Posts by author
Ian MacAllen
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Indie Bookstore Customers Shun E-Books
E-books are proving unpopular for independent bookstores. Amazon’s juggernaut Kindle device is only available from the online retailer, but independent bookstores can still sell e-books through devices like Kobo. But the Denver Post has found that customers of indie bookstores just aren’t…
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Pedal-Powered Libraries
Huron, Ohio has a new library branch. Unlike the existing libraries, this one is mounted on a tricycle. The innovative library contains a foldout display case mounted between its wheels.
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Amazon Monopoly Threatens Everything
Amazon just turned twenty years old. Even though the company might be too young to celebrate with champagne, competitors have begun to levy charges that the online retailer is becoming a monopoly. While Amazon’s tentacles spread across many retail sectors,…
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Notable NYC: 7/25–7/31
Saturday 7/25: New York City Poetry Festival, day 1. Governors Island, 11 a.m., free. Jeffery Berg, Amy Berkowitz, Jen Levitt, Caitie Moore, and Leila Ortiz celebrate No, Dear at NYC Poetry Festival. White Horse Stage, 2:30 p.m., free. Sunday 7/26:…
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From Newspaper Stand to Library
Defunct newspaper distribution boxes are being repurposed and finding a second life as Little Free Libraries. Southern Indiana will be receiving 24 new Little Free Libraries made from News and Tribune boxes no longer in use for the newspaper. The libraries…
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The End of Literature
The rapid rise of “trigger warnings” is starting to impact literature curriculums. For instance, Columbia University students lobbied to include warnings on Ovid’s Metamorphoses, a core text in Western Literature syllabi. Columbia refused to include warnings, but essentially capitulated by…
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Bookstore Plans to Charge Admission
A Portuguese bookstore popular with tourists plans on charging admission, reports WTVY. The bookstore is not just a stunning architectural monument, but also the inspiration behind the library at Hogwarts. Before writing the Harry Potter books, J.K. Rowling taught English…
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Getting Lost at The Strand
New York City’s The Strand bookstore is one of the world’s great literary institutions. For literary pilgrims, The Strand is a destination akin to Shakespeare and Company in Paris or Powell’s in Portland. Now, The Strand is modernizing. Many of its…
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Notable NYC: 7/18–7/24
Saturday 7/18: Harlem Book Fair, multiple locations, 11 a.m., free. Shannon Holmes launches Caught Up. Harlem Book Fair / Countee Cullen Library, 4 p.m., free. Sunday 7/19: Angela Flournoy, Leigh Stein, and Jennifer Baker discuss the business of writing. Flournoy’s…
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Publishers Earn More than Authors on E-Book Sales
Authors are earning less on e-books than on physical ones, and the villain isn’t necessarily Amazon. According to the Author’s Guild, a professional organization for writers, publishers are now taking closer to 75% of an e-book’s profit, up from only…
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A Library of Dissidents
The Czech Republic has a special library for dissident programming. The Presidential Library of Václav Havel hosts events intentionally challenging to authority and mainstream culture, reports OZY. The library itself is based around the works of Havel, who remains a…
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Round-the-Clock Chekhov
More than five hundred people will participate in a global event to read the roughly fifty works by Russian author Anton Chekhov, reports Russia Beyond the Headlines. On September 25th, venues around the world will begin an online broadcast lasting 24 hours.…