In the age of Corbyn, is the time right for another Road to Wigan Pier?

It’s no surprise that the Left Book Club is being relaunched now, with the imprimatur of the Labour leader and Ken Livingstone. It began in the anxious 1930s, a decade that has all too many parallels with the current oneAiming to “set the agenda for a new age of political debate”, the Left Book Club was re-launched this week at a meeting at the Conway Hall in London. The Left Book Club last published a book in 1948. Jeremy Corbyn had yet to be born. Nevertheless the Labour leader has generously endorsed the revival as “a terrific and timely idea” that will give “intellectual ballast to the wave of political change sweeping Britain and beyond, encouraging informed and compassionate debate”. He added that he had a large collection of Left Book Club titles, some bought new by his parents and others that he acquired second hand. I speculate that the memory of these books in their plain red or orange covers – their flash upon his inward eye – must have provided Corbyn with a rare pleasurable moment in the past few weeks: the thought of them on his shelves having same kind of heart-filling effect that the daffodils had on Wordsworth.My own collection isn’t so large. In fact, it runs to just one book, Orwell’s The Road to Wigan Pier, and I didn’t inherit it. I bought it 20 or 30 years ago because I liked the idea of having such a fine book in its cheap and original form – seeing the words and photographs as its first readers must have seen them. Published in 1937, the year after... Continue reading at 'The Guardian'

[ The Guardian | 2015-11-21 00:00:00 UTC ]
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Indonesia’s Road to the Frankfurt Book Fair

John McGlynn of the Lontar Foundation discusses the decade-long journey Indonesia took to becoming the 2015 Guest of Honor at the Frankfurt Book Fair. The post Indonesia’s Road to the Frankfurt Book Fair appeared first on Publishing Perspectives. Continue reading at Publishing Perspectives

[ Publishing Perspectives | 2015-10-05 00:00:00 UTC ]
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Meet Ad Age's 2015 Media Mavens

One honoree on our annual Media Mavens list markets cord cutting to millennials while taking a paycheck from a cord company -- well, a satellite company, but you get the idea. Another uses the data in Walmart's vaults to run a media-buying platform that informs hundreds of other advertisers'... Continue reading at Advertising Age

[ Advertising Age | 2015-09-28 00:00:00 UTC ]
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Jeremy Tarcher dies at 83; maverick publisher of New Age bestsellers

In the early 1960s Jeremy Tarcher packaged book deals for celebrities, which resulted in such comical titles as "Phyllis Diller's Housekeeping Hints" and Johnny Carson's "Happiness Is a Dry Martini." Continue reading at Los Angeles Times

[ Los Angeles Times | 2015-09-25 00:00:00 UTC ]
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Chicken House seeks teen judge for Times competition

Publisher Chicken House is asking teenagers to upload videos onto YouTube about the books they would like to persuade other people to read to win the chance to be a judge on the 2016 Times/Chicken House Children’s Fiction Competition Entrants must be aged between 14 and 18 and can apply to take... Continue reading at The Bookseller

[ The Bookseller | 2015-09-22 00:00:00 UTC ]
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A Firing at The Los Angeles Times Focuses Discontent

In January, Jack Griffin, the chief executive of Tribune Publishing Company, took his senior management team to visit The Los Angeles Times, the jewel in his company’s portfolio of newspapers.   At a reception at the newspaper, an ... Continue reading at Editor & Publisher

[ Editor & Publisher | 2015-09-21 00:00:00 UTC ]
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Slavin Named President at Open Road

Media executive Paul Slavin has been named president of Open Road Integrated Media, a newly created position for the company. Continue reading at Publishers Weekly

[ Publishers Weekly | 2015-09-21 00:00:00 UTC ]
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For freedom of speech, these are troubling times | Jonathan Dimbleby

This most fundamental of principles is under attack – from over-zealous law making, online witch hunts, and a profit-driven media offensive on the BBCIn our troubled and insecure environment, Britain has accumulated laws which curtail freedom of expression – in the name of national security and... Continue reading at The Guardian

[ The Guardian | 2015-09-21 00:00:00 UTC ]
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Gaylord Shaw dies at 73; journalist won a Pulitzer for The Times in 1978

Gaylord Shaw, a renowned journalist who broke the news of Richard Nixon's resignation and won the Pulitzer Prize for national reporting in 1978 for the Los Angeles Times, has died at age 73. Continue reading at Los Angeles Times

