Waterstones says it can't pay living wage, as 1,300 authors support staff appeal

Managing director says book chain ‘simply not profitable enough’, as Sally Rooney, Val McDermid and other authors write to protestMore than 1,300 writers including Kerry Hudson, David Nicholls, Sally Rooney, Michael Rosen and Val McDermid have backed a campaign for Waterstones booksellers to be paid the living wage.The support follows a petition from staff at Waterstones, signed by more than 6,000 people, which calls on the book chain’s managing director, James Daunt, to pay booksellers a starting living wage of £9 an hour, or £10.55 for the Greater London area. “Working for a rate of pay that is below the living wage results in booksellers who are stressed, preoccupied and who have little spare time and energy to devote to buying books, reading them, and keeping up with news and trends in the industry – all of which activities are undertaken outside contracted hours, and which many staff consider to be (and are encouraged to view as) integral to their role,” says the petition. Related: Balancing the books: how Waterstones came back from the dead Continue reading... Continue reading at 'The Guardian'

[ The Guardian | 2019-03-26 00:00:00 UTC ]
News tagged with: #sally rooney #val mcdermid #david nicholls #michael rosen #living wage #book chain #james daunt #spare time

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Live from New York: Curtis Sittenfeld on Dating Up, Writing Funny, and How SNL and the Iowa Writers’ Workshop Are Alike

Bestselling author Curtis Sittenfeld joins co-hosts V.V. Ganeshananthan and Whitney Terrell to discuss her new novel, Romantic Comedy, which begins behind the scenes at a television show similar to Saturday Night Live, where a female comedy writer is gobsmacked that her schlubby straight male... Continue reading at Literrary Hub

[ Literrary Hub | 2023-04-20 08:53:29 UTC ]
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How lawyer-author Orlando Ortega-Medina turned his exile from L.A. into a legal thriller

'The Fitful Sleep of Immigrants' began as a memoir about Orlando Ortega-Medina's exile from a homophobic U.S. How it became an immigration thriller instead Continue reading at Los Angeles Times

[ Los Angeles Times | 2023-04-18 13:00:23 UTC ]
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As London Book Fair Opens: Authors Seed a ‘Tree to Me’ Campaign

Authors are asking their publishers in the UK 10 questions about the climate crisis and what it takes to get a book from the 'Tree to Me.' The post As London Book Fair Opens: Authors Seed a ‘Tree to Me’ Campaign appeared first on Publishing Perspectives. Continue reading at Publishing Perspectives

[ Publishing Perspectives | 2023-04-18 05:42:45 UTC ]
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Survey Finds Self-Published Authors Making Gains

The median income for self-published authors increased substantially in 2022 compared to 2021, to $12,749 last year—more than the median for authors published by traditional houses. Continue reading at Publishers Weekly

[ Publishers Weekly | 2023-04-17 04:00:00 UTC ]
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Paying Twitter users can now post up to 10,000 characters

One of the defining features of Twitter since its inception has been the character limit, forcing users to be direct and concise. It’s such a big deal that when the limit was doubled, from just 140 characters to 280, it became a subject of primetime TV gags. But under the guiding hand of... Continue reading at PC World

[ PC World | 2023-04-14 14:57:40 UTC ]
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Rachel Pollack, Transgender Activist and Authority on Tarot, Dies at 77

Her science fiction writing won awards. Her tarot books won her a devoted following. And she created DC Comics’ first transgender superhero. Continue reading at The New York Times

[ The New York Times | 2023-04-13 20:05:34 UTC ]
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Author Chuck Forester Donates $250K to Lambda Literary

Lambda executive director Samiya Bashir called Forester's gift "transformational," which will allow Lambda Literary to usher in a new phase of expansion. Continue reading at Publishers Weekly

[ Publishers Weekly | 2023-04-11 04:00:00 UTC ]
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Author Aims to Glorify God One Hat At a Time

La Verne Wimberly, whose Sunday morning selfies in her fabulous hats went viral, is promoting the newly released 'My Sunday Best' during Easter season. Continue reading at Publishers Weekly

[ Publishers Weekly | 2023-04-06 04:00:00 UTC ]
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What’s going on with all the empty author signing pics?

