round of Fellows, Seeks to Raise $50K
The Giancarlo DiTrapano Foundation for Literature and the Arts will welcome its fifth cohort of residents, and has set a $50,000 fundraising goal for this spring in honor of what would have been its late namesake's 50th birthday.03/28/2024
Frank Albanese to Oversee Supply Chain Operations at Abrams
In his expanded role, Albanese will lead the company’s production team in addition to his existing oversight of inventory, demand planning, and market analysis.03/28/2024
Santa Fe International Literary Festival Set for May 17–19
Julia Alvarez, Kai Bird, Anne Lamott, Tommy Orange, and Jesmyn Ward are among the authors set to appear at the three-day event.News Brief Archive
20242023
2022
2021
2020
2019
2018
2017
2016
2015
2014
