Caution evident in buying and selling of politically sensitive material amid fears of growing repression from mainland’s Communist partyThe 2016 Hong Kong book fair, the most important event in the city’s literary calendar, opened its doors on Wednesday to familiar long queues and hordes of special security personnel on watch for potential stampedes. Inside, it was business as usual: a large convention hall divided into genres, with one large area just for religious publishers, complete with saffron-robed monks writing calligraphy and dispensing blessings. Media types gathered on the first floor where a local starlet in a low-cut dress posed for photographers in front of a stand devoted to fashion books and magazines.But this year is the first fair held in Hong Kong since the disappearances of five booksellers from the city in late 2015. For many visitors, the attention is squarely on the few publishers still willing to sell “forbidden books”. What has happened to the five men has profoundly shaken Hong Kong’s book trade: Gui Minhai, owner of the Mighty Current publishing house and the Causeway Bay Books shop, remains in detention in mainland China after having disappeared from his holiday house in Thailand in October 2015, only to reappear in a tearful televised confession in January 2016. Mighty Current editor Lee Bo was also reportedly abducted from Hong Kong and later reappeared in March, as did manager Lui Por. Just two days later, business manager Cheung Chi-ping... Continue reading at 'The Guardian'
[ The Guardian | 2016-07-25 00:00:00 UTC ]
The recent imposition of a new National Security Law in Hong Kong was followed by a crackdown on libraries. There are now signs that it is also affecting the work of publishers and booksellers. Continue reading at The Bookseller
[ The Bookseller | 2020-09-11 03:19:34 UTC ]
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In April, on the first night of Passover, Michael Cohen—Donald Trump’s former fixer, who was then incarcerated at Otisville prison, in New York—took an early manuscript of a book he’d been working on, and tossed it into a fire that Orthodox inmates had built to burn leavened bread. According to... Continue reading at Columbia Journalism Review
[ Columbia Journalism Review | 2020-09-09 12:20:26 UTC ]
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Hurst Publishers has snapped up Defying the Dragon: Hong Kong and the World's Largest Dictatorship by veteran journalist Stephen Vines. Continue reading at The Bookseller
[ The Bookseller | 2020-09-04 17:10:13 UTC ]
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The book trade continues a run of some 15 weeks of upward lift in the US market, says NPD's Kristen McLean, especially good 'for the dog days of summer.' The post US Book Industry: NPD Sees More Gains in July, 16 Percent Over 2019 appeared first on Publishing Perspectives. Continue reading at Publishing Perspectives
[ Publishing Perspectives | 2020-08-13 13:15:23 UTC ]
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After the lockdown, hundreds of delayed titles are expected this autumn including many household names vying for Christmas successFrom Richard Osman’s first crime novel to Caitlin Moran’s new memoir, almost 600 hardbacks are due to be published on 3 September in a “massive bun fight” of new... Continue reading at The Guardian
[ The Guardian | 2020-08-13 06:00:47 UTC ]
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The Bookseller has been acquired by the publisher of theatre magazine the Stage, in a move that will see the 162-year-old book trade newspaper join forces with the 140-year-old brand. Continue reading at The Bookseller
[ The Bookseller | 2020-08-06 12:20:48 UTC ]
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I know that fingers can’t “plod,” but that is what they are doing now, delivering upsetting news that encapsulates this shitty year. As Hong Kong teeters on the edge of a serious coronavirus outbreak and democratic institutions continue losing a war of attrition with the Chinese government, the... Continue reading at Literrary Hub
[ Literrary Hub | 2020-07-29 18:53:00 UTC ]
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The French book trade is picking up from its two months of Covid-19 lockdown much better than expected. Continue reading at The Bookseller
[ The Bookseller | 2020-07-29 11:42:21 UTC ]
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The Italian book market is on the road to recovery, according to fresh figures from the Italian Publishers Association (AIE), which state that its book trade's year-on-year revenue losses almost halved in the space of a few months, improving from –20% in April to –11% in July. Continue reading at The Bookseller
[ The Bookseller | 2020-07-28 17:19:03 UTC ]
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The PA’s annual yearbook has found across-the-board growth for the book trade, with total invoiced sales up 3.5% on its last report—but Brexit and Covid-19 could endanger the recent gains Continue reading at The Bookseller
[ The Bookseller | 2020-07-22 18:16:32 UTC ]
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We are in a time of major change – following the brutal, televised murder of George Floyd – and it goes without saying that the book trade supports a movement that must succeed in establishing once and for all that black lives matter. For my new book, Slow Road to San Francisco, I drove from... Continue reading at The Bookseller
[ The Bookseller | 2020-07-22 06:15:35 UTC ]
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Yesterday—as protests sparked by the killing of George Floyd, a Black man in Minneapolis, continued across the US—things that President Trump said caused trouble again, and drove the news again. First, Trump laid into governors on a conference call that quickly leaked to the press; he called... Continue reading at Columbia Journalism Review
[ Columbia Journalism Review | 2020-06-02 12:08:10 UTC ]
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The book trade has been showing its support of the Black Lives Matter movement, speaking out across social media and making donations to relevant organisations, following the death of George Floyd, an unarmed black man killed by police in the US. Continue reading at The Bookseller
[ The Bookseller | 2020-06-01 06:44:29 UTC ]
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The government has announced a Cultural Renewal Taskforce to help the creative sector bounce back from the coronavirus crisis—but book trade leaders have said they are "baffled" that no current representative of the industry has been appointed. Continue reading at The Bookseller
[ The Bookseller | 2020-05-21 02:08:11 UTC ]
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Andrew Sharp, former rights director at Hachette Children’s Group, is launching a new publishing consultancy, drawing on his 24 years' experience in the book trade. Continue reading at The Bookseller
[ The Bookseller | 2020-05-18 22:23:52 UTC ]
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The International Publishers Association (IPA) has called on world governments to help the global book trade using economic stimulus packages during the coronavirus pandemic. Continue reading at The Bookseller
[ The Bookseller | 2020-04-23 11:28:36 UTC ]
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Fresh off a print and digital redesign, The New Republic formally announced a handful of new editors and writers who have joined the team in recent months. Now on the staff as deputy editors are Katie McDonough, the former senior editor at Jezebel who joined the magazine in December, and Jason... Continue reading at Folio Magazine
[ Folio Magazine | 2020-03-26 18:39:34 UTC ]
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Anxiety about health and finances, stress at juggling childcare and uncertainty for the future are frequent reactions among book trade staffers to working through the current coronavirus crisis, according to the nearly 150 respondents to The Bookseller's survey, launched yesterday Continue reading at The Bookseller
[ The Bookseller | 2020-03-25 20:14:36 UTC ]
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The European & International Booksellers Federation (EIBF) has highlighted the enforced closure of brick and mortar bookshops amid the coronavirus crisis is putting the book trade in a precarious position. Continue reading at The Bookseller
[ The Bookseller | 2020-03-24 12:56:22 UTC ]
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THESE TIMES: Lit Hub editor Jonny Diamond on literary community in a time of global pandemic • Ysabelle Cheung on trying to write in Hong Kong during the rise of the novel coronavirus • Italian editor Sara Reggiani on life in lock-down • How to support your local bookstores during the... Continue reading at Literrary Hub
[ Literrary Hub | 2020-03-21 11:30:33 UTC ]
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