Beginnings and Endings

Macmillan Children’s Publishing Group has shuttered its Roaring Book Press imprint and announced a new imprint for nonfiction and illustrated titles, along with a number of staffing changes. Anti-American sentiments and strong domestic publishing helped lift Canadian book sales 4.1% last year. A number of publishers and authors are joining yet another copyright infringement lawsuit against Anthropic, this one initially brought by Concord Music Group in 2023. And the small but mighty World Editions has announced a new series of translated novels featuring authors from countries starting with each letter of the alphabet, set to debut this fall. In other news, the New York Times has cut ties with freelance book critic Alex Preston after finding that parts of a recent review were AI-generated, reports the Wrap. Book banning has made it to the U.K., where a secondary school library in Manchester removed 130 titles that AI categorized as “inappropriate” for children, per the Bookseller. Jane Friedman recounts a recent BISG panel with Books-A-Million’s Alan DuBose and Roxanne J. Coady of RJ Julia Booksellers, where the pair talked print galleys, inflation, and young people’s enthusiasm for buying books. This summer, actor Elliot Page will stage an all–trans and nonbinary production of Shakespeare’s As You Like It, the Mirror reports. Shelley Read’s 2023 novel Go As a River is reportedly bringing a deluge of literary tourists to a quiet corner of Colorado, per the Colorado Sun. And Belgian comics auteur Hermann has died at 87.