LibraryThing: State of the Thing - December

LibraryThing: State of the Thing Dear {NAME}, Welcome to the December State of the Thing! In this issue we announce our very first Year in Review reports, invite members to participate in our 2023 Roundup Treasure Hunt, highlight our Holiday Store, present our annual Top Five Books, interview publisher Eye of Newt Books, and give a shout out to all of our wonderful helpers. We also serve up lots and lots of book world news, all of our regular columns, and 2,949 free Early Reviewer books! You can like LibraryThing on [Facebook]( and follow [@LibraryThing]( on Twitter, [librarythingofficial]( on Instagram, and [librarythingofficial](librarythingofficial) on Threads for news and updates. 2023 LibraryThing Year In Review [HuntBirds]LibraryThing is pleased to announce a fun new page that wraps up your 2023 year over on the site! Check out your [2023 LibraryThing Year in Review]( to see the highlights of what you've contributed to LibraryThing this year, including what you've read and added. We've got charts, graphs, and even a compilation of your 2023 book covers. Your Year in Review answers all your most pressing questions, such as: how many IKEA Billy bookcases would be needed to store the books you added this year? Who were your top authors? Of the books you added, what had the earliest publication date? How many pages did you read this year? What colors are your 2023 books? How many Talk posts did you write? What were the top awards and honors for your books? What badges and medals did you earn? You can share your Year in Review with others just by posting the URL, or by taking screenshots to highlight your favorite pieces (like the beautiful poster of book covers). Take a peek at some of our Years in Review: - [Tim’s Year in Review]( - [Abby’s Year in Review]( - [Lucy’s Year in Review]( - [Abigail’s Year in Review]( This is the first time we’ve tried a year-end wrap-up, and we’d love to get your feedback. Come take a look at your own [2023 Year in Review](, see our [blog post]( for the complete story, and join the discussion in [Talk](! 2023 Roundup Treasure Hunt [HuntBirds]The year is drawing to a close, and we are pleased to present our [2023 Roundup Hunt](, intended to highlight developments in the bookish world and on the LibraryThing site over the course of this past year! Come search through our website, reading and solving the twelve clues, and finding the pages on LibraryThing that match your solutions. When you find each right page, you’ll see a banner at the top of your screen announcing that you’ve found some fireworks. Everyone who finds at least two fireworks receives a [profile badge](, while those who find all twelve will be entered into a drawing for a LibraryThing [prize](. You have until Monday January 8th at 11.59 pm Eastern Time to find all the fireworks hidden around the site and gather them all together into one big display. Come brag about your skyful of fireworks (and get hints) on [Talk](. Holiday Store LibraryThing’s annual [Holiday Store]( opened on Cyber Monday (November 27th), and will run through Epiphany (January 6th). Check it out for great deals on your favorite LibraryThing and TinyCat gear: - Holiday Bundles, including the classic “LibraryThing Love” Bundle and the Pin Bundle - CueCat scanners and barcode labels for $5. - Gorgeous enamel pins, including our new Talpa pins, for $3 apiece. - An assortment of stickers from $1, including our brand new Litsy, Talpa, and TinyCat stickers, and brand new holographic LibraryThing and TinyCat stickers for $2. - And more! » [Shop the Holiday Store now through January 6th]( Holiday Updates SantaThing. Entry for our [SantaThing]( holiday book exchange has closed, the gift selection process has been completed, and the ordering is almost done! All orders from [Kennys Bookshop]( (Ireland), [Blackwell’s]( (UK), [Time Out Bookstore]( (New Zealand), [Readings]( (Australia), [Longfellow Books]( (Portland, ME), [BookPeople]( (Austin, TX), and [Powell’s Books]( (Portland, OR) have been placed, and [Kindle]( ordering is currently underway. We had 384 entries this year, with 348 LibraryThing members participating, and 976 gifts that have now started to reach their lucky Santees! Join the conversation over in [Talk]( to stay current with the latest developments, and be sure to keep us posted about your own