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Employees of Verso Books announced that on November 25 they got voluntary recognition from management to join The Washington-Baltimore News Guild. The statement says, “In the coming weeks, they will begin contract negotiations.” Following “a concurrent unionization effort by the workers of Verso’s UK office” those employees are represented by the National Union of Journalists in London. Verso senior publicist Julia Judge says in the announcement: “The decision to unionize felt especially urgent now, as our staff both grows significantly in size and grows more remote. We’re excited to join our colleagues who have already begun organizing across the industry […]

Macmillan Children’s is closing their imprint called Imprint, founded by Erin Stein in late 2014. A representative told PL, “Six positions will be eliminated as of December 1. As a result of this change, we have also decreased the size of our marketing team and three positions have been eliminated as of November 14. We plan to publish all books acquired by Imprint under other imprints at MCPG.” Macmillan had substantial layoffs “across the organization” this spring when the pandemic first hit. But when John Sargent was dismissed in September over “disagreements regarding the direction of the company,” parent company […]

The vote to remove Carlin Romano from the board of the National Book Critics Circle fell 9 votes short of the two-third of ballots required for removal, and he will continue to serve until his term is up in 2022. Only about 28 percent of members voted, and the 104 votes for removal comprised 62 percent of the vote tally. As the organization notes, “Proxy voting was a major factor in the outcome.” People voting at the meeting itself went 72 percent for removal, but collected proxy votes were only 39 percent for removal. The board declared in its report […]

Members of the National Book Critics Circle will vote on Carlin Romano’s removal from the board on Monday afternoon. A meeting will be held on Zoom at 5 pm EDT to discuss the situation, followed by a secret ballot. Romano wrote a lengthy open letter to members on Monday morning, giving his side of the controversy, which began in June with the drafting of an anti-racist statement. “I don’t believe I’ve done anything that remotely resembles what non-profit law or courts interpret as the rigorous standard of ’cause,'” Romano writes in an introduction to the letter. “My crime is to […]