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News & Features » September 2013 » Weekly Roundup for 9/27/13

Weekly Roundup for 9/27/13

whatjusthappened

Every Friday, the Akashic team highlights industry news, reviews, and features from around the web. This week’s roundup comes to you from Akashic intern Alia Maria Almeida!

Congratulations are in order for writers Donald Antrim and Karen Russell who — along with twenty-two other thinkers — are this year’s MacArthur Fellows and will be the firsts to receive a “genius grants” of $625,000 (as opposed to the previous $500,000 grant).

Meanwhile, it is NOT a good week for Amazon, who is now legally obligated to add sales tax to orders from West Virginia; has been subject to wage strikes in Germany; and lawsuits in Kentucky, Tennessee, and Washington. I think the cherry on top would be the “Nick Walton” ebook scam, which you can read all about here.

I am happy to report that indie bookstores are doing very well: sales are expected to follow in last year’s trend and bookstores are popping up everywhere . . . even in old Borders stores.

Singapore Noir editor Cheryl Lu-Lien Tan recounts recreating the Hemingway Hamburger! Invite me next time, Cheryl!

Goodreads is scouting out for comments that “bully” authors and don’t critique the book. Here’s a très dramatic explanation of what’s going on. 

It’s Banned Books Week, by the way. You might think banning books is a thing of the past, but it’s not. Shout out to Chicago, IL high school book club 451 Degrees, who opposed the order to ban Marjane Satrapi’s Persepolis. You people are my heroes!

Spaniards are also fighting for their access to libraries, as many have returned to borrowing books due to the effects of Spain’s recession.

Colombia is now adding “magical realism” to their long list of why you should visit! Take a look at how the country is using literature to promote tourism. Read all the way through for more literary treats in other countries (i.e. Gabarone, Botswana offers The No. 1 Ladies’ Detective Agency tours).

What’s that? An infographic on the size of many of our beloved spaceships? Yes, please! (I love that Titan from Titan A.E. is in there. Take a look!)

A biography on Jim Henson came out this week (did you know Wednesday was his birthday?). I think you should celebrate the book pub and his birthday with this throwback. 

There is a growing amount of librarian cats out in this world? We wouldn’t be surprised if one of them was a friend of Simon’s cat . . . (Ed. note: in October, Akashic will be spotlighting library and bookstore cats on our website to celebrate the publication of Simon’s Cat vs the World! Stay tuned!)

 

Posted: Sep 27, 2013

Category: Weekly Roundup | Tags: , , , , , , , , , , , , , , ,