Around the traps, mark something

Suzie Eisfelder

It’s been a long time since I looked at the publishing world to see what’s happening. I feel quite out of the loop and it’s good to be getting back into it. Just looking at today’s offering I find lots to talk about.

Comic-Con San Diego Announces 2019 Eisner Awards Nominations

I love looking at awards, even for things I’m not so interested in. I admire artists for their work they do in comics or graphic novels, and to see the nominations 2019 Eisner Awards is really exciting. You can read more about it here and see the full list of nominees here. In 2014 I mentioned Will Eisner and described him as the father of the graphic novel so it’s more than fitting that his name should be on the award.

Searls Takes Home Wolff Translator’s Prize

While we’re talking about prizes. I was excited to hear there is a prize for translating from German to English. At $10,000 it’s a nice amount of money so any translator would be happy, they’ve been paid for translating the book and then they get an added bonus. Damion Searls won this monetary prize for his work translating Anniversaries by Uwe Johnson.

Canada’s Indigenous Comics Artists Redress History

Indigenous authors throughout the world are generally not published nearly enough. They have a valuable perspective on life and we need to read them more often. Those of us who have wandered in and taken over need to stop and listen to their voices. This link lets you have a brief overview of some of them. The book is due for release on the 28th May and you can pre-purchase it here, or just read more about it.

McGraw-Hill, Cengage Agree to Merge

If you’re in the education industry, as a parent, an educator, or a student you will have noticed two main publishers: McGraw-Hill and Cengage. They are now set to merge. Time will tell if this is good for us or not. I’m hoping that it will bring the price of education books down substantially and make it easier for those who need to buy them. I feel there are issues with the education publishing industry…especially in secondary education. What tends to happen is the books are rewritten every three years. This means that parents will buy a book which will then be able to be onsold it for the next two years, but if they have a child needing that same book in the fourth year they have to buy the brand new copy and are not able to buy second hand. It makes it very expensive and some people have such trouble affording all the books. You don’t find out about this until you’re in the system or about to join the system. It makes it hard to plan finances for secondary school when you’re having the kids, and sometimes kids just happen without planning. If you’ve wanted one child but end up with twins or triplets then expenses multiply.

Director of Publishing, CCAR

The last point of interest. I noted today that the CCAR (The Central Conference of American Rabbis) is looking for a Director of Publishing. I’ve read their publication, Reform Judaism, many times. It has many items that have piqued my interest and educated me over the decades. I looked at the skills and competencies noting I actually have two or three of them. I’m not planning on applying as this job is way over my head but it’s a whole new world for many people.

That’s really all I have for you today. Lots of stuff to take note of and stuff to ignore.


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