Tag: 04.24.20

@PublishersWeakly Skewers The Publishing World With Uncomfortable Critique

“As it currently stands, the publishing industry largely serves the interests of the wealthiest higher-ups, and that is the entire reason for any financial strain on publishers without the capital of a corporation. The larger publishers could easily take the risks that smaller publishers do. The only reason for smaller presses to be working with less is because that’s simply how the system has been engineered to function.” – Electric Lit

New Online Sales Hub For Indie Bookstores Is Doing Great Business, But Not All Is Well

“Bookshop launched in January with the intention of offering independent bookstores an improved online commerce hub that will help them woo customers away from Amazon. … The site has seen a 2,000% increase in sales in the past month compared to the month before and has become a lifeline for many stores that have been temporarily closed by the Covid-19 pandemic. … Despite its success, the site has critics.” – Publishers Weekly

There’s A Brilliant Ballet Choreographer At Dance Theater Of Harlem. Why Isn’t The Rest Of The Ballet World Using Him?

Robert Garland, the company’s resident choreographer and director of its school, “for all of his talent, is still one of the most underused choreographers working today, which is odd in a time that diversity has come to matter so much to the ballet world,” writes Gia Kourlas. “Why isn’t [his] phone ringing off the hook?” – The New York Times

Edward James Olmos Thinks Hollywood Needs To Step Up Its Understanding Of Latinx Actors

The Oscar nominee (for Stand and Deliver) is quarantining alone and promoting a virtual film festival in Los Angeles. Of his friends who are Latino actors, he says, “We want to be known as American actors. That’d be the correct way, but it isn’t. And I knew it would never be in my lifetime. I knew that we had to first be known as American Latinos, and carry that very strongly and proudly, for us to then be able to not have to use it anymore.” – The New York Times

Furloughed SFMOMA Staff Ask Management To Do More

The staff want to more info, and they want to see more sacrifices from the folks at the top. “Although the federal loan received by the museum may offer some relief, SFMOMA’s workers continue to ask the questions that have resounded across the cultural sector for weeks: why, with such wealth, are museums choosing to leave staff in the lurch, many of whom held tenuous positions to begin with? And why aren’t their wealthy benefactors, to whom a handful of millions represents a minimal fraction of their assets, help sustain them?” – Hyperallergic

The Author Of A Book ABout Misogynistic Abuse Also Is Hit With A Mountain Of Online Abuse

The alt-right troll army has found, and targeted, the author of a book about abuse. She says, “I knew the book needed to be written – but I didn’t know it needed to be written this badly. The targeted attacks from men in the last week have been appalling. I will always centre women in my work and I will keep making misogynists uncomfortable.”  – The Guardian (UK)

French Directors And Distributors Are Thrilled By The Confinement’s ‘Return’ To Cinema

“We can only welcome a massive return of heritage cinema to France Télévisions in this very special period. Let us hope that this frantic desire continues in post-confinement,” they write. But, they add, why aren’t the channels diversifying their offerings with contemporary filmmakers (and not just from France) instead of simply returning to the 1970s? – Le Monde