There’s always a lot going on in the publishing world, but with the current state of book bans and threats to IMLS, I thought it would be of interest to share some of the pertinent updates each month. I’ll also be including links to any interesting publishing news I see. (I subscribe to several Publisher’s Weekly newsletter, so most of the info comes from them).

Here are some of the highlights from August:

• Kwame Alexander starts new non-profit
• IBPA is now and ALA affiliate (indie books in libraries)
• Florida schools start preemptively removing books
• AP stops weekly book reviews
• Authors vs. Anthropic (AI lawsuit)
• Tentative agreement reached with Anthropic
• Harvey Awards nominees announced
• Freedom to Read upheld in Florida court case (book banning)
• 15th anniversary of YAllFest
• Winners of the Hugo Awards announced
• 20 year drop in reading for pleasure
• 2025 American Manga Awards winners
• NEA (National Endowment for the Arts) cancels Creative Writing Fellowship
• PRH (Penguin Random House) pursuing case against Idaho book ban law