Protesting sexism, comic book artists pull out of running for Angoulême Grand Prix
Every year, the Angoulême Comics Festival awards their Grand Prix to a deserving artist whose body of work or contribution to the art form has been deemed especially significant. Past winners include Bill Watterson, Robert… Read more »
British foreign secretary steps in over missing Hong Kong booksellers
On Monday we reported that a fifth bookseller had gone missing in Hong Kong in what appears to be a move by the Chinese government to silence dissenting voices in… Read more »
Penguin Random House UK announces possible warehouse layoffs due to ebooks
Almost a year ago to the day, Penguin Random House closed their nearly 500,000 square foot facility in Kirkwood, New York, laying off 286 workers in the process. Coupled with… Read more »
Uproar over publication of Haruki Murakami’s high school library records
As a library patron, the right to privacy is a hugely important one, and when violations of that privacy become public, librarians tend to get pretty angry. And they’ve had cause… Read more »
Poet sentenced to death in Saudi Arabia
Last week, a Saudi Arabian court ordered the execution of Ashraf Fayadh, a poet and artist born in Palestine who is now officially stateless, and who is also a member of… Read more »
Death of Francis Bacon makes compiling a book of his collected paintings sort of easier
We’d be forgiven for not wanting to look at too many more paintings by Francis Bacon, the 20th-century artist known for his raw depictions of popes, screams, and crucifixions. But if… Read more »
Four employees of a Hong Kong publisher known for criticizing Chinese regime are missing
MobyLives has previously written about the challenges faced by publishers and booksellers located in—and friendly with—Hong Kong: everything from decade-long prison sentences, retaliation from distributors, and mainland censorship of any books (even seemingly innocuous… Read more »
The World Fantasy awards will officially stop using H.P. Lovecraft’s likeness
During this Sunday’s World Fantasy Convention, organizers of the World Fantasy awards announced that 2015 will be the final year that winners will receive a likeness of H.P. Lovecraft’s head. This sure-to-be-completely-uncontroversial decision comes in… Read more »
Chilean government announces definitively that Pablo Neruda was murdered, maybe
In 2011, Manuel Araya, Pablo Neruda’s driver, told the Mexican magazine Proceso that—as we reported—it was not prostate cancer alone that killed the Nobel Prize-winning poet in 1973. No, Araya… Read more »
George R.R. Martin urges fans to vote for Hugo Awards
The prestigious Hugo Awards have been mired in controversy this year, as two right-wing groups have threatened to derail the proceedings by advocating for books that would “correct” what they see as… Read more »