Turmoil Rocks NBCC Board
The National Book Critics Circle has lost six board members, who resigned in protest over former NBCC president Carlin Romano’s emails disagreeing with the board’s statement in support of Black Lives Matter. Romano wrote, “I resent the idea that whites in the book publishing and literary world are an oppositional force that needs to be assigned to re-education camps.” The names of the board members who resigned have not been disclosed.
Arlington’s Sarah Kamya Spearheads Little Free Diverse Library Project To Amplify Black Voices Through Books
Sarah Kamya has begun fundraising in order to buy books by Black authors (and buying from Black-owned bookstores when possible) to flood her local Little Free Libraries in the greater Arlington, MA area. She hopes that the project will help connect readers of all ages to more diverse voices and stories. She’s raised so much money, in fact, that she’s started sending books to friends in other communities so they can stock their LFL. A link to donate is in the article.
Internet Archive Ends Free E-Book Program, Following Publisher Suit
In response to shut-downs due to COVID-19 earlier this year, the Internet Archive launched what they called the “National Emergency Library,” providing ebooks free of charge to anyone on the Internet. Very quickly, HarperCollins, Wiley, Hachette, and Penguin Random House filed a joint lawsuit to block the Internet Archive from distributing their books without paying any licensing fees, citing a violation in copyright law. The Internet Archive has agreed to close two weeks ahead of schedule, on June 15, although it released a statement saying they had hoped publishers would be willing to work with them instead of against them.