Every day Poets & Writers Magazine scans the headlines—from publishing reports to academic announcements to literary dispatches—for all the news that creative writers need to know. Here are today's stories:
A judge has denied a request from Spring Design—which alleges that aspects of its upcoming “Alex” e-reader were copied by Barnes & Noble—to halt the sale of the Nook, but did acknowledge grounds for a “genuine dispute” (Engadget).
A village in Somerset, England, has turned a traditional red phone box into a miniature book exchange (BBC).
In response to complaints from media owners (most notably Rupert Murdoch) that its search service profits by allowing free access to proprietary content, Google is letting publishers restrict its users to no more than five free articles a day (Associated Press).
After meeting with his European counterparts last Friday, French culture minister Frederic Mitterrand says that a “committee of wise men” is needed to map out an EU-wide digitization strategy (International Business Times).
British publishers are trying to combat e-book piracy—which is expected to swell as e-readers gain popularity—with an online tool that logs infringements (Times).
Two versions of Vladimir Nabokov’s posthumous, fragmentary novel, The Original of Laura, have gone on sale this week in the author’s native Russia (Associated Press).
DailyLit, which serializes books via e-mail and RSS, has ditched its subscription model in favor of a free, sponsor-supported service (DailyLit Blog).
After the defeat last month of a ballot initiative to raise funding, four of the seven area branches of the Aurora Public Library in Colorado are facing closure by the end of the year (Library Journal).
