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:
With the revised Google Book Search settlement expected today, the Open Book Alliance—which comprises Amazon, Microsoft, and the National Writers Union, among other groups—has released a set of “baseline requirements” for the new deal (Press Release [2]). Changes to the controversial arrangement are expected to include an “opt-in” provision for foreign publishers (Bookseller [3]).
New budget proposals could offer hope for threatened branches of the Carnegie Library of Pittsburgh, city officials said last week (Library Journal [4]).
In an unusual move, the New York Times Book Review [5] has published the full text of a letter from author Mark Danner alleging that the weekly violated “journalistic fairness” with its review of Danner’s Stripping Bare the Body (Nation, 2009) last month (Huffington Post [6]).
Financial straits have forced the twenty-sixth annual Miami Book Fair International [7]—which began yesterday and runs through November 15—to cut poetry, music, and the traditional kick-off parade from its schedule (Associated Press [8]).
The Paris Review announced on Friday that Philip Gourevitch, editor of the literary quarterly for the last five years, will step down from his post in April to write full-time (Los Angeles Times [9]).
Citing overwhelming demand, Barnes & Noble has again pushed back the shipping date for preorders of its Nook reading device (Wall Street Journal [10]).
Facing a hostile economic climate, a dozen academic publishers in the U.K. are among those organizing to create a Europe-wide University Press Association (Bookseller [11]).
The House Judiciary Committee won praise last week from the American Library Association when it approved a series of amendments to the USA Patriot Act, but the bill still needs to survive votes in the full House and Senate (Library Journal [12]).