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Kobo has plans for an e-reader; a campaign is underway to give Ted Hughes a place in Westminster Abbey; the new iPhone app from Opium features Jack Handey of SNL fame; the relative cheapness of books makes them Americans’ fourth-favorite entertainment; and other news.
The Poetry Foundation has compiled its 2009 best-seller list; an amateur artist is illustrating Moby-Dick, page by page; literary agents are gaining acceptance in French publishing circles; Laredo could start the new year as the nation’s largest city without a bookstore; and other news.
New Jersey’s largest newspaper has a new publisher; France will fund a public-private partnership to digitize its cultural archives; Borders UK is set to close next week; an independent bookstore in NYC is getting a new lease on life; and other news.
The country’s first carbon-positive library has opened; December is Cthulhu Month at Tor Books; the British Library and the BBC are partnering to build a massive digital archive; ‘tis the season for library dance parties; and other news.
Scotland’s version of the Book of Kells is going on public display; even the author of Fahrenheit 451 couldn’t keep a California library open; digital publisher Zinio is looking beyond dedicated e-readers; McSweeney’s newspaper edition is selling out in San Francisco; and other news.
The world’s largest self-publishing firm has signed a deal with On Demand Books, makers of the Espresso Book Machine; former passengers on the “Word Express” will publish a host of collaborative projects next year; two more big publishers have announced e-book delays; and other news.
A library in Washington State is experimenting with an unstaffed “express branch”; social networking site Goodreads has wrapped up a seven-figure fundraiser; a trio of new Brontë films is in the works, thanks to a certain exsanguinary franchise; and other news.
Nobel-winner Herta Müller has called for stronger criticism of China; a charity auction is offering the right to name characters in upcoming works; the owner of an LGBT landmark is going from selling books to writing them; a bad mood could make for good writing; and other news.
Buyouts are on the table at the NYT; Amazon will make the Kindle friendlier for the visually impaired; a French library is digitizing its Stendhal manuscripts; the cause of Jane Austen’s death is under question; and other news.
Amazon has scotched reports that it plans to open bricks-and-mortar outlets; five of the nation’s largest publishers have formed a coalition to take on the e-reader market; sub-Saharan Africa’s threatened literary heritage now has a permanent home; one of the world’s most famous LGBT bookstores is closing its doors; and other news.
