There were many raised eyebrows this past week when UNESCO declared Kuala Lumpur would be the World Book Capital in 2020. Because while there’s no question Malaysia is making great strides to advance literacy and literary endeavours, that is happening in the dark shadow of official censorship. The Malaysian government has promised to repeal the Read More …
Wilma Garcete took over as the Director of the National Library of Paraguay this week. There’s not much information about the appointment other than it was made by the country’s Culture Minister, Rubén Capdevila, and other than as a new appointment the event itself is not especially newsworthy outside Paraguay. I mention it here because Read More …
Here’s a summary of TNPS posts from the past seven days. Sao Paulo’s Avenida Paulista bookstore closes – Fnac Brazil now has just one bookstore standing Setswana? Indonesian? Can you tell the difference? Nor can Microsoft A mermaid wearing a bra among the books banned in Kuwait, but protests are gathering momentum Big Bad Wolf Read More …
With imported paper costs rising, and book piracy rife, Pakistan’s Government is being urged to set up a committee to oversee book prices. Bigger publishers, especially, are having to hike list prices of their books to cover the cost and taxes on quality imported paper. Bizarrely, in a country where there are so few ebook Read More …
Forty percent of books sold in Sweden are through a subscription service. Total book sales revenue in Sweden increased by 6.2% last year but, perhaps unsurprisingly given the rise and rise of the subscription model in Scandinavia, digital is leading the charge. And traditional bookselling outlets are getting hammered. While there are many upsides to Read More …
It was back in February that TNPS broke the news that the world’s biggest book sale would be heading for Dubai this year. World’s biggest book sale heading to Bangladesh, Dubai, Korea and Taiwan this year Now it’s official. Malaysia-based Big Bad Wolf, the World’s biggest book sale, will debut in Arabic-speaking Dubai, part of Read More …
Like in many Arab countries, literacy rates in Morocco are not among the highest in the world, but for Moroccans who do read the challenge is finding books they want at prices they can afford. When bookstores are few and far between and offer a limited choice of books at expensive prices it’s not surprising Read More …
As we come up to our first anniversary here at TNPS (September 25), one of the recurring themes has been the rise and rise of the international book sale phenomenon known as Big Bad Wolf. In the west it can sometimes seems like the only show in town is Amazon, and no question Amazon is Read More …
Censorship is a difficult topic that arouses strong emotions, but of course all freedom of speech is relative. From national security to Holocaust denial to incitement to hatred to advocating underage sex, almost every country censors at some level. But some countries take such censorship to extremes. Kuwait is an example. Kuwait has enjoyed a Read More …
From the moment Livraria Cultura acquired Fnac Brazil’s 12 bookstores last July (along with its e-commerce site) there was a question mark hanging over the stores – Livraria Cultura had long intimated intent to be a tech company rather than a bricks & mortar retailer, and was struggling for cash. Despite this, a joint statement Read More …
