Went from Chilling in Alaska to Doing the Shore in Jersey
In 2008, Karam Youssef established Kotob Khan Publishing to bring out a single book: a collection produced by participants in a creative-writing workshop. The workshop, run by poet and novelist Yasser Abdellatif, was one of several hosted by Youssef’s newly opened Cairo bookshop.
– The National
Read @ The National
Read @ Deseret News
During his career in the publishing industry, Brigham Young University graduate David Miles saw that many of the books he was helping distribute were out of reach for those who needed them the most — so he and his wife, Stephanie, decided to do something about it.
– Desert News
Author Seth McDuffee will never forget when his novel briefly surpassed The Martian as the top-selling book on Amazon’s humorous science fiction category in mid-December. This was no small feat considering Andy Weir’s novel has lingered around countless bestseller lists since his book was adapted into the hit film of the same name in 2015. McDuffee owes much of his literary success to Reddit, where he cultivated and marketed the story that would become Good Boy, the tale of a loud-mouthed, quick-witted so-and-so who dies during a zombie apocalypse.
– Forbes
Read @ Forbes
First opened in Tokyo in 1927, the Japanese bookstore soon became a beloved brand, importing English-language books to its small Japan shop. Eventually it expanded across Asia and the United States, launching offshoots in San Francisco (1969), New York (1981), near Rockefeller Center, and more geared toward Japanese expats and visitors.
– amNY
Read @ amNY
For many students, this week saw the end of the Christmas break and a return to school.
– BBC News
However, one school in Illinois, US, has taken a novel and eye-catching approach to motivating its students in the new year.
Read @ BBC News
Barnes & Noble, Inc. (NYSE:BKS), the world’s largest retail bookseller, today announced that it collected approximately 1.2 million books during its 2018 Holiday Book Drive program. The books are being donated to more than 630 local charities across the country that provide services to children.
– Associated Press
Read @ Associated Press
Steering clear of what she calls “lists of must do’s”, Rowling points out that she found success as an author “by stumbling off alone in a direction most people thought was a dead end, breaking all the 1990s shibboleths about children’s books in the process. Male protagonists are unfashionable. Boarding schools are anathema. No kids’ book should be longer than 45,000 words.” So instead of advising would-be writers what they have to do, she tells them instead what qualities they can’t do without.
The Guardian
Read Full Article @ The Guardian
Follow Ms. Rowling on Twitter @jk_rowling
Read @ Arizona Daily Star
In 1602, brothers Jean and Nicolas Oudot were printers in Troyes, and sustainably minded to boot. Using recycled paper from previously published books, the innovative printmakers created low quality, travel-sized brochures, protected with covers made from used sugarloaf packaging the color of faded denim. These updated editions of classic texts (think fun-sized SparkNotes) this small-format printing model birthed were thus named livres bleus (blue books). Blue books, and the broader Bibliothèque bleue (blue library) publishing house, were made possible through the Oudot brothers’ association with the family of Claude Garnier, who was a Renaissance-era printer of popular literature himself, primarily for the king of France.
…
Continue @ Atlas Obscura
Earlier this week, EW compiled a list of 50 books that deserve to be adapted into a TV show or movie. The list of great books that haven’t yet been adapted is, of course, even longer than that. The stories of Judy Blume, for instance, have remained on the page despite millions of sales and dozens of awards. That might change soon, however. Blume tweeted on Thursday that she was meeting with “many talented people” in Los Angeles about possible adaptations. She even asked her followers to chime in with suggestions for which of her books they would like to see on screen.
…
Continue @ EW.com