gifts in the [SantaThing Arrivals]( Talk thread, so Kate can keep the [SantaThing 2023 Arrivals Map]( updated. Holiday Card Exchange. Our 10th annual [Holiday Card Exchange]( has now closed, and cards are beginning to be received by their recipients! For the first time ever we permitted members to sign up to send twenty cards this year—the limit was previously ten—and we had 236 members participating, with 1,923 cards promised. Please let everyone know over [in Talk]( when your cards begin to arrive. Annual Bar Chart Race! Every year LibraryThing puts together a short animated graph of the year's top books, collected by its public-library product [Syndetics Unbound](. While LibraryThing members added some 18 million books this year, Syndetics Unbound captures more than a billion data points about what's popular in libraries, so it can chart the rise and fall of titles day by day. See the [annual bar chart race and the top 100 list on the blog](. Staff Top Picks for 2023 As 2023 draws to a close, it’s time for LibraryThing’s annual December tradition: sharing our staff’s [Top Five Books of 2023](. We read in a wide variety of genres, so it’s always interesting to see what everyone comes up with. This year we have eight staff members participating, including [Molly]( and [Lauren](, who joined the company in 2023. Come take a look at this year’s [blog post](, add your own top 5 books to our [December List of the Month]( (more below), and join the conversation in [Talk](. List of the Month Come join LibraryThing’s List of the Month project, as we create a new thematic book list each month. Like all of our [Lists](, the List of the Month draws upon the knowledge of the LibraryThing community, while also aiming to provoke discussion around each theme. See our [wiki page]( for a complete List of the Month list, and join us over in our [Talk group](, for further discussion of the project. December List of the Month. The year is coming to an end, and our December List of the Month is dedicated to members’ [Top Five Books of 2023](. This list was created in tandem with our annual [Staff Top Picks]( blog post, highlighted above. Head over to our list of [Top Five Books of 2023]( to add your top five choices Check out other recent Lists of the Month: - November [Great Films Based on Books]( - October [Witchy Fiction]( - September [Books We’d Want on a Desert Island]( - August [Books With the Most Memorable Titles]( - July [A Smorgasbord of Culinary Fiction]( Publisher Interview: Eye of Newt Books LibraryThing is pleased to present our inaugural Independent Publisher interview, hopefully the first of a series. We sat down this month with [Neil Christopher](, one of the publishers of [Eye of Newt Books](, an independent Canadian press based in Toronto whose small but impressive catalog features works that pair imaginative fiction and folklore with beautiful and striking artwork. An educator, author and filmmaker who has taught for many years in the Arctic, Christopher was one of the founders of Nunavut-based [Inhabit Media](, an Inuit-owned publishing house that specializes in content featuring traditional Inuit mythology and knowledge. He is himself the author of a number of collections of Inuit tales, from [Arctic Giants]( to [The Dreaded Ogress of the Tundra: Fantastic Beings from Inuit Myths and Legends](. See an excerpt below, and the full interview [here](. Q. How did Eye of Newt Books get started? Whose idea was it, how did it all come together, and what is your vision, going forward? Neil. We have been working in publishing in the Canadian Arctic for almost 20 years, and during that time we met many amazing authors and illustrators that sometimes didn’t fit into our Arctic publishing initiative. As well, there were many stories and projects we wanted to do that didn't fit into the Arctic publishing work. So, we wanted to start a Toronto-based publishing company that could work with these incredible writers and artists and could realize some of these projects. Danny** was the one who came up with the name, and we worked together to clarify Eye of Newt’s vision. Basically, we want to make quirky books that might not have a home elsewhere. We want to make books for kids that we would have enjoyed; and we want to make books for adults that we want to read. **Co-founder of Eye of Newt Books, [Danny Christopher]( is Neil Christopher’s brother, and is also an author and illustrator. Visit the blog to [read the whole conversation](. Helpers What is LibraryThing without its members? LibraryThing has some of the best people around, helping to improve the site for themselves and for the larger community—making us the best bookish site out there. From dedicated helper groups like [Combiners!]