The book industry needs to get its act together. Pitched battles between publishers and librarians are not going to help anyone survive the digital revolution. A case in point is the “Boycott HarperCollins” petition posted on the social activism website Change.org.
The email I got yesterday introduces librarian Andy Woodworth, who is using Change.org to help “lead the charge in a fight against NewsCorp":
“See, more and more libraries are beginning to buy e-books… But publishing giant HarperCollins (owned by NewsCorp) is trying to force libraries to only buy e-books that literally self-destruct after the 26th reader in an attempt to maximize profits."
Change.org is hoping for 100,000 signatures. By 9 a.m. this morning, over 50,000 had signed.
Linda Leith
.ll.
Step Five: Ideology
You have to stop making comparisons between this political system and the one you left behind. The one back home may have been funnier to watch, but don’t forget how ineffective it was. So ineffective, in fact, that you decided to leave the country despite the good laugh you had over the political debates. Politics will be less funny in Canada.
Photo: Martine Doyon
It might be that this relationship between writer and publisher is what is most in danger in the digital revolution.
Funerals in Covid times take on a special character. Norman Ravvin writes about what a Jewish funeral is like now, a theme he considers on Polish ground in his recent novel, The Girl Who Stole Everything.
This is award-winning novelist Jennifer Quist's first published translation from Chinese. The text of the story is below, followed by Jenn's comments.
