Ernest Hemingway spent many years in Cuba and was living there when he won the Nobel Prize for Literature in 1954. He told a Cuban television reporter at the time that he was proud to be the first cubano sato to be a Nobel laureate. Hemingway of course knew some Spanish from his days covering the Civil War there in the 1930s, but the expression is unique to the Caribbean nation’s Spanish dialect. It roughly means “half Cuban” or “honorary Cuban.”
This week, Publishers Weekly News Editor Calvin Reid joined the first delegation from the American publishing community to attend the annual Havana Book Fair. He returned enamored of the island just as Hemingway was. Reid tells CCC’s Chris Kenneally that he found Havana full of eager readers as well as anxious publishers who declared the Cuban book industry to be facing a critical moment in its history.
Also this week, PW senior writer Andrew Albanese provides an update on the effort by Apple to appeal the verdict against it for e-book price-fixing. How the high court rules has significant impact for consumers and the book business.
“If the high court declines to take Apple’s appeal, Judge Denise Cote’s 2013 liability finding against Apple will be considered final, triggering $400 million in consumer rebates,” Albanese reports. “If the case is remanded for further proceedings, Apple will pay $50 million to consumers. If reversed, Apple will pay nothing.”
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Every Friday, CCC’s “Beyond the Book” speaks with the editors and reporters of “Publishers Weekly” for an early look at the news that publishers, editors, authors, agents and librarians will be talking about when they return to work on Monday.
