Welcome back, library friends. Before we jump into this week’s post, we have to pay tribute to the incomparable singer, philanthropist, and literacy advocate, Dolly Parton, who passed away at age 80. Dolly Parton was one of those truly great people who used her wealth and influence to make the world a better place, whether that was using her royalty money to invest in Black communities, donating $1 million to COVID vaccine research, or starting her Imagination Library in 1995, which has donated hundreds of millions of books to children in five countries. What an impactful, generous legacy to leave behind.
And now, we move to library and book news. We have publishing and AI updates, comics in translation, tons of adaptation news, an exceptionally generous library donation, and more. Let’s jump in.
AI Updates- Secondhand booksellers in the UK and Ireland have been fielding bulk orders of random titles, and they think AI firms are behind the orders.
- Related: 404 Media tracked a shipment of rare books, and it ended up at an Amazon AI training facility.
- AI invades religious books on Amazon.
- But according to Book Riot’s recent survey, we as readers can’t agree on what counts as “AI-written.”
- The need for literary friction, or why we shouldn’t be using AI to summarize difficult books.
- The true crime and horror podcast Last Podcast on the Left is launching a publishing imprint with Bindery Books.
- How publishers are shortening books for middle graders and upping the visual content in an effort to hook new readers.
- Author Meg Mason speaks about the parasocial relationships that readers create with authors.
- After the Anthropic class action settlement, many authors are learning that their publishers failed to register one or more of their titles with the US Copyright Office, making the books ineligible to receive a settlement payout. (In many cases, this is part of the publishing contract that the authors sign, so the publishers are in hot water right now.)
- HarperCollins is launching a new manga imprint.
- 5 monster romance manga and manhwa to read right now.
- 8 new and forthcoming horror comics.
- Global comics in translation.
- What are webtoons, and where should you start?
- Colson Whitehead’s Harlem trilogy is getting a series adaptation at Apple.
- The pop culture appetite for Agatha Christie adaptations seems to be at an all-time high.
- Sarah Pinborough’s upcoming novel, They Say a Girl Died Here, is getting a series adaptation.
- Here’s the trailer for Verity.
- And here’s a look at all of the Carley Fortune books that are being adapted.
- 60 BookTok favorites coming to the big screen. (Make sure you have copies of these in your collection!)
- Vanity Fair looks at what happened behind the scenes of Children of Blood and Bone.
- Martin Scorsese is adapting What Happens at Night by Peter Cameron.
- Warner Brothers is in negotiations for the film rights to Theo of Golden, with Tom Hanks in talks to star.
- Here’s a first look at the upcoming adaptation of East of Eden.
- Phil Lord and Christopher Miller, the directors behind Project Hail Mary, are adapting Forrest Brazeal’s forthcoming debut, Paradox Inc.
- It Ends With Us has sold over 10 million copies, just in time for its 10th anniversary.
- The spotlight on Anthony Fauci has reportedly increased book sales for RFK Jr.
- The promising race to get middle grade kids reading again.
- Icelandic readers love crime fiction, even though the real-life murder rate is close to zero.
And finally, I’d like to close out with some news that feels very much like something Dolly Parton would have done: Rachel Reid, author of the Heated Rivalry series, donated $300,000 to the Annapolis Valley Regional Library in Nova Scotia after learning that five of the branches were set to permanently close. More library and literacy advocates, please!