Readers Respond Is Dylan Deserving?
On Thursday, the Swedish Academy awarded this year’s Nobel Prize for Literature to Bob Dylan. Our readers shared the sense of shock that spread across the Internet like wildfire. Dylan’s a songwriter, not an author; does he deserve the prize? We asked our readers that question on Facebook, and their responses mirrored the arguments being made all over (to read a few, go to publshersweekly.com/dylantweets). Here’s what a few of our readers had to say on Facebook:
“In a time when the only reading most people do is of Facebook posts, the Nobel Committee just dumbed itself down. Next year they will give the prize in literature to a blogger or a Facebook personality.”—Christy Stewart
“A songwriter has not won the Nobel Prize in its 100-plus-year history because songwriting does not qualify as literature!”—George Wilsonian
“Stories have been told in song for generations. If this is not literature, then what is it?”—Sharon Jackson
“There’s no comparing books and songs. Apples and oranges.”—Brenda Seabrooke
“This is an absurd choice that absolutely diminishes the literature prize. There are too many great writers working all over the world who will never receive a Nobel for this choice to have any significance.”—Cathe Spencer
From the Newsletters
Rebecca Kauffman, author of the novel Another Place You’ve Never Been (Soft Skull), talks about author anonymity and the consequences of being a writer averse to social media.
Among the big changes at Henry Holt Books for Young Readers: Christian Trimmer is in as editorial director, and Laura Godwin gets an imprint, Godwin Books.
Six haunting reads hitting just in time for Halloween.
Chanson Douce (Gallimard), a French novel about a nanny who kills the children she is hired to care for, is racking up a lot of foreign sales.
The most-read review on publishersweekly.com last week was Crashing the Party: An American Reporter in China by Scott Savitt (Soft Skull).
Podcasts
PW senior writer Andrew Albanese on the Nobel Prize in Literature going to Bob Dylan, and some of the hot topics at the Frankfurt Book Fair, which kicks off this week.
The More to Come crew was all over New York Comic Con last week. Catch up on some of the action with interviews from the show with comics illustrators, writers, and more.
Amy Sarig King (better known to readers as A.S. King) talks about her first middle grade novel, Me and Marvin Gardens (Levine), about a boy who discovers a never-before-seen plastic-eating animal near his home.
Blogs
What happens when a posse of excited three- and four-year-olds descends on a bookstore for an impromptu read-aloud?
Professor and author Ngugi wa Thiong’o discusses his new book, Birth of a Dream Weaver: A Memoir of a Writer’s Awakening (New Press). And PW senior news editor Calvin Reid recaps New York Comic Con.