( and [Spam Fighters!](, to the guidance provided by long-time members when newcomers have questions in [Talk About LibraryThing](, [Frequently Asked Questions]( or [Bug Collectors](, our members are always helping out. They add an enormous amount of valuable information to the site, filling out Common Knowledge fields on author and book work pages, adding cover images and author photographs, and improving features such as [Series](Nseries_controller), [Recommendations]( and [Awards](. Roll of Honor. Each month we call out some of the top contributors from the last month. So… special thanks this time go to [leselotte]( (work combiners and edition separators), [SimoneA]( (work combiners and edition separators), [Bedeteca]( (cover uploading and series edits), [cameronmoss1]( (cover uploading), [GwynethM]( (work author edits, work relationships and Common Knowledge contributors), [smithli]( (work author edits), [Brett-Woywood]( (author picture contributors and adding links), [ExVivre]( (author “never”-ers), [geophile]( (tag combiners), [Aquila]( (tag translation and Awards and Honors), [labfs39]( (series edits), [circeus]( (publisher series edits), [davidgn]( (Awards and Honors), [Ghost_Boy]( (Common Knowledge contributors), [kirstenlund]( (all helper voting), and [Heather39]( (rating recommendations). The Talk of LibraryThing What conversations are going on in our groups? - A discussion of contemporary novels and other fiction that offer [Retellings of Myths]( is ongoing, over in the [Mythology]( group. - Members continue to track [Where in the World They Are]( in their reading, over in [The Global Challenge]( group. - The discussion of [2023 Acquisitions](, ongoing all year, continues amongst our [George Macy Devotees](. - Members are documenting and discussing their [2023 Historical Fiction Adventures]( in the [Historical Fiction]( group. Speaking of Groups, if you’re new to LibraryThing, there’s a group for that: [Welcome to LibraryThing](21)! Hot on LibraryThing Here are some titles that have been particularly hot on LibraryThing in the last month: - [Iron Flame]( by [Rebecca Yarros]( - [Resurrection Walk]( by [Michael Connelly]( - [The Mystery Guest]( by [Nita Prose]( - [Inheritance]( by [Nora Roberts]( - [The Little Liar]( by [Mitch Albom]( - [Oath and Honor: A Memoir and a Warning]( by [Liz Cheney]( - [The Edge]( by [David Baldacci]( - [Unnatural Death]( by [Patricia Cornwell]( - [Cross Out]( by [James Patterson]( - [System Collapse]( by [Martha Wells]( - [Dirty Thirty]( by [Janet Evanovich]( - [Bookshops and Bonedust]( by [Travis Baldree]( - [The Kingdom of Sweets: A Novel of the Nutcracker]( by [Erika Johansen]( - [The Watchmaker's Hand]( by [Jeffery Deaver]( - [The Secret]( by [Lee Child]( - [The Woman In Me]( by [Britney Spears]( - [A Winter in New York]( by [Josie Silver]( - [The Ball at Versailles]( by [Danielle Steel]( - [The Exchange: After The Firm]( by [John Grisham]( - [No One Can Know]( by [Kate Alice Marshall]( Free Books from Early Reviewers! Our Early Reviewers program pairs publishers and authors looking for reviews and book buzz with readers looking for their next great read. This month we’re pleased to feature [The Forest Demands Its Due](, a young adult fantasy set in dark academia from [Kosoko Jackson](, offered by publicist [BooksForward](; [Swanna in Love](, the first novel in ten years from best-selling author [Jennifer Belle](, offered by [Akashic Books](; and [The Fragile Blue Dot: Stories from Our Imperiled Biosphere](—our very first offering from [GladEye Press](. Explore the full list and [sign up to request books](. [The Lady with the Dark Hair]( [Never Fall Again]( [The Reservoir]( [The Red Wheelbarrow]( [Swanna in Love]( [Pushing Back the Desert]( [The Difficult Life of a Little Brown Hound]( [The Forest Demands Its Due]( [The Four Relationship Styles: How Attachment Theory Can Help You in Your Search for Lasting Love]( [The Human Trial]( [Mother Nature Nursery Rhymes]( [The Birthday of Eternity]( [A Lady's Guide to