Friday 30 October 2026. 15 stories from across the book trade, about 5 minutes to read. Every link is free to read.
The short version
Market Developments: US publishers call Meta’s new terms an ’appalling landgrab’ as a Norwegian court blocks them
Deals & Acquisitions: A24 will adapt Chad Harbach’s The Art of Fielding and The Brightness as a series
People News: Melanie Nolan and Phoebe Yeh are leaving Random House Children’s Books
Events: Sarah Howe wins the Forward prize for best collection with Foretokens
Industry Buzz: More than 100 writers say they will boycott Indigo events
The lead
US publishers call Meta’s new terms an ’appalling landgrab’ as a Norwegian court blocks them
The Association of American Publishers has urged Meta to withdraw business terms that would let it scrape the websites of any company with a Facebook, Instagram, WhatsApp or Threads account. The same day, the Oslo District Court granted an injunction, sought on behalf of 10 Norwegian media companies including NRK and Schibsted, barring Meta from applying them until a final ruling. Meta has pushed the start date from 30 October to 20 November and promises to consult the industry first, reports Ed Nawotka for Publishers Weekly.
Partner slot
Reach publishers, agents, booksellers and rights professionals every weekday. Ask about partnering with The Publisher.
Market Developments
The AAP, the Independent Book Publishers Association, STM and the Copyright Clearance Center have filed an amicus brief supporting the Authors Guild and other plaintiffs in their summary judgment motion against OpenAI and Microsoft in New York. The brief argues that training AI on copyrighted books does not warrant special treatment and cannot be fair use, partly because AI-generated books now compete with the originals, reports Jim Milliot for Publishers Weekly.
Baker & Taylor’s liquidation plan leaves nothing for unsecured creditors
The plan, heard in New Jersey bankruptcy court on 28 October, values the wholesaler’s remaining assets at $6.6 million, or $1.7 million in liquidation, against $10.2 million of post-petition debt. Creditors have until 1 December to vote. B&T filed for Chapter 11 in March after a sale to ReaderLink fell through, and has since sold off units including its publisher services and library businesses, reports Nathalie op de Beeck for Publishers Weekly.
Ukraine launches a fund for small presses hit by the war
The Ministry of Culture, the KSE Foundation, the Ukrainian Book Institute and Book Arsenal aim to raise $500,000 for publishers that release up to 20 books a year, starting with up to 20 projects, with the call for applications due in November. Russian strikes on printing works have destroyed some 13 million books, nearly a third of the country’s 2025 print run, reports Brittany Allen for Literary Hub.
Read at Literary Hub (US)
Rural bookshops in Occitanie sell more books per head but struggle to make a living
A study for Occitanie Livre finds 103 of the region’s 278 bookshops, or 37%, are in rural areas. They sell €12.40 of books per resident of their catchment area, against €9.80 in a national sample, yet take only €302,000 a year on average, against €350,000, reports Nicolas Gary for ActuaLitté.
Read at ActuaLitté (France)
Deals & Acquisitions
A24 will adapt Chad Harbach’s The Art of Fielding and The Brightness as a series
Sean Durkin, director of The Iron Claw, will run and direct the series, with Harbach as an executive producer. The Brightness, which brings back Pella Affenlicht from The Art of Fielding, was published by Little, Brown on Tuesday, reports Michael Schaub for Kirkus Reviews.
People News
Melanie Nolan and Phoebe Yeh are leaving Random House Children’s Books
Nolan, publisher of Knopf Books for Young Readers, leaves on 30 November. She edited Dave Eggers’s Newbery-winning The Eyes & the Impossible, Christopher Paolini’s Murtagh and Katherine Rundell’s Impossible Creatures. Yeh, editor at large at Crown Books for Young Readers, leaves at the end of the year, reports Emma Kantor for Publishers Weekly.
Penguin Young Readers publicity chief Shanta Newlin leaves to start her own PR firm
Newlin, executive director of publicity, will leave at the end of the year to launch a literary PR agency. Elyse Marshall takes over the division’s publicity with immediate effect, reports Iyana Jones for Publishers Weekly.
Média Diffusion’s Thibaut Cartier will lead French publishers’ talks with booksellers
Cartier has been elected president of the SNE publishers’ association commercial practices committee, succeeding Glénat’s Éric Leblanc, who held the post from February 2022. He opens a new round of talks with the SLF booksellers’ union on fixed book prices, second-hand books and AI, reports Hocine Bouhadjera for ActuaLitté.
Read at ActuaLitté (France)
Events
Sarah Howe wins the Forward prize for best collection with Foretokens
Howe takes the £10,000 award, while Nur Turkmani wins best first collection for October, the first nomination and win for its publisher, Hajar Press. Tara Bergin’s The Fear wins best single poem, reports Emma Loffhagen for The Guardian.
Read at The Guardian (UK)
Douglas Stuart, Maggie O’Farrell and David Byrne make the Waterstones Book of the Year shortlist
Booksellers chose the 20 titles, which also include Booker-shortlisted novels by Elizabeth Strout and Rebecca Perry, Patrick Radden Keefe’s London Falling, Robert Macfarlane’s The Book of Birds and Ben Macintyre’s Redwood. The winner will be named on 26 November, reports Lauren Jack for The Scotsman.
Sébastien Lapaque wins the Académie française novel prize by one vote
Lapaque’s Le Rappel des oiseaux, published by Actes Sud, beat Yannick Haenel in the third round of voting for the €10,000 Grand Prix du roman, reports Hocine Bouhadjera for ActuaLitté.
Read at ActuaLitté (France)
The verdict in the Houris case against Kamel Daoud is pushed back to 3 November
An Oran court was due to rule on 27 October in Saâda Arbane’s case against the Goncourt-winning author and his former partner Aïcha Dahdouh, which turns on medical secrecy, but has postponed its decision, reports Antoine Oury for ActuaLitté.
Read at ActuaLitté (France)
Industry Buzz
More than 100 writers say they will boycott Indigo events
Signatories including Viet Thanh Nguyen, Mosab Abu Toha and Daniel José Older pledge not to take part in events run or sponsored by Canada’s largest bookstore chain, over CEO Heather Reisman and Gerald Schwartz’s backing for the HESEG Foundation, which funds scholarships for former foreign volunteers in the Israeli army. The Giller Prize ended its Indigo partnership in 2025, reports Dan Sheehan for Literary Hub.
Read at Literary Hub (US)
Readers suspect AI behind a Gallimard Jules Verne cover
Reddit users have listed flaws in the cover of Futurama, a Jules Verne omnibus in the Quarto series, and ActuaLitté counts about 24 anomalies of the kind AI image tools produce, though nothing proves AI was used. Gallimard credits Matt Biscay, a web developer, and declined to comment further, reports Nicolas Gary for ActuaLitté.
Read at ActuaLitté (France)