Breaking news on authors, publishers, and book-related topics

The free speech and First Amendment debate

Mar 24 2022: Shelf Awareness provides a useful overview of the free speech and First Amendment debates currently roiling the USA:

In the last week, two pieces in the New York Times have explored or touched on the issue of free speech.

Last Friday, a Times editorial entitled "...

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National Book Critics Circle Award Winners

Mar 18 2022: The winners of the 2021 National Book Critics Circle Awards were announced last night. The NBCC Awards include seven awards for books and three for reviewers. You can see all seven book winners on BookBrowse:

• Autobiography: Gay Bar: Why We Went Out by Jeremy ...

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Penguin Random House creates banned books resources hub

Mar 15 2022: Penguin Random House has created a Banned Books Resources Hub that includes tools, materials and information that can help people and organizations fighting book bans including resources for teachers, librarians, parents, students and authors/illustrators.

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Book the Vote: writers, booksellers and libraries collaborate to register voters

Mar 14 2022: Writers for Democratic Action is launching Book the Vote, with the aim of registering more voters, particularly in battleground states, before the November elections. The effort will take place in bookstores and libraries, where nonpartisan voter registration tables ...

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Assistant principal fired for reading children’s book "I Need a New Butt!" to second-graders

Mar 11 2022: When a guest who was scheduled to read to second-graders over Zoom this month didn’t show up, Toby Price, the assistant principal at a Mississippi elementary school, improvised.

Price’s boss at Gary Road Elementary School suggested Price read to the students, so he ...

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Texas Library Association forms coalition to battle book bans

Mar 09 2022: The Texas Library Association has announced the formation of a grassroots coalition, Texans for the Right to Read, to "amplify and unify the voices of librarians, educators, parents, students, authors, and others" who oppose the growing effort to ban books from schools ...

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Any Weir's Project Hail Mary, read by Ray Porter, wins Audiobook of the Year

Mar 04 2022: The Audio Publishers Association (APA) have announced the winners of the 2022 Audie Awards®, the premier awards program recognizing distinction in audiobooks and spoken-word entertainment.

Project Hail Mary, written by Andy Weir, narrated by Ray Porter, and ...

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Amazon to close all bookstores

Mar 03 2022: After opening its first bookstore with much fanfare on November 3, 2015, this week Amazon confirmed a report from Reuters that it is closing all of its physical bookstores, as well as its 4-star and pop-up stores, which carry a mix of items, including some books. All ...

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