Marvels and Misadventure]( [Of Starlight and Midnight]( [The Fragile Blue Dot: Stories from Our Imperiled Biosphere]( [Psalms of My People: A Story of Black Liberation As Told Through Hip-Hop]( [A Full Net: Fishing Stories from Maine and Beyond]( [Mountain Offerings: Poems]( [Accustomed to the Dark]( [The Intended Soul]( Our December batch of Early Reviewers has 2,949 copies of 144 books. The deadline to request a book is December 26th, 6pm Eastern time. Did you win a book recently? When you receive your book, make sure you head over to your [Books You've Won]( page to mark it received. After you've read your book, add your review to LibraryThing. First, add the book to your LibraryThing catalog. Then click the pencil-shaped "edit" icon next to the book, or click "edit book" from the work page. Type your review into the Review box, and click "submit" to save it. Reviewing your books gives you a greater chance of winning books in the future, while neglecting to review lowers your odds. For more information, visit the [Early Reviewers Help Page](. Book World News: In Memoriam Dame Antonia Susan Duffy, known to the literary world as [A.S. Byatt](, the acclaimed English novelist, poet and critic, [has died at 87](. One of a literary family—her sisters were the novelist [Margaret Drabble]( and art historian [Helen Langdon](, and her nephews and niece were published authors as well—Byatt published her first novel, [Shadow of a Sun](, in 1964. Her [Frederica Potter Quartet](, which chronicled the female experience over the course of the twentieth century, and which cemented the author’s reputation in the literary world, began in 1978 with [The Virgin in the Garden](, and concluded in 2002 with [A Whistling Woman](. Byatt won the 1990 [Booker Prize]( for [Possession: A Romance](, and the 1995 [Aga Khan Prize for Fiction]( for [The Djinn in the Nightingale’s Eye](. Her [The Children’s Book]( was shortlisted for the Booker and won the 2010 [James Tait Black Memorial Prize](. Byatt received numerous other awards, including the 2002 Shakespeare Prize, the 2016 [Erasmus Prize](, and the 2018 [Hans Christian Andersen Literature Award](. Other recent losses in the book world: - [Refaat Alareer](, Palestinian poet, professor and activist, [has died at 44](. - [Cari Beauchamp](, American biographer and Hollywood historian, [has died at 74](. - [Michael Bishop](, American fantasy and science fiction author, [has died at 78](. - [Tim Dorsey](, American crime reporter and novelist, [has died at 62](. - [David Drake](, American fantasy and science fiction author, [has died at 78](. - [David Ferry](, American poet, professor and translator, [has died at 99](. - [Linda R. Hirshman](, American lawyer, academic and author, [has died at 79](. - [Gabe Hudson](, American veteran, novelist and LibraryThing author, [has died at 52](. - [Emmanuel Le Roy Ladurie](, French historian and academic, [has died at 94](. - [Barry McKinnon](, Canadian poet and writing teacher, [has died at 79](. - [Ted Morgan](, French-born American biographer and historian, [has died at 91](. - [John Nichols](, American novelist and photographer, [has died at 83](. - [Russell Norman](, British restaurateur and food writer, [has died at 57](. - [Renée](, New Zealand feminist playwright, poet and novelist, [has died at 94](. - [Ann Schlee](, English novelist and children’s author, [has died at 89](. - [Benjamin Zephaniah](, British writer, dub poet, actor, and musician, [has died at 65](. Freedom of Expression The [Association of American Publishers](, which oversees the [AAP International Freedom to Publish | Jeri Laber Award](, given annually in recognition of a publisher outside of the United States that has "demonstrated courage and fortitude in defending freedom of expression," [announced this year]( that they would not be choosing one single winner, issuing the award to “all publishing houses in multiple countries and regions of the world that continued to publish in the face of increased government pressure, harassment, and threats." In [their statement](, the prize committee mentioned that a number of publishers that were considered for the award expressed concern over the difficulties that such attention might bring them, were they to win. The statement continued “On behalf of AAP’s Freedom to Publish Committee, we send a loud and clear message to publishing