Mississippi

Fresh evidence of Big Media tactics to push its IP agenda in private and through back  channels, including both lobbying and far more questionable practices, has been pushed into the spotlight by Google, which has taken Mississippi Attorney General Jim Hood to court to forestall what it sees as improper attacks on it that far exceed […]

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Attica Locke has been named the winner of the 2013 Ernest J. Gaines Award. The award for literary excellence is given to an emerging African American author and comes with a prize of $10,000. Locke, an L.A.-based writer, won the prize for her 2012 novel "The Cutting Season," which was published by Dennis Lehane's imprint. That and her debut, "Black Water Rising" (2009), are both literary thrillers that have hit bestseller lists as well as garnering critical acclaim. She has been shortlisted for the Orange Prize and was an L.A. Times Book Prize finalist.

How did six weeks pass so quickly? I remember the day I arrived at NAPCO for my internship with the Publishing Business Group. The first person I met in the building was the security guard, and I’ve become accustomed to his kind greeting brightening my mornings. Six weeks, it seems, is long enough to form a habit: Getting up early every morning, catching the trolley and the bus, getting just 10 minutes of daylight. It was just the right rhythm for my life in Philadelphia. I think I’ll need time to readjust to life in Oxford, Miss., where I’m getting my master’s degree in May from the journalism school in Integrated Marketing Communications.

On Nov. 11, the Association of American University Presses kicks off the first University Press Week, an event designed to celebrate the literary and cultural achievements of university presses across the country (more at aaupnet.org). As with all publishers, university presses have been affected by digitalization and changes in the retail environment. Book Business asked a selection of directors of university presses the question: What do you feel is the best way to steer a university press successfully into the future in this age of rapid technological change?

Amazon has created an interactive map that classifies each US state as "red" or "blue" based on the number of Republican or Democratic books that were purchased there.

If the map is any indication of how the elections will go, the Republicans are in for a sweeping victory, as the only "blue" states based on book purchases are New York, Vermont, Massachusetts and Rhode Island. The District of Columbia has also fallen under the "blue" category.