James Patterson spoke to The Times in promoting his recently-released memoir: “Today, though, he worries that it is hard for white men to get writing gigs in film, theatre, TV or publishing. “The problem is ‘just another form of racism. What’s that all about?’ he muses. ‘Can you get a job? Yes. Is it harder? Yes. It’s even harder for older writers. You don’t meet many 52-year-old white males.’ “Patterson disapproves of actors and public figures spouting off ignorantly about subjects they have gleaned off the internet, but says, ‘I’m almost always on the side of free speech.’ He was […]
Archives for June 2022
Pen America Union Wins Voluntary Recognition
Pen America United, the Pen America employees’ union, has been officially recognized by management and now moves on to negotiate a contract. In a Medium post, the union wrote that they demanded voluntary recognition on December 9 and have been negotiating since. “We want to work towards a Pen that commits to providing fair and equitable compensation, including clear and consistent policies around salary minimums, increases, and promotions,” they wrote. “A Pen that adequately addresses the root causes of burnout and secondary trauma, and promotes an organizational culture of transparency, equity, and responsiveness.” Pen America had an annual income of $12.3 million […]
Costa Book Awards End After 50 Years
The Costa Book Awards, founded in 1971 and sponsored by Costa Coffee since 2005, have been cancelled. Costa wrote in the announcement, “After 50 years of celebrating some of the most enjoyable books written by hugely talented authors from across the UK and Ireland, Costa Coffee has taken the difficult decision to end the Costa Book Awards. This means that the 2021 Costa Book Awards held in February 2022 was our 50th and final awards.” They continue, “We are incredibly proud to have played a part in supporting some of the best-selling authors of the last 50 years as well as […]
People 6/10
People 6/9
Callie Garnett has been promoted to editorial director at Bloomsbury.
NYT Begins to Clarify Reporting that Relates to Book Research, Continues to “Prioritize Newsworthy Information” For Readers
Ever since Bob Woodward waited until the September release of his book RAGE to break the news that he first learned in February 2020 Donald Trump already knew Covid-19 was far deadlier than the flu — even as he was publicly dismissing Covid-19 as a non-issue — media critics and general readers have been increasingly questioning similar instances in which timely and relevant information is uncovered by journalists but held for publication until their books release. So it’s a potential bellwether initiative that the New York Times is more actively evaluating when and how to share and contextualize book-related reporting […]