professionals who are under siege for their bravery, their determination, and their sacrifice: we see you.” We chronicled the terrible knife attack on author [Salman Rushdie]( last year in our [September 2022 issue]( of State of the Thing, as well as PEN America honoring him with the [PEN Centenary Courage Award]( earlier this year in our [June 2023 issue](. Rushdie has now been honored again, [recently receiving a Lifetime Disturbing the Peace Award]( at a literary event hosted by the Václav Havel Center in New York. He is the first recipient of this new award, and in a press release the Václav Havel Center said that he “exemplifies everything that the award stands for… His forthright defense of freedom of expression emerges not only through his fiction, but also in the principled stances he takes in his trenchant commentaries and memoirs.” In Russia, state investigators have [raided the Zakharov publishing house](, because they have refused to stop selling the work of popular Russian-Georgian author [Boris Akunin]( (real name Grigori Chkhartishvili). Akunin, who currently lives in the UK, has been added to a list of “terrorists and extremists” because of his comments condemning the Russian invasion of Ukraine, and his actions in co-founding the [TrueRussia Foundation](, which attempts to aid those affected by the invasion. In the U.S., in the meantime, PEN America has [released a new report]( containing a “cumulative data summary” that tracks the almost 6,000 public school book bans it has documented since July 2021. The [Spineless Shelves: Two Years of Book Banning]( report highlights two important phenomena. The first is the existence of “copycat” bans, in which a book banned in one school district or state will soon be banned in others. The second is the “Scarlet Letter” effect, in which the banning of one book leads to all of the other books by that same author coming under scrutiny, and frequently also being banned. Congress is attempting to [grapple with the issue](, with a group of lawmakers introducing a bill that would combat school book bannings, while the conflict over library curation continues on the state level, in multiple cases. In Texas, [the lawsuit concerning the recent book-rating law](, HB 900, which would require book vendors to rate the titles that they sell for sexual content, with those being marked as explicit to be excluded from school libraries—see our earlier coverage in the [September]( and [October]( issues of State of the Thing—is ongoing, with the plaintiffs asking the Fifth Circuit to reverse its stay on an earlier injunction blocking the law. In Iowa, Lambda Legal and ACLU Iowa have [filed a federal lawsuit]( to challenge a new law, SF 496, which they say seeks to silence the LGBTQ community. The law came into effect this fall, and prohibits school libraries from keeping books with depictions of sex (visual or textual), as well as forbidding school instruction involving “gender identity” and “sexual orientation.” In Alaska, the ACLU and eight other plaintiffs are [suing the Matanuska-Susitna Borough school district]( (located north of Anchorage), claiming that the removal of 56 books from school shelves was a violation of First and Fourteenth Amendment rights. Book World News: Awards Awards and Prizes. Irish author [Paul Lynch]( has [been announced as the winner]( of the 2023 [Booker Prize]( for his novel, [Prophet Song](, which imagines a future Dublin falling into the grip of fascist tyranny. Judging chair [Esi Edugyan]( described Lynch’s book as “soul-shattering and true,” a novel that “captures the social and political anxieties of our current moment,” stating that readers “will not soon forget its warnings.” Lynch is the fifth Irish author to win the Booker, and although he has stated that he is “distinctly not a political novelist,” [Prophet Song]( is the second Booker Prize winner in a row, following last year’s win for [Shehan Karunatilaka’s]( [The Seven Moons of Molly Almeida](, to address political conflict. This year’s winners of the [Scotland National Book Awards](, also known as the Saltire Society Awards, have recently [been announced in several categories](. The Saltire Society Scottish Book of the Year has gone to [Leah Hazard]( for her [Womb: The Inside Story of Where We All Began](. Fiction Book of the Year has gone to [Martin MacInnes]( for his [In Ascension](, while [David Taylor]( has won History Book of the Year for his ['The People Are Not There': The Transformation of Badenoch 1800–1863](. Poetry Book of the Year has gone to [Taylor Strickland]( for [Dastram / Delirium](, while [Victoria Mackenzie]( has won First Book of the Year for her [For Thy Great Pain Have Mercy On My Little Pain](. The Lifetime Achievement Award has gone to [Liz Lochhead](. The [Royal Society Trivedi Science Book Prize]( has [been awarded]( this year to [Ed Yong]( for his [An Immense World: How Animal Senses Reveal the Hidden Realms Around Us](, praised by the judges chair [Alain Goriely]( for the way in which it “masterfully transforms the mundane into the magical, taking us through the animal kingdom’s myriad senses one scientific discovery at a time.” Goriely continued “it is a read that leaves one with a profound appreciation for our shared world, demonstrating that great science books don’t just educate—they have the potential to transform.” The winners of the 2023 [National Book Awards](, given out in multiple categories, [were announced]( in mid November. In the Nonfiction category, [Ned Blackhawk]( has won for his [The Rediscovery of America: Native Peoples and the Unmaking of U.S. History](, while the winner in the Fiction category is [Justin Torres](, for his [Blackouts](. The winner in the Poetry category is [Craig Santos Perez]( for his [From Unincorporated Territory [Ã¥mot]](, while [Dan Santat]( has won in the Young People’s Literature category for his [A First Time for Everything](, and [Stênio Gardel]( and [Bruna Dantas Lobato]( in the Translated Literature category for [The Words That Remain](. The [Literarian Award for Outstanding Contribution to the American Literary Community]( was given to City Lights bookseller Paul Yamazaki, while the [Medal for Distinguished Contribution to American Letters]( went to poet [Rita Dove](. This year’s winners of the [Australian Prime Minister’s Literary Awards]( have [been announced]( in multiple categories, with [Jessica Au]( winning in the Fiction category for her [Cold Enough for Snow](, and [Gavin Yuan Gao]( winning in the Poetry category for his [At the Altar of Touc](h. [Sam Vincent]( has won in the Nonfiction category for [My Father and Other Animals: How I Took on the Family Farm](, and [Shannyn Palmer]( has won in the Australian History category for [Unmaking Angas Downs: Myth and History on a Central Australian Pastoral Station](. The winner in the Young Adult category is [Sarah Winifred Searle]( for [The Greatest Thing](, and the winner in the Children’s Literature category is [Jasmine Seymour]( for [Open Your Heart to Country](. The winner of the 2023 [Baillie Gifford Prize for Non-Fiction](20Johnson%20Prize%20for%20Non-fiction) has [been announced]( as [John Vaillant]( for his [Fire Weather: A True Story from a Hotter World](, which was praised by jury chair Frederick Studemann as a “very well researched, meticulously told” and of “great literary merit”—a book that “forces you to ask some questions of yourself.” [The John Dos Passos Prize for Literature](, given annually to "an underappreciated writer whose work offers incisive, original commentary on American themes, experiments with form, and encompasses a range of human experiences," [has been awarded this year]( to novelist and short story writer [Patricia Engel](. The [Canada Council for the Arts]( has [announced the 2023 winners]( of the [Governor General’s Literary Awards](, with books honored in multiple categories. For English-language books, [Anuja Varghese]( has won in the Fiction category for [Chrysalis](, [Kyo Maclear]( has won in the Non-fiction category for [Unearthing: A Story of Tangled Love and Family Secrets](, and [Hannah Green]( in the Poetry category for [Xanax Cowboy: Poems](. The winner in the Drama category is [Cliff Cardinal](, for his [William Shakespeare's As You Like It, A Radical Retelling](, while the award for Young People’s Literature (Text) went to [Sarah Everett]( for her [The Probability of Everything](. [Jack Wong]( won in the Young People’s Literature (Illustrated Texts) for his [When You Can Swim](. For French-language books, [Marie Helene Poitras]( has won in the Fiction category for [Galumpf : et autres histoires](, and [Philippe Bernier Arcand]( has won in the Non-fiction category for [Faux rebelles : Les derives du ±politiquement