Fusenews: Crows, Rabbits, and Tigers (oh my)

And Upstart Crow Literary pulls ahead in the interesting blog by a literary agency category (Nathan Bransford we consider a force unto himself, requiring little help from Curtis Brown). Of particular note was Michael Stearns and his recent consideration of Goodreads. He talks about how he feels obligated to edit himself on that site, when really it’s supposed to be a book forum where everyone is free to speak their own mind. Is that a problem? I understand where he’s coming from. It can feel somewhat awkward when you’re getting ready to criticize a work minutely only to see that the author belongs to Goodreads and, odds are, will read your words personally. But then, they’d probably do that if you were to post the review anywhere on the internet at all. And Goodreads is made for literary discussions, so there’s nothing wrong with that. I use Goodreads on a regular basis. Heck, it was K.T. Horning’s review there of When You Reach Me that got me to pluck the book from my shelf as early as I did.  Thanks to Sally Apokedak for the link.

• The librarians of New York are a friskative bunch.  They have taken the idea of librarian chic and lifted it to an entirely different level.  I am a member of the librarian social group Desk Set, which consists of eminently stylish (and ultimately very nice) MLIS degree holding folks of the hipster persuasion.  Now they have a new website and all is well and right with the world.  For those of you curious (or having ideas of creating similar groups in other parts of the country) it’s a trip.

• In local news, from Cynopsis Kids:

Peter Glassman , the founder of NYC’s Books of Wonder store, will begin appearing on Absolutely Mindy on Sirius/XM satellite radio’s Kids Place Live to discuss kid’s book beginning next month, per Publishers Weekly.

• There are many things to look forward to when moving to L.A.  For example, if picture book author/illustrator Mr. Warburton is to be believed, one can hang out with a million billion animators at the Hanna Barbara Studios.  Granted, it’s probably easier to do if you yourself are an animator… details, details.

• As newspaper titles go Children’s author reunited with amulet he buried 30 years ago may be my favorite of the month.  It tells the story of a British fiction phenomenon that resulted in a real life treasure hunt.  I feel as if we’ve tried similar things here in the States, to less success.  Would the 39 Clues count?  Dunno.  But as real life rewards go, the amulet at the end of this story is remarkably lovely.  Thanks to PW Children’s Bookshelf for the link.

• Here at NYPL I run a monthly gathering of children’s literary enthusiasts called The Children’s Literary Cafe.  I also co-host wonderful evening bar meet-ups called Kidlit Drink Nights.  So how strange it seems to me then to hear about the Kidlit Salon out West in the Bay Area.  It’s sort of like my Literary Cafe, except that they charge, it’s through a bookstore, and they have a much better website than I do.  Still, if you live around and about the Book Passage Bookstore, think about giving it a glance.  Thanks to PW Daily for the link.

• Editor Cheryl Klein has posted an open letter to agents, proposing a change to the current submission system.  Seems to make sense to me, but I don’t tend to understand these things.  That’s why I became a librarian.  Books seem much easier to deal with in the post-publication phase.

• New Blog Alert!  More to the point, new publisher blog alert.  It may well have been around for a while, but I was only recently alerted to it.  Lee & Low Books  discuss on their blog all the current racial issues surrounding children’s literature at this time.  And there is certainly a lot out there to talk about, that’s true.

• Daily Image:

I’m ashamed to say that this took me a good 20 seconds before I got this piece from artist M.S. Corley.  The title helps.  It’s called We All Have to Grow Up.

My husband got it instantly.  Must be a guy thing.

Filed under: Fusenews