Amazon Buys Goodreads, City Lights Celebrates Sixty Years, and More

by
Bryanna Tidmarsh
3.29.13

Every day Poets & Writers Magazine scans the headlines—from publishing reports to academic announcements to literary dispatches—for all the news that creative writers need to know. Here are today’s stories:

Following the release of Bookish—which is backed by publishers Hachette, Penguin, and Simon & Schuster—Amazon buys book-oriented social networking site Goodreads, adding to controversy around the online retailer’s monopoly on the publishing world. (Forbes)

Publisher's Weekly reports that the New York Court of Appeals is upholding the Marketplace Fairness Act, which requires online retailers such as Amazon to pay sales tax.

San Francisco’s City Lights Bookstore will celebrate its sixtieth anniversary all summer, kicking off with a birthday bash on June 23 followed by readings, outdoor entertainment, and other events throughout 2013. (City Lights)

Changing Hands Bookstore in Tempe, Arizona, reveals its plans for opening a second store in Phoenix in November, which will include a greater selection of art books and children’s books as well as a beer and wine bar. (Publishers Weekly)

Merriam Webster’s Kory Stamper tells the Atlantic Wire that the ever-evolving Merriam-Webster Dictionary is making more additions, incorporating words and phrases such as "anyhoo," "bucket list," and "viral."

Seeking to convert more readers to contemporary poetry, Random House’s blog Hazlitt provides a user guide to the works of Anne Carson.

Flavorwire provides a list of ten LGBT books that students should read in response to the growing controversy surrounding the California Department of Education’s recommended reading list released last week.

Publisher Black Dog & Leventhal announces that a portion of the revenue from My Bookstore: Writers Celebrate Their Favorite Places to Browse, Read, and Shop will be donated to the American Booksellers Foundation for Free Expression. (American Booksellers Association)

IGN tackles the challenges of adapting novels to the screen and cites the best changes to the HBO version of the Game of Thrones series by George R. R. Martin.