News release from NZSA and PANZ
The New Zealand Society of Authors Te Puni Kaituhi o Aotearoa (PEN NZ) Inc (NZSA) and the Publishers Association of New Zealand Te Rau o Tākupu (PANZ) are shocked the National Library of New Zealand (NLNZ) has announced plans to hand over hundreds of thousands of books from its collection to the notorious Internet Archive.
The Internet Archive’s scanning and online distribution of books has been condemned internationally as piracy on a massive scale. (1) This activity by the Archive is the subject of a major lawsuit by international publishers, representing authors from around the world, and supported by authors’ groups. (2)
Supporting authors and writers through the Covid-19 crisis and beyond
Westminster s All Party Writers Group sets out the impact of the pandemic on authors earnings and proposals for future recovery.
LONDON, May 11, 2021 /PRNewswire/ The All Party Parliamentary Writers Group (APWG) has laid bare Covid-19 s devastating impact on the livelihoods of the UK s authors and writers and, in its latest report published today, has set out a Ten Point Plan to help post-pandemic recovery.
The report is the latest calling for further targeted support for the country s fragile creative and cultural sectors beyond the emergency funding so far, and for better engagement by Government with the creative workforce itself, including the vast number of freelancers, and not just industry.
New publications in Taiwan drop to record low: central library
04/01/2021 10:07 PM
CNA file photo
Taipei, April 1 (CNA) The number of new publications in Taiwan fell last year to 35,041, the lowest in two decades, the National Central Library (NCL) said in an annual report released Thursday.
The data in the report on the number of titles published in 2020 was based on International Standard Book Number (ISBN) purchases made by publishers for new books, the NCL said.
In total, 35,041 titles were published in 2020, a decrease of 1,769 from the previous year, the report said. Over the past three years, new publications in Taiwan have been declining by between 3.19 and 5.89 percent annually, it said.
Freelance workers, such as artists, often fall through the cracks when it comes to state support Photo: Drastic Graphics
I like to say that I have never had a job. I also like to say that I have never been out of work. The answer to this paradox is that I have always been a freelance. It has not made me rich, but it has made me happy. Which is why I feel so miserable about the prospects nowadays for anyone trying to live the freelance life.
We all know how much the arts have suffered during the present pandemic, with theatres and concert halls shut, museums and galleries closed or half-empty. All the normal ways in which we can meet and exchange ideas, the informal marketplace in which the arts can flourish, have been stifled. We have been confined to virtual reality, but the actual reality is that we face a profound crisis of creativity.