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Welcome to In the present day in Books, our every day round-up of literary headlines on the intersection of politics, tradition, media, and extra.
HBO Doubles Down on Assist of Rowling
As HBO prepares to start manufacturing of its deliberate decade-long Harry Potter reboot TV sequence, CEO Casey Bloys is doubling down on the community’s partnership with and assist of J.Okay. Rowling, who has an extended and well-documented historical past of transphobic remarks and is being sued for cyberbullying boxer Imane Khelif throughout this 12 months’s summer time olympics. As Selection notes, when Rowling first aired her perception “that transgender women are men and transgender men are women” in 2020, HBO mum or dad firm Warner Bros. launched a usefully obscure assertion reiterating that “a diverse and inclusive culture has never been more important to our company and to our audiences around the world.”
On the time, the assertion learn because the community’s try to guard itself from reputational guilt-by-association. If feedback Bloys made this week that “J.K. Rowling has a right to express her personal views” are any indication, although, reputational hurt is both not a priority, or, extra doubtless, HBO has determined that the potential value of distancing itself from Rowling outweighs the price of aligning itself with anti-LGBTQ+ rhetoric. Let’s be clear: Bloys shouldn’t be improper that Rowling has a proper to her views, however that proper doesn’t embody freedom from criticism or penalties. HBO is selecting to assist Rowling, and that alternative sends a strong and disappointing message. It’s arduous to think about that HBO would have been prepared to proceed its affiliation with Rowling if the non-public views she expressed have been racist in nature, and the response to transphobia must be no completely different.
Verity Heads to the Huge Display screen
Anne Hathaway has been solid to star in Amazon MGM’s forthcoming adaptation of Colleen Hoover’s Verity. Hathaway will play the titular character, well-known author Verity Crawford, who was injured in mysterious accident and desires somebody to step in and end the remaining books in her profitable sequence. Verity’s husband hires a struggling author named Lowen Ashleigh to do the job, and lo and behold (Lowen behold? Sorry.), when she begins sorting by means of the papers in Verity’s workplace, she finds the manuscript for an autobiography that reveals all method of secrets and techniques. Will it’s good? That query appears irrelevant, as this 12 months’s Blake Energetic-led adaptation of It Ends With Us was fairly unhealthy (we noticed it so that you don’t must) and nonetheless cleared $300 million on the field workplace.
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50 Notable Works of Fiction for 2024
The Washington Put up has been revealing its alternatives greatest books of the 12 months in genre-focused lists, and I’m delighted to report that this assortment of fifty notable works of fiction has not simply many acquainted titles however many under-the-radar and small press picks as properly. Bonnie Jo Campbell’s The Waters is close to the highest of my listing of under-appreciated novels of 2024. Couldn’t be happier to see it acknowledged.
Tips on how to Put together Your Library Earlier than Trump Returns to Workplace
An informed populace that has entry to data is critically vital for a functioning democracy. Right here’s E book Riot’s Kelly Jensen on the best way to plan and take motion that can assist make sure that entry to books and information by way of public colleges and libraries stays a proper for all as we brace for an incoming administration that has promised to decrease if not outright destroy them.