When politics come for literacy, how do libraries ensure it’s the kids who win? There may be no more crucial issue that bridges librarianship and education than literacy. According to the National Literacy Institute, 40 percent of students across the nation cannot read at a basic level, a statistic that becomes more dire when factoring in class: 70 percent of low-income fourth graders cannot read at a basic level.
A Georgia senate bill aimed at detaching the state from the American Library Association (ALA) could send ripples throughout Georgia’s public library system and the state university that trains librarians. Senate Bill 390 would put a firewall between Georgia libraries and ALA. Effective on July 1, 2025 if enacted, it would remove ALA as an accrediting organization within the state and would ban ALA and its affiliates from receiving taxpayer—and even privately donated—funds for the association’s materials, services, or operations.
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Since its founding in 1984, the University of Mississippi’s Blues Archive has collected virtually everything related to the Blues, from sheet music, concert tickets, and recordings to record label business files and even clothing. Thanks to a website revamp and a multiyear grant from the National Historical Publications and Records Commission to digitize materials, this year the archive is starting its 40th anniversary in style.
Black librarianship—the history, impact, and present state of the profession—will get the documentary treatment with Are You a Librarian: The Untold Story of Black Librarians, a film in progress with plans for release in 2025.
Savor these contemporary romances featuring a sous-chef at a Michelin-starred Maine restaurant and a hotshot NYC cook who has just relocated to Spunes, OR.
“Libraries are now one of the few places where students have full access to texts rather than a limited, curated diet of passages designed to teach skills. This makes the library even more important as a democratizing element in society, and a source of information, entertainment, community, learning, and growth that might once have happened in school, but is increasingly less likely to happen—especially for marginalized youth whose identities, backgrounds, and experiences are less likely to be reflected or engaged by increasingly narrow and sanitized school experiences.”
The winners of the AAAS/Subaru Prize for Excellence in Science Books and the Southern Book Prize are announced. Margaret Atwood wins the Sun Valley Writers’ Conference Writer in the World Prize. CBC explores how social media is influencing the romance genre. Bloomsbury is reporting revenue that exceeds expectations, driven by fantasy novels. Leaked emails reveal 2023 Hugo Awards ineligibility details. Plus new title best sellers.
Shortlists for the Lionel Gelber Prize and the International Prize for Arabic Fiction are announced. Sally Kim is named president and publisher of Little, Brown. The Writing Freedom Fellowship announces inaugural fellows. Earlyword’s February GalleyChat roundup is out now. The February Loanstars list is out, featuring top pick The Women by Kristin Hannah. LibraryReads and LJ offer read-alikes for Tessa Bailey’s Fangirl Down. Lucy Sante’s new memoir gets buzz and reviews. Booklists arrive for Valentine’s Day.
The Compton Crook Award finalists are named. Ellen Kushner & Delia Sherman win the Edward E. Smith Memorial Award for Imaginative Fiction (a.k.a. the Skylark Award). Publishers Weekly reports from Winter Institute 2024. What Have We Here?: Portraits of a Life by Billy Dee Williams gathers buzz. Kelly Link discusses her new novel, The Book of Love. Bill Bryson’s A Short History of Nearly Everything is being adapted as an animated TV series.
Diavola, by Jennifer Thorne, is a starred horror selection. "Full of emotions, humorous moments, spinetingling scenes, and lots of tension, Thorne’s newest is a modern horror story that will grab readers and not let go." AnneMarie Mingo's Have You Got Good Religion? Black Women’s Faith, Courage, and Moral Leadership in the Civil Rights Movement is a starred history title. "From the life of Prathia Hall, an activist theologian who inspired Martin Luther King’s “I Have a Dream” speech, to the story of Bree Newsome Bass, who climbed a flagpole to remove the Confederate flag at the South Carolina statehouse in 2015, less than two weeks after the murder of nine people in Charleston’s A.M.E. Church, this book delivers a powerful, passionate, and educational reading experience." And in graphic novels, Polar Vortex: A Family Memoir, by Denise Dorrance, is a starred selection. "Dorrance’s (It’s All About Mimi) gorgeous, plaintive story speaks to those caring for aging parents and realizing they must eventually prepare for their own exits. A lyrical read-alike for Can’t We Talk About Something More Pleasant? by Roz Chast."
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