In Australia, booksellers and a government commission are seeking to remove the country’s restrictions that give Australian publishers 30 days after the release of book elsewhere in the world to issue an Australian edition (which protects territorial rights and blocks the importing of editions from other countries). The industry response, as the Australian puts it: “The Australian Publishers Association and the Australian Society of Authors are organising a grassroots campaign to educate the public that cheap books will come at a cost to the local industry.”Australian
International News
Enthusiasm at Brazil Literary Festival
Reuters reports on the latest Paraty Literary Festival–founded six years ago by the UK’s Liz Calder–which has “helped transform the town about halfway between Rio de Janeiro and Sao Paulo into a trendy destination and given Brazil a spot on the international literary circuit.” Reuters
Lunch for Wednesday, May 28
McLellan’s Book Criticizes Bush Former White House press secretary Scott McLellan’s book WHAT HAPPENED: Inside the Bush White House and Washington’s Culture of Deception makes headlines after Politico and then the NYT purchased embargoed copies in advance of next week’s release. Politico calls it a “surprisingly scathing memoir” that says Bush “veered terribly off course” and was not “open and forthright on Iraq.” President Bush “convinces himself to believe what suits his needs at the moment” and has engaged in “self-deception,” the NYT writes, and he says “White House officials deceived him about the administration’s involvement in the leaking of […]