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Authors and editors took part in a spelling-bee this week to raise money for the CLMP; Britain’s independent bookstores may be doing better than reported, but some are concerned about the threat posed by new business taxes; echoing Amazon, B&N has declared its e-reader a best-seller, too; and other news.
A literary scavenger hunt is underway in the Twin Cities; a French minister wants the EU to formulate a collective response to Google and its ilk; “Twitterfiction” is winning fans and detractors; Augusten Burroughs has more TV adaptations in the works; and other news.
One small press is winning praise while another is giving books away; Asus is looking to undercut competitors with a budget e-reader; Aussie publishers are planning their own e-book distribution system; Pennsylvania libraries are still suffering; Portland’s biggest daily is getting a new publisher; and other news.
B&N and Adobe are pushing for e-book standardization; an overdue U.K. library study now has a November deadline; Canada’s stimulus plans include library expansion; Anne of Green Gables returns officially and unofficially; Mexico spent decades snooping on García Márquez; and other news.
Former head of PEN Canada John Ralston Saul has been elected president of International PEN; Amazon has unveiled a Kindle app for PC users; a TV channel has enlisted a cadre of (deceased) literary greats to present the news; independent Indian publishers are banding together; and other news.
Hewlett-Packard is getting serious about print-on-demand; an Orange County school district is considering an Angelou book ban; Jack Kerouac is the subject of a new documentary with a star-studded soundtrack; don’t mess with Paul Zukofsky’s intellectual property; and other news.
The “Written in California” reading series gets underway this week in Pasadena; an Ohio law is being challenged on free expression grounds; Philip Roth made a surprise appearance during a tour named in his honor; the Frankfurt Book Fair official at the center of the Chinese dissident controversy has been fired; and other news.
The B&N “Kindle-killer” is due on Tuesday; Turkey is hoping to boost the Istanbul Book Fair; NYU aims for the first all-digital academic library; private publishers are “legal” in China (but the state still controls ISBN numbers); and other news.
Frankfurt debates deepen trans-Atlantic copyright rifts; Penguin Canada is reshuffled with a series of promotions; Kinky Friedman runs for governor (again); Yann Martel’s two-man book club begets a book; and other news.
A CEO is named for the new Penguin International subsidiary; Columbia and Cornell announce a joint library project; the Kiwi canon gets digitized; Barnes & Noble will shutter its B. Dalton stores; Britain’s Society of Authors says e-book royalties are too small; and other news.
