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Scotland’s version of the Book of Kells is going on public display; even the author of Fahrenheit 451 couldn’t keep a California library open; digital publisher Zinio is looking beyond dedicated e-readers; McSweeney’s newspaper edition is selling out in San Francisco; and other news.
The world’s largest self-publishing firm has signed a deal with On Demand Books, makers of the Espresso Book Machine; former passengers on the “Word Express” will publish a host of collaborative projects next year; two more big publishers have announced e-book delays; and other news.
A library in Washington State is experimenting with an unstaffed “express branch”; social networking site Goodreads has wrapped up a seven-figure fundraiser; a trio of new Brontë films is in the works, thanks to a certain exsanguinary franchise; and other news.
Nobel-winner Herta Müller has called for stronger criticism of China; a charity auction is offering the right to name characters in upcoming works; the owner of an LGBT landmark is going from selling books to writing them; a bad mood could make for good writing; and other news.
Buyouts are on the table at the NYT; Amazon will make the Kindle friendlier for the visually impaired; a French library is digitizing its Stendhal manuscripts; the cause of Jane Austen’s death is under question; and other news.
Amazon has scotched reports that it plans to open bricks-and-mortar outlets; five of the nation’s largest publishers have formed a coalition to take on the e-reader market; sub-Saharan Africa’s threatened literary heritage now has a permanent home; one of the world’s most famous LGBT bookstores is closing its doors; and other news.
Plastic Logic has added a bundle of science and tech periodicals to its digital offerings; public outcry in California has led to the limited reopening of two library locations; library cuts are looming in the U.K.; the late Frank McCourt has been honored by Congress; and other news.
The manuscript of A Christmas Carol is at the Morgan in NYC, and online for the first time via the NYT; hard times continue for independent booksellers; the 2010 Canada Reads list has been unveiled; publishing exec Philip Turner is launching a new imprint; Hachette has restructured its Headline brand; and other news.
Google is allowing newspapers and other media sites to limit free access; culture ministers in the EU want a coordinated alternative to private-sector digitization schemes; the rise in e-reader sales is expected to spur a piracy boom; one of Britain’s classic red phone boxes has been reborn as a lending library; and other news.
In October MTV’s college network, mtvU, surprised some of its more literary-minded viewers when it named Iranian poet Simin Behbahani as its next poet laureate. She is only the second poet, following John Ashbery, to hold the honorary post.
