Democracy Gone Astray

Democracy, being a human construct, needs to be thought of as directionality rather than an object. As such, to understand it requires not so much a description of existing structures and/or other related phenomena but a declaration of intentionality.
This blog aims at creating labeled lists of published infringements of such intentionality, of points in time where democracy strays from its intended directionality. In addition to outright infringements, this blog also collects important contemporary information and/or discussions that impact our socio-political landscape.

All the posts here were published in the electronic media – main-stream as well as fringe, and maintain links to the original texts.

[NOTE: Due to changes I haven't caught on time in the blogging software, all of the 'Original Article' links were nullified between September 11, 2012 and December 11, 2012. My apologies.]

Saturday, June 09, 2012

'Devastating' cuts to Literary Press Group: Very bad news for employees and publishers

This week, the Department of Canadian Heritage cut funding to The Literary Press Group (LPG), an organization which represents 47 small Canadian publishers.

The money represented one-third of the group's revenue.

In a press release, released on June 6, the LPG called the cuts "a body blow to Canada's independent literary publishers."

One of the major services LPG provides to its member publishers is a sales team to represent their titles in the Canadian market. Currently LPG is responsible for about 225 books.

While the LPG says it is committed to selling publishers' books for fall 2012, all of its sales representatives will be laid off on Aug. 31, and most of its head office staff on Nov. 30. Organization chair Karen Green calls the news "sudden" and "devastating" for employees.

LPG executive director Jack Illingworth called the cut "seriously misguided."

This news comes two months into LPG's fiscal year. Illingworth condemns the timing. "If we had received this news in January or February of this year ... we could have made the transition in an orderly way with much less harm to our association, our members, or their authors."

Illingworth says LitDistCo, which distributes books for members of the LPG and other publishers, will continue services uninterrupted.

Twitter is unhappy about the news.

Jacques Filippi, blogger and LPG sales rep, accuses the Canadian government of "conducting its own bookburning."

Angie Abdou, author of The Bone Cage, which received a whole bunch of good reviews, credited LPG with her novel's publication, writing, "I tried the Bone Cage w big publishers & agents: "Too Canadian, Too sporty." W/out @lpg_canada it wouldn't exist." The Bone Cage was published by NeWest Press, a member of LPG.

The UBC Bookstore also had sympathetic words, and Arsenal Pulp Press, which LPG represents, called the cuts "egregious."

The Department of Canadian Heritage does not have a press release posted on its site.

Original Article
Source: rabble.ca
Author: Theresa Ketterling 

No comments:

Post a Comment