incorrect](. See the other winners [HERE](. Montreal-born [Sarah Bernstein](, now living in Scotland, [has recently won]( the 2023 [Scotiabank Giller Prize](, awarded annually to a Canadian author of a short story or novel in English, for her [Study for Obedience](. The story of a woman who moves to the land of her forebears in order to look after her brother, only to find herself the target of local hostility, the book was praised by the jury for its prose, which “refracts Javier Marias sometimes, at other times Samuel Beckett,” and described as an “unexpected and fanged book,” one that, with “its own studied withholdings create a powerful mesmeric effect.” [Jennifer Haigh]( has [been announced as the winner]( of the 2023 [Mark Twain American Voice in Literature Award](20Twain%20American%20Voice%20in%20Literature%20Award) for her novel, [Mercy Street](. The MTAVL award is given annually by [The Mark Twain House & Museum](, with the help of benefactor [David Baldacci](, and recognizes the work “that best exemplifies or expresses a uniquely American voice, much in the way that Twain’s [The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn]( does.” The [Writers’ Trust of Canada]( recently revealed the [winners of their seven literary prizes]( at their November 21st award ceremony in Toronto. The [Atwood Gibson Writers' Trust Fiction Prize]( has gone to [Kai Thomas]( for his [In the Upper Country](, while the [Hilary Weston Writers' Trust Prize for Nonfiction]( has gone to [Christina Sharpe]( for her [Ordinary Notes](. The winner of the [Dayne Ogilvie Prize for LGBTQ2S+ Emerging Writers](20Ogilvie%20Prize) was [Anuja Varghese]( for her [Chrysalis](, while the winner of the [Writers' Trust Engel Findley Award](, which recognizes the body of work of a writer in mid-career, was [Anosh Irani](. [Laisha Rosnau]( has won the [Latner Griffin Writers’ Trust Poetry Prize](, which is “given to a mid-career poet in anticipation of his future contributions to Canadian poetry,” while [Helen Humphreys]( has won the [Matt Cohen Award](, which honors a writer’s lifelong work. Finally, [Kyo Maclear]( has won the [Vicky Metcalf Award for Literature for Young People](, in recognition of her lifetime achievement. The winners of the 2023 [An Post Irish Book Awards]( have [been announced](, with [Paul Murray]( winning Eason Novel of the Year for [The Bee Sting](, and [Mark O'Connell]( winning Dubray Non-Fiction Book of the Year for [A Thread of Violence: A Story of Truth, Invention, and Murder](. Other winners include [Colin Walsh]( for Newcomer of the Year for his [Kala](, [Katriona O'Sullivan]( for Bookselling Ireland Biography of the Year for [Poor: Grit, Courage, and the Life-Changing Value of Self-Belief](, and [Liz Nugent]( for Irish Independent Crime Fiction of the Year for her [Strange Sally Diamond](. The complete list of winners can be [found here](. Additional Award News This Month: Winners. [The ACT Book of the Year Award]( |[The Bollinger Everyman Wodehouse Prize for Comic Fiction](20Book%20Award) | [The Center for Fiction First Novel Prize]( | [The Cercador Prize for Literature in Translation]( | [The Christy Awards]( | [The Diagram Prize for Oddest Book Title of the Year](25252FDiagram-Prize-for-Oddest-Title-of-the-Year) | [The Financial Times Business Book of the Year]( | [The Goodreads Choice Awards]( | [The National Outdoor Book Awards]( | [The National Translations Awards]( | [The Nero Award]( | [The New York Times Best Illustrated Children’s Books]( | [The PEN Hessell-Tiltman Prize]( | [The Polari Book Prize]( | [The Tony Ryan Book Award]( | [The Voss Literary Prize]( | [The Walkley Book Award]( | [The Warwick Prize for Women in Translation]( | [The Waterstones Book of the Year]( | [The William Hill Sports Book of the Year]( | [The Wolfson History Prize]( Other Book World News Library and Literary News The American Library Association has [named the ten winners]( of the 2024 [I Love My Librarian Awards](, recognizing librarians who have made a difference in their patrons’ lives, or who have gone above and beyond to serve their communities. Chosen from around 1,400 entrants, the winners include three academic librarians, four public librarians, and three school librarians, all nominated by their patrons. From a high school librarian who survived a school shooting and now works to provide support to other survivors, to a