The Palestinian poet, author and politician died Saturday night in Houston from complications following heart surgery. Palestinian president Mahmoud Abbas declared three days of mourning yesterday for the man he deemed “the pioneer of the modern Palestinian cultural project.”NYTGuardian
Awards Notes
Michael Chabon, Connie Willis and Ted Chiang are among the winners of this year’s Hugo Awards handed out Saturday night at the World Science Fiction convention in Denver. The Bookseller, taking a cue from the Booker Prize, has opened up voting on the “Diagram of Diagrams” for the oddest book title of the last 30 years.Hugo AwardsThe Bookseller
Olympics, Summer Doldrums Affect Publishing in China
With the Olympic Games well underway in Beijing, the NYT’s Charles McGrath checks in with China’s publishing industry and finds the summer blues are affecting them as well. “Publishing is always a little slow in the summer,” remarks Jo Lusby, the manager of Penguin China. “But there’s also a feeling that right now nobody is paying any attention to books. Some publishing people have just left town.” The Olympics also affected the timing and scheduling of the annual Beijing Book Fair, pushed back to September and moved to Tianjin, an hour away – resulting in “a lot less interest” in […]