[ Los Angeles Times | 2015-09-10 00:00:00 UTC ]
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Austin Buetner: Los Angeles Times publisher fired abruptly

‘I am not departing by choice’ – former investment banker hired a year ago by Tribune Publishing announces departure on Facebook, saying email was cut off Tribune Publishing Company has fired the publisher of the Los Angeles Times after little more than a year on the job.Tribune gave no public... Continue reading at The Guardian

[ The Guardian | 2015-09-09 00:00:00 UTC ]
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Exposing Yourself As a First-Time Author

Jay Keefe wrote a memoir about recovering from alcoholism and realizes, upon publication, that it a huge personal risk it was, albeit one with rewards. The post Exposing Yourself As a First-Time Author appeared first on Publishing Perspectives. Continue reading at Publishing Perspectives

[ Publishing Perspectives | 2015-09-01 00:00:00 UTC ]
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Sign of the times: how Show Me a Hero captures our political mood

Despite being set in the 1980s, David Simon’s new show seems spookily topical. It’s not the only TV series that has turned up in the right place at the right time...David Simon’s new series Show Me a Hero provides everything you might expect from a TV-maker with The Wire, Homicide: Life on the... Continue reading at The Guardian

[ The Guardian | 2015-08-31 00:00:00 UTC ]
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6 Rules for Making Movies in the VR Age

From virtual reality films to self-published books, the entertainment world is full of exciting new ideas. The post 6 Rules for Making Movies in the VR Age appeared first on WIRED. Continue reading at Wired

[ Wired | 2015-08-26 00:00:00 UTC ]
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How Vox Media slashed its webpage load time in half

The sharp rise in mobile readership has forced publishers to ask themselves hard questions about their site performance. Joining the likes of GQ and The Washington Post, Vox Media has taken a hard look at its page load time, cutting it in half to an average of 11.5 seconds. Vox did this by... Continue reading at Digiday

[ Digiday | 2015-08-26 00:00:00 UTC ]
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How to Survive the Cruel Times: Life Lessons from Bestselling Rabbi Harold Kushner

In Kushner's 12th book, 'Nine Essential Things I've Learned About Life,' he offers reasons to come back to religion for those who have walked away. Continue reading at Publishers Weekly

[ Publishers Weekly | 2015-08-25 00:00:00 UTC ]
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New York Times backs down after complaint by Mario Vargas Llosa

Paper says use of Mail Online article was ‘at odds’ with its ‘journalistic standards’Mario Vargas Llosa, the Nobel prize-winning author, has slammed the New York Times for publishing what he called “slanderous and perfidious” gossip that, it transpired, was culled from the Daily Mail’s... Continue reading at The Guardian

[ The Guardian | 2015-08-25 00:00:00 UTC ]
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'Times' Exposé of Amazon Workplace Draws Gov't Attention

This weekend's damning 'New York Times' article painting Amazon as a "bruising workplace" continues to draw attention, this time from the government. According to the AP, House Democratic leader Nancy Pelosi has assured the public that the company will be complying with various labor standards. Continue reading at Publishers Weekly

[ Publishers Weekly | 2015-08-19 00:00:00 UTC ]
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Soup’s On, For a Cause: Big Time Authors Unite for Syrian Refugee Food Relief

Anthony Bourdain, Alice Waters, Mark Bittman, and Yotam Ottolenghi are among the cookbook authors who contributed recipes to 'Soup for Syria: Recipes to Celebrate Our Shared Humanity.' Continue reading at Publishers Weekly

[ Publishers Weekly | 2015-08-17 00:00:00 UTC ]
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Time Inc UK’s Marcus Rich: ‘We are a magazine brand business’

The publisher’s chief executive on taking his titles on to fresh platforms, the future for a free NME – and why he has been poring over vintage comicsMarcus Rich, the chief executive of Marie Claire publisher Time Inc UK, has been spending a lot of time buried in the company’s vast archives... Continue reading at The Guardian

[ The Guardian | 2015-08-16 00:00:00 UTC ]
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Is 'out of print' running out of time?

Never being 'out of print' is not good news You can't self-publish. Because you can't get your rights back. And your book is nowhere to be seen. Continue reading at The Bookseller

[ The Bookseller | 2015-08-15 00:00:00 UTC ]
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