university librarian whose specialist knowledge of intellectual property has been of aid to many inventors and entrepreneurs, the ten librarians honored with this award are doing some amazing things. In other library news, in late October the British Library [suffered a major cyber-attack]( which has put all sorts of essential services on hold, with their catalog, website and online learning resources going dark. The effects have been ongoing, although they recently announced that a reference-only version of their main catalog will be available online starting on January 15th. The New York Public Library, which has been dealing with a different kind of crisis—[recent NYC budget cuts]( have necessitated [closing all locations on Sundays](—recently announced their [Top Checkouts of 2023](. Top titles include [Lessons in Chemistry]( by [Bonnie Garmus](, [Tomorrow, and Tomorrow, and Tomorrow]( by [Gabrielle Zevin](, and [Spare]( by [Prince Harry](. Similarly, ebook vendor OverDrive has [released a list]( of the most borrowed digital books on Libby, their popular library reading app. The most borrowed fiction ebook was [Verity]( by [Colleen Hoover](, while the most borrowed nonfiction ebook was [Spare]( by [Prince Harry](. Bookselling and Publishing The copyright case brought by four major publishers (Hachette, HarperCollins, Wiley, and Penguin Random House) in 2020 against the [Internet Archive]( in response to their program to lend out digital copies of paper books in their collection—previously reported on in the [September 2022]( [March 2023]( [April 2023]( and [August 2023]( issues of State of the Thing—has reached a new stage, after reports of a negotiated agreement in August. Lawyers for the Internet Archive have [filed an appeal](, arguing that Judge John G. Koeltl’s finding in favor of the plaintiffs misunderstood the facts and should be reversed. It is expected that the publisher plaintiffs will file their own appeal brief in February, and that a hearing date will not be set for at least six months. In AI news, the European Union has recently [approved the first major piece of legislation]( on the use of artificial intelligence, worldwide. The EU AI Act, “recognizing the potential threat to citizens’ rights and democracy posed by certain applications of AI,” seeks to prohibit a number of specific activities, ranging from “biometric categorization systems that use sensitive characteristics,” to “untargeted scraping of facial images from the Internet or CCTV footage to create facial recognition databases.” Many details still need to be worked out, with a final, formal vote expected to be held in early 2024. In the US, the lawsuit brought by a group of authors against Meta’s Llama AI application has [received a setback](, with the judge in the case tossing part of the suit, saying that the claim that the application violated copyright does not hold up. Despite this, the case was not dismissed with prejudice, giving the authors the chance to amend and refile their claim. TinyCat [TinyCat]( is the online catalog for small libraries, created by LibraryThing. It turns your existing LibraryThing account into a simple, professional, web-based catalog. Follow [@TinyCat_Lib]( on Twitter and [tinycat_lib](tinycat_lib) on Threads for the latest TinyCat news, and be sure to check out [LibraryThing’s Youtube channel]( for a range of TinyCat tutorials. TinyCat Webinars. Our last live webinar of the year was on December 6th, but you can watch one of our recorded sessions anytime from [LibraryThing’s YouTube channel](. That’s also where you can find Tiny Tutorials for using TinyCat and LibraryThing. Live webinar sessions will start back up by January 10th, so stay tuned for details. If you'd like to schedule a webinar at another time or if you have other questions about TinyCat, you can reach Kristi at tinycat@librarything.com. Wait, That's It? That's all I have for the Thing this month! If you have any suggestions, or ideas for improving State of the Thing, please reach out to me at abigailadams@librarything.com. Past issues of State of the Thing are available in our [SOTT Archive](. Happy reading, Abigail PS: If you'd rather receive a plain-text version, [edit your email preferences](. You can also read it [online](. This message was sent to {NAME}. Click to [edit your email preferences]( or [unsubscribe from future emails](.