“Children’s books are looking healthy in a market which is shrinking slightly in the recession. Annual figures from [Nielsen] BookScan show children’s book sales in 2009 were up 4.9% in volume and picture book sales were up by 13% on 2008.” Children’s titles have also grown in popularity at libraries.
Author: Laura Collins Hughes
Haitian Catastrophe Illuminates Role Of Text Donations
“So far, people have donated more than $3 million to relief organizations just by sending text messages. … Haitian-born musician Wyclef Jean was the first to kick off what quickly became the largest mobile phone giving campaign in history.” There are advantages and disadvantages to giving that way.
Why Was NY Phil So Hush-Hush About Guest Clarinetist?
“A deep-seated sense of secrecy permeates auditions, a result of laudable efforts to eliminate bias and favoritism.” But when the New York Philharmonic refused to identify a candidate, the Minnesota Orchestra’s Burt Hara, after he played a solo in a public concert, “the inherent tensions within the orchestra beast” became manifest.
Getty Museum’s Italian Court Battle: Did J. Paul Know?
In “a 1976 letter … one of J. Paul Getty’s closest advisors refers to the museum’s ‘exploits over the bronze statue’ as a ‘crime.’ The letter and other documents uncovered by a Times reporter show that the billionaire oilman and another potential buyer were troubled by the questionable legal status of the statue.”
Eli Broad Keeps His Museum-Building Options Open
“In an interview Tuesday,” Eli “Broad unexpectedly revealed the third site” he’s considering for his museum: “a 10-acre parcel on the campus of West L.A. College in Culver City.” But “West L.A. College President Mark Rocha says neither Broad nor any of his associates ever replied to a letter he wrote to them last November about the property.”
AFI Fest’s 3 Top Staffers Resign, Citing Too-Tight Budget
“The radical idea of not charging for tickets, underwriting the festival largely through sponsorship money, drew surprisingly strong crowds to even the most difficult and obscure films.” The resignations “indicate a rift between the AFI Fest and the larger organization of the American Film Institute, which … had been experiencing financial woes even before the recession.”
Dietmar Schwarz Tapped To Run Berlin’s Deutsche Oper
“Under Schwarz, 53, [Theater] Basel was chosen last year as ‘Opera House of the Year’ in the German-speaking world in a survey of critics…. The Deutsche Oper, the largest of Berlin’s three opera houses and the second biggest in Germany with 1,865 seats, hired Donald Runnicles as the new music director this season.”
Edward Hall Is Named A.D. Of Hampstead Theatre
“Hall, son of former National Theatre and Royal Shakespeare Company director Peter Hall, is best known for his work with all-male Shakespeare company Propeller, which has recently staged well-received productions of The Taming of the Shrew, Twelfth Night and The Merchant of Venice.”
Triennale Design Museum To Open On MoMA’s Block
“The Milan-based Triennale Design Museum has signed a 15-year lease for 18,067 square feet at 40 W. 53rd Street, to open a four level museum. The space will be the Triennale’s first location in the United States, and its third overall.”
Why Having A Bookstore Matters To Laredo, Texas
As Laredo loses its only bookstore, the need for a local brick-and-mortar bookseller may seem unclear to outsiders — but not to the locals.