The NYT looked at the controversy over Norma Stevens and Steven Aronson’s Avedon: Something Personal, which we covered before the break. Publisher Spiegel & Grau adds to their earlier statement, now denying the Avedon Foundation’s claim that the book was mistakenly based in part on an unfinished autobiographical novel Avedon had worked on: “Norma Stevens did not copy or use a Richard Avedon novel in any way in writing Avedon: Something Personal. The Avedon Foundation has made loose, unsubstantiated allegations of copyright infringement without presenting any documented instances of substantial similarity between our book and another work.” But no one else seems to […]
Books In the News
February Bookseller Picks
Amazon’s February Best Books of the Month designates Ethan Canin’s splendid new novel A Doubter’s Almanac as its spotlight pick while its featured debut is The Girl in the Red Coat by Kate Hamer. The rest of its top choices are: Narconomics: How to Run a Drug Cartel, by Tom Wainwright All the Birds in the Sky, by Charlie Jane Anders My Father, the Pornographer, by Chris Offutt The Black Calhouns, by Gail Lumet Buckley Walking the Nile, by Levison Wood Perfect Days, by Raphael Montes Morning Star, by Pierce Brown The Forgetting Time, by Sharon Guskin Green Island, by […]
Police Investigating Purported Theft of Finished Copy of EL James’ GREY
UK police are looking into the theft of a printed copy of EL James’s new novel GREY, which will be published June 18 by Vintage in the US and Arrow in the UK. “We can confirm that the Kent police are investigating the theft of a finished copy of EL James’s new book Grey,” a spokesperson for Penguin Random House UK told the Bookseller, adding there would be no further comment on the matter. A Kent police spokesperson told the publication the department was “making enquiries” into the purported theft. The finished copy was apparently discovered missing on Monday, June 8, with […]
Dunham’s Book to Clarify Alleged Rapist Is A Pseudonym
Lena Dunham’s debut book NOT THAT KIND OF GIRL continues to generate headlines on controversial topics. Random House announced it will alter future editions of the book to indicate that “Barry,” the name of a fellow Oberlin student alleged to have sexually assaulted Dunham, is a pseudonym. “We have put the change in process,” the publisher said in a statement. “The digital edition of Not That Kind of Girl will reflect that ‘Barry’ is a pseudonym. Future printings of the physical book will also have that change.” The problem arose when the conservative website Breitbart published an “investigative report” that […]
Controversy Widens After Penguin India Pulls Doniger’s THE HINDUS
Penguin India’s recent decision to withdraw Wendy Doniger’s HINDUS: An Alternative History nearly five years after its 2009 publication has naturally attracted attention and controversy. The publisher agreed to immediately withdraw and pulp Doniger’s book, ensuring it is fully removed from the market in India over the next six months, after reaching a legal settlement with an organization called Shiksha Bachao Andolan. The group found the book insulting to Hindus and had waged a three-year court battle in India with the publisher, bringing both civil and criminal actions. The settlement does not affect editions published outside of India, so the […]
People, Etc.
Mary Beth Roche has been promoted to vp, president and publisher at Macmillan Audio, and will continue to oversee the Quick and Dirty Tips website and podcast business as well as the Macmillan Speakers Bureau. JK Rowling is suing the Daily Mail for libel over an article from last fall that “misrepresented her comments” about single motherhood and caused her “great distress and embarrassment.” According to the Guardian, Rowling believes the Mail story, headlined “How JK Rowling’s sob story about her past as a single mother has left the churchgoers who cared for her upset and bewildered”, was “premised on […]