• AMANI: Africa Creative Defence Network launches to defend free speech – PEN

    As authoritarian regimes crackdown on dissent, artists and creatives are bearing the brunt of the pressure, finding themselves at risk of threats, harassment, arrest, imprisonment, torture, and even death because of their creative work. This has become only more of a reality during the COVID-19 pandemic, as governments exploit “emergency powers” to silence criticism.   […]

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  • Coronavirus Update: The UK Scraps Its 20-Percent VAT on Digital Books

    A rare benefit of COVID-19, the UK’s government has wiped out the market’s punishing 20-percent VAT on digital publications, making ebooks more affordable amid #StayAtHome restrictions.   Windows in east London’s Leyton district carry messages of hope in the coronavirus COVID-19 pandemic, an April 26 shot. Image – iStockphoto: Marcos Casado By Porter Anderson, Editor-in-Chief […]

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  • CLNZ/NZSA $25,000 Writers’ Award 2020

    Applications Open Early to Support Writers   $25,000 award to a New Zealand writer one of the highest non-fiction prizes in New Zealand literature presented by the New Zealand Society of Authors (NZSA) and Copyright Licensing New Zealand (CLNZ) brought forward by three months to support NZ writers CLNZ and NZSA have brought forward the application process for […]

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  • In its World Intellectual Property Day statement, the IPA warns against ‘a pretext of emergency access.’

    In News by Porter AndersonApril 27, 2020 IPA on Intellectual Property Day: ‘How Much Value Publishers Bring’ French citizens wait to enter a shop in Chartres under lockdown restrictions on April 4. Image – iStockphoto: Razvan ‘When We Need a Strong Legal Framework’ The springtime march of international issue observance days—as we wrote in our […]

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  • Storylines Notable Book Awards 2020 – virtual flyer now available

    Storylines Notable Books List 2020     The 2020 Storylines Notable Books List, for the highest quality books in five genres published during 2019, is now available online.   It is compiled by the Storylines Children’s Literature Charitable Trust from over 110 entries from publishers by expert panels of authors, teachers, librarians, academics and parents. […]

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  • World Book and Copyright Day – international news

    By Porter Anderson, Editor-in-Chief | @Porter_Anderson FEP Predicts a 25-Percent Loss of Revenue   Much of the World Book and Copyright Day messaging of the past 25 years since UNESCO approved the observance has been given to reveries about the charms of reading—especially with your children. A UNESCO proclamation approved at the agency’s Paris general […]

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  • The NZ Coalition for Books launches digital campaign to support NZ writing and reading and bookseller – Buy Local!

    The Coalition for Books has prepared a set of digital assets to support local bookshops, writers and publishers. Right-click on the images or follow the links to full-size images (recommended for best resolution). Please share wildly and support our local literary economy!                             […]

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  • Riordans to Match Up to $100,000 in Donations to #SaveIndieBookstores

    Rick and Becky Riordan have announced a personal matching gift challenge for the #SaveIndieBookstores campaign, in which they will match each dollar raised up to US$100,000. The Binc fundraising campaign was launched with a donation by James Patterson. Fundraising began on April 2 and runs through April 30. Riordan, who is the bestselling author of […]

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  • Michael Gifkins Prize for an Unpublished Novel – Longlist announcement!

    The New Zealand Society of Authors Te Puni Kaituhi O Aotearoa PEN NZ Inc and Text Publishing are delighted to announce the longlist for the Michael Gifkins Prize for an Unpublished Novel 2020. The longlisted writers are: Coral Atkinson, Whitney Cox, David Coyle, Juliana Feaver, Giovanna (Gigi) Fenster, Robin Harding, Maria Joseph, Rudy Castaneda Lopez, […]

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  • Women’s Prize for Fiction shortlist 2020 led by Mantel, Evaristo and O’Farrell

    Finalists for the £30,000 prize announced after ‘a long Zoom meeting’ were praised by judges for engaging with the biggest contemporary issues Alison Flood     Tue 21 Apr 2020   Challenging … (from left) Bernardine Evaristo, Maggie O’Farrell, Hilary Mantel. Composite: Alamy, Rex, David Levene Set in an Elizabethan England haunted by the threat of […]

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  • Nosy Crow’s Free Digital Book for Kids About COVID-19 Takes Off

    from Publishing Perspectives  by Olivia Snaije With Axel Scheffler’s illustrations and Hugh Bonneville’s narration, Nosy Crow’s ‘Coronavirus: A Book for Children’ has been downloaded more than 700,000 times. Illustration by Axel Scheffler for ‘Coronavirus: A Book for Children,’ Nosy Crow Editor’s note: At this writing, the Johns Hopkins Coronavirus Resource Center indicates that the United […]

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  • Joy Cowley in this not-to-be-missed NZSA Oral History Podcast episode

    “…there was a year when the export of children’s books from this country was more than the export of wine…” In the latest episode of the NZSA Oral History Podcast Season 3 we hear from Dame Joy Cowley. Joy is one of New Zealand’s most loved and recognised authors, having published over six hundred titles […]

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