In December 2022, author Chelsea Banning had 37 people RSVP “yes” to her book event. On the day, only two showed up. In March 2023, Jamar Perry showed up to his 7 p.m. book event to find the bookstore empty, and figured he would give it another 40 minutes. Still, no one came. This week, […] Continue reading at Literrary Hub

[ Literrary Hub | 2023-04-05 11:57:06 UTC ]
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‘I love nothing more than making people cry’: author Cheryl Strayed on her hugely moving TV show

Profound, big-hearted, and raw, the adaptation of bestselling book Tiny Beautiful Things is powerful television. Its writer talks grief, sorrow and being friends for life with Reese WitherspoonIn 2011, a little-known fortysomething author called Cheryl Strayed was about to become huge. She had... Continue reading at The Guardian

[ The Guardian | 2023-04-05 05:00:25 UTC ]
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Authors Guild Meets with Legislators Over Generative AI Concerns

The Guild led a coalition of creative groups who spent a week lobbying lawmakers for legal guardrails against generative artificial intelligence programs and educating them on potential harms posed by such programs on literary and creative industries. Continue reading at Publishers Weekly

[ Publishers Weekly | 2023-04-05 04:00:00 UTC ]
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Children’s author who sued John Lewis over Christmas ad loses case

Fay Evans alleged similarity between the 2019 Excitable Edgar TV campaign and her self-published book A self-published author who sued John Lewis over its 2019 Christmas advert about a trouble-making dragon has lost her case.Fay Evans brought a case for copyright infringement, alleging that... Continue reading at The Guardian

[ The Guardian | 2023-04-03 12:29:46 UTC ]
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A Leningrad Underworld: Polina Barskova’s Living Pictures, by Sibelan Forrester

A Leningrad Underworld: Polina Barskova’s Living Pictures, by Sibelan Forrester Book Reviews [email protected] Mon, 03/27/2023 - 16:33 Photo by Wilhelm Gunkel / Unsplash What is the role of the past in our psychic universe? What happens to us if... Continue reading at World Literature Today

[ World Literature Today | 2023-03-27 21:33:19 UTC ]
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Ukrainian Author Andrey Kurkov Among National Book Critics Circle Award Winners

A collection of fantastical short stories and a book of poems about escaping capitalist society were also among the 2022 winners. Continue reading at The New York Times

[ The New York Times | 2023-03-24 00:51:07 UTC ]
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Congratulations, we did it: 1,200 book bans in 2022.

The American Library Association (ALA) tracked 1,269 demands to censor library books and other resources last year, double that of 2021 and the highest in over 20 years; the highest since the ALA began tracking such things. Of the titles reported for whatever supposed thought crimes, the vast... Continue reading at Literrary Hub

[ Literrary Hub | 2023-03-23 15:00:01 UTC ]
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Eric Brown, science fiction author and Guardian critic, dies aged 62

Writers, publishers and agents pay tribute to a warm, generous figure, author of more than 50 books ranging from SFF to crime to children’s literatureEric Brown, a prolific, award-winning author who published more than 50 novels, children’s books and short story collections, and who was the... Continue reading at The Guardian

[ The Guardian | 2023-03-23 13:58:10 UTC ]
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This Aussie author had a book idea while ‘high as a kite’ after brain surgery.

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[ Literrary Hub | 2023-03-22 08:59:40 UTC ]
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The best live TV streaming services in 2023

Streaming promised us a world without cable contracts and the satisfaction of only paying for what we actually wanted to watch. But at what cost? Cutting the cord typically means you don’t get to watch local channels, live sports or certain “cable only” networks. If you want to get back some of... Continue reading at Engadget

[ Engadget | 2023-03-21 13:30:00 UTC ]
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Author Sim Kern Launches #TransRightsReadathon

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[ Publishers Weekly | 2023-03-20 04:00:00 UTC ]
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I believed readers only wanted trauma stories from writers of colour. Then I became an author | Zoya Patel

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[ The Guardian | 2023-03-18 19:00:19 UTC ]
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