Not Actually a Library

The world's authors and publishers have come together to protest the unauthorized scanning and release of their books through a website claiming to be a library. For the record... it's not a library. Libraries respect the rights of authors.

I talk with one author who found her work online, just as she was getting ready to make her own e-book version for sale.

See the related press release from The Writers' Union of Canada here:

www.writersunion.ca/news/creators-a…on-open-library

See the appeal from a coalition of creator and publisher groups here:

nwu.org/book-division/cdl/appeal/

You can access this podcast on either Soundcloud, RadioPublic, Stitcher, the Apple podcasts app, or the Google Podcast app. You can find individual episodes through my own website at www.jkdegen.com/, and @bookroompod on Twitter. If you have suggestions for stories I might want to cover, you can reach out on Twitter or by e-mail at bookroom14@yahoo.com.

Photo courtesy me and my little camera.

Reading Freely at Glad Day Bookshop

On a very snowy evening in Toronto this week, folks filled the event space at Glad Day Bookshop to hear all about the history of the Freedom to Read in Canada. In this episode of The Book Room, we hear from Marcus McCann, lawyer and co-owner of Glad Day, as he details the bookstore’s many run-ins with state censorship and book seizure.

Bonus feature: Jael Richardson and the Festival of Literary Diversity win the 2019 Freedom to Read Award.

Image courtesy me and my little camera.

Canada Celebrates Freedom to Read Week

February 24th to March 2nd is Freedom to Read week in Canada. I briefly examine the recent(ish) history of book challenges and book suppression in Canada, and point listeners to FTR Week events of note.

Many happy authors -- Canada's PLR cheques arrive

Today, I celebrate the arrival of a cheque from the federal government as compensation for the use of my three books in Canada's public library system. Over 17,000 authors across Canada are also celebrating. If your country does not have a Public Lending Right system (looking at you, USA), you might want to get on that. Libraries are awesome. Paying authors for their contributions to library collections is also awesome.