Censorship or context? Australian book industry wrestles with how to refresh outdated classics

Australia has a history of removing controversial elements from children’s texts, but the question of whether they should be edited is not easy to answerGet our morning and afternoon news emails, free app or daily news podcastThe news this week that some works of bestselling children’s author Roald Dahl will be edited to remove language deemed offensive – and the eventual decision to keep the original versions in print – has sparked global debate about editing classic texts to reflect contemporary values.Gone under the changes are descriptions such as “fat” for Charlie and the Chocolate Factory’s Augustus Gloop, replaced by “enormous”, prompting a furious reaction and accusations of “absurd censorship”.Sign up for Guardian Australia’s free morning and afternoon email newsletters for your daily news roundup Continue reading... Continue reading at 'The Guardian'

[ The Guardian | 2023-02-25 23:00:04 UTC ]

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Yorkshire Tea signs Gruffalo licensing deal

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[ The Bookseller | 2015-03-10 00:00:00 UTC ]
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Russia’s Year of Literature Fighting “Toughest Test in Decades”

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[ Publishing Perspectives | 2015-03-09 00:00:00 UTC ]
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Wattpad launches After Dark app

Online writing site Wattpad is launching a free app that offers romance writing for adults, called After Dark. After Dark gives readers access to thousands of romance stories written by published authors and popular Wattpad writers. It contains content-specific channels such as LGBTQ, Urban,... Continue reading at The Bookseller

[ The Bookseller | 2015-02-27 00:00:00 UTC ]
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'PW' Panel Looks at 'The Internet of Books'

The panel, “The Bookternet: Building Communities Online,” examined the ways that online book culture has transformed the book industry, offering both opportunities and pitfalls for publishers. Continue reading at Publishers Weekly

[ Publishers Weekly | 2015-02-10 00:00:00 UTC ]
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France overhauls its book industry subsidies

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[ The Bookseller | 2015-02-03 00:00:00 UTC ]
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Amazon Kindle Textbook Creator turns authors into teachers (and vice versa)

While ebooks are everywhere, electronic textbooks never really caught on, despite their potential to bring immersive learning at a lower cost. Amazon is trying to change that with the Kindle Textbook Creator, a free app from its newly formed Kindle ... Continue reading at Engadget

[ Engadget | 2015-01-23 00:00:00 UTC ]
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Can an Oil-and-Gas Exec Disrupt the Book Business?

Bangkok-based Gordon Ross says disrupting the book industry is a business challenge, and has launched Bleeding Heart Publications to test his instincts. The post Can an Oil-and-Gas Exec Disrupt the Book Business? appeared first on Publishing Perspectives. Continue reading at Publishing Perspectives

[ Publishing Perspectives | 2014-12-12 00:00:00 UTC ]
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News Corp Sees More Growth for HarperCollins

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[ Publishers Weekly | 2014-12-10 00:00:00 UTC ]
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Bloomsbury's Charkin warns of industry 'monopolisation'

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[ The Bookseller | 2014-11-04 00:00:00 UTC ]
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Never-before-published section of 'Charlie and the Chocolate Factory' is available for reading

The children's book by Roald Dahl is celebrating its 50th anniversary this year. Continue reading at The Christian Science Monitor

[ The Christian Science Monitor | 2014-09-03 00:00:00 UTC ]
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VIDEO: Dahl: Charlie chapters discovered

The discovery of new unpublished chapters reveals author Roald Dahl planned to include more children in his classic children's book Charlie and the Chocolate Factory but dropped them from the final version. Continue reading at BBC News

[ BBC News | 2014-08-30 00:00:00 UTC ]
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Lost chapter of Charlie and the Chocolate Factory published

Chapter with more characters and Quentin Blake illustration deemed 'too wild' for British children appears for first timeA lost chapter of Charlie and the Chocolate Factory, deemed too wild, subversive and insufficiently moral for the tender minds of British children almost 50 years ago, has... Continue reading at The Guardian

[ The Guardian | 2014-08-30 00:00:00 UTC ]
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Liberio review: Turn your Google Docs into a published ebook

Now that eBooks have enabled anyone to be a published author, more would-be scribes are submitting their work directly through digital storefronts like Kindle Direct Publishing. Yet even with this radical change in the book industry, the e-publishing process is hardly simple. In fact the... Continue reading at PC World

[ PC World | 2014-08-27 00:00:00 UTC ]
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Amazon's Russell Grandinetti: Kindle champ takes on the books trade | Observer profile

Why are some of the world's most widely read authors now at daggers drawn with Amazon? The answer lies in Jeff Bezos's chief lieutenant, now the most powerful man in publishingEarlier this year, Amazon threw a party at the Metropolitan Museum of Art in New York to celebrate the launch of Alpha... Continue reading at The Guardian

[ The Guardian | 2014-08-17 00:00:00 UTC ]
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Publisher defends Dahl book cover

Penguin has defended its decision to use an image of a doll-like young girl on the cover of a new edition of Charlie and the Chocolate Factory. Continue reading at BBC News

[ BBC News | 2014-08-08 00:00:00 UTC ]
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Monthly StatShot, March 2014

The first quarter of 2014 was a mixed period for the book industry, based on sales reports from the 1,218 publishers that take part in AAP’s StatShot program. Continue reading at Publishers Weekly

[ Publishers Weekly | 2014-07-18 00:00:00 UTC ]
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Is Selling Direct Worth It?

The relaunch of the HarperCollins website, redesigned with an emphasis on direct sales to consumers, has revived a longtime debate in the book industry. Continue reading at Publishers Weekly

[ Publishers Weekly | 2014-07-11 00:00:00 UTC ]
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New Amazon terms amount to 'assisted suicide' for book industry, experts claim

Report says publishers under heavy pressure to make damaging concessions including giving online retailer rights to print on demandBritish authors have condemned as "deeply worrying" reports that Amazon is now pressing for improved terms from publishers in the UK, as its showdown with Hachette... Continue reading at The Guardian

[ The Guardian | 2014-06-25 00:00:00 UTC ]
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