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The National Book Critics Circle sent out an update about their plans, after 15 board members resigned earlier this week in a controversy stemming from the drafting of an anti-racism statement. Jane Ciabattari will serve as temporary president until the board can be reestablished, with Richard Santos, vp of membership as the official spokesperson for the board. Gregg Barrios has been elected vp of diversity and inclusion, leading “efforts to make the NBCC a safer, more welcome, and more inclusive space for all.” Carlin Romano remains on the board. They note that “there have been many inquiries about governance structure […]

NBCC board members Jessica Loudis and Megan Labrise confirmed to PL that they too among the numerous resignations from the board that began last week stemming from the drafting of an anti-racism statement. On Monday afternoon, Ismail Muhammad also posted his resignation. So far, at least 13 members of what had been a 24-person board have stepped down. Muhammad writes in a thread, “I’m sad to announce my resignation from the board of @bookcritics. The message that went out to members this past weekend, which did not denounce Carlin Romano’s racist email, has made it clear to me that the […]

National Book Critics Circle president Laurie Hertzel resigned on Saturday after last week’s controversy stemming from the drafting of an anti-racism statement and internal emails objecting to parts of that statement. At least eight board members have now resigned so far, including Hope Wabuke, who made the emails public. Carlo Romano, widely inferred as the author of the email posted by Wabuke, has confirmed that to the AP. Hertzel resignation letter is controversial on its own, since she stepped down over “process” and “confidence” rather than racism. She wrote to members that the board was “trying to work out the […]

National Book Critics Circle board member Hope Wabuke resigned on Thursday, over remarks made by a longtime board member and former board president in an email thread, discussing objections to an anti-racism statement that was in draft form from an NBCC working committee. Following her resignation, that working committee posted on the NBCC’s website, “In the course of our committee’s discussion with the rest of the board, a Board Member responded to the statement with an email that many of us saw as racist. Before a planned vote on the statement today, details from the board’s internal discussion were released […]

Penguin Random House has joined Lagardere Publishing, Simon & Schuster, HarperCollins, Macmillan and others in announcing it will not attend Frankfurt Book Fair this year. They said in a statement, “As a long-time annual participant in the Frankfurt Book Fair, who believes in its enduring value and importance, Penguin Random House greatly regrets it will neither exhibit at this year’s Fair, nor attend in person, to protect the health and well-being of our employees, authors, and partners. Our companies will strive to support the Fair’s virtual activities this October.”

Corvisiero Literary founder and ceo Marisa Corvisiero has fired her entire staff following a Twitter controversy about recent Black Lives Matter protests. On Wednesday, Corvisiero wrote in a post that has since been deleted, “This is how you do it. Make your point, take a stand and don’t hurt other people or damage property in the process. No violence is acceptable ever. The whole point is to be heard and seen to make things better.” Following the post, agents Amy Giuffrida and Saritza Hernandez resigned from the agency. Giufffrida tweeted on Thursday, “Yesterday I made the difficult decision to leave […]