PEN and PRH sue a Florida school district over book banning (This week in books) - Nathan Bransford

PEN and PRH sue a Florida school district over book banning (This week in books) – Nathan Bransford


PEN and PRH sue a Florida school district over book banning (This week in books) - Nathan Bransford IMG 0223

This week! Books!

Big information this week as PEN America, Penguin Random House, and a group of authors have filed suit against the Escambia County School District for violating the equal safety clause in the Constitution by concentrating on disproportionately nonwhite and LGBTQ authors with book bans. This is a vital authorized salvo in the midst of a nationally organized conservative book banning craze. In associated information, Jeffrey Fleishman on the LA Times profiles two Florida mothers fighting the good fight against the fascists.

Meanwhile, the children are alright, not less than once they’re very cool young writers staging guerrilla literary popups around Los Angeles.

An extra replace to final weekend’s controversy over New Leaf Literary’s dealing with of agent Jordan Hamessley’s departure. The Authors Guild released a statement that New Leaf has agreed that authors who’re at present on submission, beneath contract, or pre-contract can select to stay so with New Leaf or pursue illustration elsewhere.

As new data has come to mild, I stay of the opinion that New Leaf may have dealt with the essential preliminary communication to authors higher, however I don’t assume it’s good for anybody concerned if brokers are compelled to symbolize initiatives they’re not keen about, apart from agnostic custodial roles like dealing with contracts and royalty statements. Some unpleasantness is inevitable in these conditions. This can also be all indicative of a broader publishing recreation of musical chairs because it’s more durable and more durable to put new books.

Publishing tongues have been a-wagging at AI writing firm Sudowrite’s demo of their new Story Engine writing tool for novels. Even as a lot as I really like expertise, I simply can’t shake my skepticism of the textual content AI is at present outputting and assume it’s an unproductive technological cul-de-sac. Particularly when that is the crappy (and sexist) writing the AI generates in Sudowrite’s personal demo:

PEN and PRH sue a Florida school district over book banning (This week in books) - Nathan Bransford Screenshot 2023 05 19 at 11.05.04 AM

Harry, the expat from England weirdos insist on calling “Prince” as a result of arbitrary nature of his start, employed J. R. Moehringer to ghostwrite his memoir Spare, and Moehringer wrote an interesting long essay for The New Yorker peeling again the thriller and emotional labor round that association.

Sarah McCarry wrote on mild, time, music, and reminiscence, so naturally that’s a must-read.

Emily St. Martin on the LA Times recommends 6 new books to check out during AAPI month.

In agent recommendation information, Jessica and James at BookEnds mentioned the things successful authors do (I really like that they begin with “they’re well-read”), and Kate McKean has some actually good recommendation about how to know if your agent is the problem. (Here are my entries on the way to know you probably have a good agent and the way to know when to go away your agent).

And RIP to Heather Armstrong, aka Dooce, whose impact on blogging culture, #Influencing, and perceptions of motherhood is hard to overstate. I met Heather a few occasions again in the running a blog heyday of yesteryear and this tragic information was a actual punch to the intestine.

This week in bestsellers

Here are the highest 5 NY Times bestsellers in a few key classes. (All hyperlinks are affiliate hyperlinks):

Adult print and e-book fiction:

  1. Happy Place by Emily Henry
  2. It Ends With Us by Colleen Hoover
  3. The Making of Another Motion Picture Masterpiece by Tom Hanks
  4. Fourth Wing by Rebecca Yarros
  5. Lessons in Chemistry by Bonnie Gamus

Adult print and e-book nonfiction:

  1. Spare by Prince Harry
  2. The Wager by David Grann
  3. The Daddy Diaries by Andy Cohen
  4. The Light We Carry by Michelle Obama
  5. The Body Keeps the Score by Bessel van der Kolk

Young grownup hardcover:

  1. Solitaire by Alice Oseman
  2. Five Survive by Holly Jackson
  3. Warrior Girl Unearthed by Angeline Boulley
  4. Imogene, Obviously by Becky Albertalli
  5. Nick and Charlie by Alice Oseman

Middle grade hardcover:

  1. The Sun and the Star by Rick Riordan and Mark Oshiro
  2. The Eyes and the Impossible by Dave Eggers
  3. Refugee by Alan Gratz
  4. Wonder by R.J. Palacio
  5. Skandar and the Phantom Rider by A.F. Steadman

This week on the weblog

In case you missed them, listed here are this week’s posts:

Don’t neglect which you could nominate your first web page and question for a free critique on the weblog:

And sustain with the dialogue in all of the locations!

And lastly, one fascinating use I discover for AI is in the potential of with the ability to have one-on-one conversations with as many individuals as potential. As an editor: yeah, I can see how this may be helpful. Of course, the first use case for this technology is pretty yeesh.

Have a nice weekend!

Need assist along with your book? I’m out there for manuscript edits, question critiques, and teaching!

For my finest recommendation, take a look at my online classes, my guide to writing a novel and my guide to publishing a book.

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Photo: The Huntington, San Marino, CA. Follow me on Instagram!

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