Category: publishing

The government of Chile has returned 3,778 books that its military had taken from Peru’s national library 126 years ago. “Chilean soldiers pillaged the library in 1881 after capturing the Peruvian capital, Lima, during the 1879-1883 War of the Pacific.”

“Mercifully restricted to weekend broadcasts, it is quite possibly the worst channel in the US – worse than the KKK phone-ins and home-made comedy shows on cable access, worse even than C-Span, the non-stop live feed of all the men and women in Congress striving so selflessly to improve the lot of the rich. It’s bad. Really bad.”

“For the second year in a row, HarperCollins has had a poor start to its new fiscal year. Last year, sales fell 6% and earnings dropped 21% in the first quarter, and in the period ended September 30 this year sales fell 11.5%, to $330 million, and operating income plunged 52.8%, to $36 million.”

“Graphic depictions of violence, suicide and sexual assault in two Pat Conroy books are at the heart of a First Amendment debate, pitting offended parents against high school students who object to being told what they can’t read.”

“If the writers strike continues for a long period, some book agents fear that many option deals will be nixed, causing major disruptions in the business. Others worry that the market for new literary materials will dry up altogether, as the major studios dig in for the long haul.”

Ottawa-based author Elizabeth Hay won Canada’s Giller Prize last night, taking home $40,000 for her novel, Late Nights On Air. Hay is no stranger to literary plaudits, having been shortlisted for several high-profile prizes in past years.

Five authors are suing their publisher claiming that Eagle Publishing, which owns Regnery, “orchestrates and participates in a fraudulent, deceptively concealed and self-dealing scheme to divert book sales away from retail outlets and to wholly owned subsidiary organizations within the Eagle conglomerate.”

“Oprah Winfrey has pulled a discredited children’s book, Forrest Carter’s “The Education of Little Tree,” from a list of recommended titles on her Web site, blaming an archival “error” for including a work considered the literary hoax of a white supremacist.”

Gilles Leroy has won the 2007 Goncourt prize, France’s most prestigious literary award, for his novel Alabama Song. “A bigger surprise was delivered when the Renaudot prize, also announced today, went to Daniel Pennac for a memoir, Chagrins d’École, which was not among the titles selected for the final round.”

Some UK public libraries will be stuffing books with flyers. “The inserts are put in the book at the first page as you’re handed the book to check it out. They’re going to be inserted right next to the panel with the return date on it, which means that everyone will look at them at least once.”