The Morning RSS for 14 January 2025
A collection of share-worthy items from our morning blog scroll.
Happy New Year, y’all!
Remember when we used to write [last year] when it’s actually [this year]? Do we still do that? Has typing/keyboarding/autocorrect erased that habit? Moving on …
For Writers & Creators
Coolio. Have you heard about the Public Domain Image Archive (PDIA)? I hadn’t until I saw this BlueSky post. The PDIA is a “curated collection of 10k+ out-of-copyright historical images, all free to explore and reuse.” Here’s the website: pdimagearchive.org
Do you know how to put a value on your work? Darci Pattison asks and answers that question over at Indie Kids Books.
If this “first chapter” is any indication, JQ Rose’s posts about her daughter’s writing journey will be engaging and educational! I’m already intriqued and want to know morea about the person in her daughter’s first book.
From the state of the industry to BookTok's worst theories to interesting adaptations and more, these are the stories that defined 2024. ~ Rebecca Joines Schinsky, Book Riot
Grab your cuppa and sit a spell … Rebecca takes a wide, deep dive into the year that (almost) was in The 2024 Publishing Year in Review [source: Book Riot]
This author post is a story unto a story, about a story - and all true. IMHO it brings something to the conversation about “authentic voices.” Karen Valby is a white woman; her adopted daughters are black; she was asked by the Swans to write their story. A Writer’s Best Gift: A Guest Pos by Karen Valby at Teen Librarian Toolbox
New Books & Book Lists
What do Popeye, A Farewell to Arms (Ernest Hemingway), The Maltese Falcon (Dashiell Hammett), and The Seven Dials Mystery (Agatha Christie) all have in common?
Hint: They are “newly released books.” So to speak. They are among the many works, created in 1929, that entered the public domain on 1 January 2025. [source: NPR]
If “join a book club” is on your things-i-want-to-do-this-year list, check out Erica Ezefedi’s suggestions for BIPOC book clubs, both in-person and virtual. You’ll need to scroll past the Oprah Daily book recommendation and some censorship news … [Source: Book Riot]
Cinderella, Beauty and the Beast, Little Mermaid … there all there with diverse, inclusive representation, in Emily Martin’s post New and Fresh YA Fairy Tale Retellings. [source: Book Riot] FWIW - “new” doesn’t necessarily mean “just released.” We spotted CINDERELLA IS DEAD, a #CYBILS2020 YA Speculative Fiction nominee.
Book Bans & Censorship
For 2024, we’re going to flip the perspective on book bans and censorship. Instead of sharing the head-shaking news, we’re going to share head-nodding ideas!
Not a lot of good news right now. Just keep fighting.
Other Bookish Stuff
What’s more fun than announcing the CYBILS Awards finalists? The joy and reactions of the creators whose books are on the short list. Many have taken to their social platforms to share the news. We’ve seen posts on BlueSky, Facebook, Instagram, personal blogs, and X/Twitter. If you haven’t had a chance to peruse the short lists in your favorite genre. They’re on the home page of our website, www.cybils.com
The silver lining in this cold, frosty, snowy weather that has gripped various parts of the US is that we have to stay inside. And if we have to stay inside, then we have more time to read! Who doesn’t love that?
Here’s to a year of reading joy!
~ Team CYBILS