State of the Unions

In recent months, workers across the publishing industry have increasingly turned to union organizing to address what many see as inadequate wages and working conditions in the book business. Hanover Square has landed North American rights to the oeuvre of U.K. thriller writer Jack Jordan, as the London-based author’s novels start to generate buzz in Hollywood. And at last week’s American Manga Awards in Manhattan, both longstanding and emerging manga creators and publishers got their due. In other news, a new star-studded Netflix series will adapt the short stories of Roald Dahl, per the Hollywood Reporter. Harry Potter publishers including Scholastic and Bloomsbury are donating more than 200,000 print and audio copies of Harry Potter and the Sorcerer’s Stone to “underserved communities” across the U.S. and U.K, reports Variety. The New York Times Book Review looks at the legacy of Dolly Parton’s Imagination Library, as well as the challenges it faces under a government that is hostile to the humanities. In light of the controversy over Rachel Cusk’s Life of M, believed to be a fictional portrait of Natalie Portman, Greta Rainbow at the Guardian examines the lineage of “biogossip” novels. Amazon has dropped the trailer for its film adaptation of Ali Hazelwood’s The Love Hypothesis. And more than a month since Christopher Nolan’s The Odyssey premiered, Homer continues holding strong on the Indie Press Top 40 fiction bestseller list.