Abu Dhabi’s long-planned “media zone” has enlisted participation from HarperCollins and Random House, along with the BBC, Financial Times and Thomson Reuters Foundation. The NYT notes, “the campus is intended to be an incubator that will mix Western media companies with billions in Middle Eastern oil money.” Harper “is establishing a presence in Abu Dhabi to capitalize on what the company says is growth in the sale of English-language books in the Middle East.” Spokesperson Eric Crum says they want to “explore the potential of the area and forge relationships.” The press release says that Random House “will be creating […]
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Shorts: Trib Review Moves Again; The Stoker Sequel; Faber Moves and More
– The Chicago Tribune’s book review section has suffered another diminishment. After moving from Sunday to Saturday last year, the standalone section has been merged into a run of “books & media” pages that the appear in the Saturday entertainment section of the paper.E&P – With big deals in the US, UK and Canada, the Guardian looks at the making of Dacre Stoker’s sequel DRACULA: The Un-Dead, written with Ian Holt. The book “draws on excised characters, existing character back-stories and plot threads that were cut from Stoker’s original novel, first published 111 years ago.” It was Holt who persuaded […]
Atlas Faces Money Woes
The Observer reports that Atlas & Co. is postponing the publication of their spring 2009 list due to financial problems, and hopes to publish those titles in the fall instead. Founder Jim Atlas says “our chances look good–it’s a postponement, not a cancellation.” The company is issuing this fall’s titles as planned.Observer
Libel Tourism Bill Clears House
The House of Representatives did action on something recently, passing a libel tourism protection bill on Saturday. Like the orphan works legislation that gained Senate approval on Friday, it’s now a question of whether it can pass the Senate before Congress adjourns. While unlikely, the NYT editorial board is hopeful: “The House of Representatives has passed a good bill that would prevent American courts from enforcing libel judgments obtained in foreign countries if those countries provide less free speech protection than the United States does. The Senate should pass a companion bill before it recesses, and the president should sign […]
Why Banned Books Week Doesn't Challenge
LAT books editor David Ulin is “ambivalent” about Banned Books Week. While “we clearly still need such a public affirmation,” it “offers up the sort of toothless, feel-good spectacle that makes us less likely to consider the actual ramifications of free expression. The basic message here is one of astonishment: Why would anyone ban books when literature is such a positive and ennobling force? Yet while I agree with that, I also believe that some books truly are dangerous, and to ignore that is simply disingenuous.” And to focus on well-loved titles that have been challenged in specific libraries or […]
Scotland Yard Stops Attack on UK MEDINA Publisher
A group of three “Islamic extremists” put a firebomb in the North London home of Gibson Square publisher Martin Rynja late Saturday night, and were promptly arrested by Scotland Yard in “a preplanned intelligence-led operation,” according to a police spokesperson. (The company’s offices are in the same building.) The Sunday Times says “the suspected terror gang was being followed by undercover police and the fire was quickly put out after the fire brigade smashed down the front door.” The police believe Rynja was under attack for his company’s decision to publish Sherry Jones’s THE JEWEL OF MEDINA. Rynja is now […]