Welcome to the Tuesday Telegrams, a semimonthly newsletter from award-winning author Naseem Jamnia. You're currently reading a writing-related Telegram, where I update you on projects, offer behind-the-scenes looks, delve into craft, and other publishing and writing topics.

Today, I'm so excited to open with this announcement:

THE GLADE WON THE IGNYTE AWARD FOR OUTSTANDING MIDDLE GRADE FICTION!!!!

I could not have done this without all of you. Thank you so much for your support, for being in this space with me, for believing in the power of inclusive, multi-representational fiction. The Glade is a story about learning to believe in yourself when no one else will—and what happens when we step into our power for the sake of our loved ones.

I really am so honored, and a huge congrats to all the other nominees and winners. I hope this win will get The Glade in the hands of readers who need it, encouraging them to become the main characters in their own lives.

A VICTORY FOR THE BROWN QUEERS!

Industry News

I don't usually talk about industry news in the Telegrams, but I think it actually might be worth doing so, alternating it with craft lessons. So rather than a lesson in speculative nonfiction today, to compliment my personal Telegram on the topic, I thought I'd try this out instead. Let me know if you'd like more on this vein, or other things you'd be interested in seeing in the Telegrams!

The Latest in Book Bans: Nearly 12,000 challenges in a single year

Banned Books Week was last week, and PEN America* decided to kick it off with the latest report in book bans. TL;DR: Last year, the number of challenges at school libraries was the highest year on record, with almost 12,000 challenges across nearly 7400 books. They've recorded 34,000 challenges in the five years since they started collecting data.

Highlights from the report include:

Politicians and political pressure groups are increasingly leading the ban efforts.
So-called AI/LLMs have accelerated the banning process.
Graphic novels and manga are now increasingly targeted.
Authors' whole catalogs are being removed in what PEN is calling a "Scarlet Letter effect." Once one book by an author is removed, the banners go for the rest.
Books by racialized authors discussing racialized experiences and books by LQBTQIA+ authors discussing queer experiences are still overwhelmingly targeted.

I actually went on my local NPR station to talk about book ban realities and myths! There will be a longer version of the conversation at KUNR.org, hopefully sometime this week. Instead of rehashing what I said then, I hope you'll check it out when it's live!

If you're interested in learning more about fighting book bans, Kelly Jensen wrote up a primer for Book Riot.

*PEN America, an anticensorship organization, does really amazing things on the book ban front—but has noticeably been lukewarm on the topic of the censorship of Palestinian writers and students, despite campus free speech being a key interest of theirs. The last I saw, they were "both sides"ing the ongoing genocide of Palestinians.

AI/LLMs are quietly being integrated at some of the Big 5

Adam Morgan reports for Wired (if you're out of free articles, try going into "reader mode" and using the print option to save as a PDF) that at least three of the Big 5—HarperCollins, Simon & Schuster, and Hachette—have incorporated LLM use into their workflow at the behest of the C-suite and against the wishes of employees. This is especially within marketing, where LLMs are generating publicity copy, but editors are encouraged to use it to send emails to literary agents too. Many agencies are currently adding clauses into contracts to ensure that manuscripts are not put into open LLMs.

Other LLM uses include cover art and translations, and employees said those who are experimenting are doing so because "It's skeleton crews everywhere you look." Overworked and underpaid is the name of the game in this industry.

I'll end on this quote from the article, since it explains so much of what is happening:

“The C-suites at Big Five publishing companies have more in common with the C-suites at other major American companies than they do with the editors and publicists and translators who work for them,” says Dan Sinykin, author of Big Fiction: How Conglomeration Changed the Publishing Industry and American Literature. “They’re always looking for ways to maximize profit, and right now they’re trying to see what they can get away with before there’s a revolt.”

Must Read Magazines is screwing up contracts—still

A few years ago, Must Read Magazines bought out three big speculative fiction magazines: Asimov's, Analog, and Fantasy & Science Fiction. Since then, there have been rumblings about their contract terms. More came to light when Hugo Award-winning artist John Picacio shared that his artist contract with Asimov's asked him to waive his moral rights to his work. (Moral rights are beyond me but appear to be the copyright; here's a primer from Harvard.) MRM responded with complete nonsense; their lawyer clearly had no idea how the short speculative fiction industry works.

Jason Sanford always keeps up to date with latest genre news. He wrote an article for his Genre Grapevine summing up what's been going on with MRM here.

Anne Carson Wins the Nobel Prize in Literature

Finally, I thought I'd end on a good note: Anne Carson won the Nobel Prize for her contributions to literature. Her work is terrific and strange and worth checking out. Nox is a particular favorite of mine, part art book and part tribute to a dead sibling, but like others, I am always a sucker for both Autobiography of Red and "The Glass Essay" in Glass, Irony, and God.

Upcoming Events

My last public appearance for the year will be at the World Fantasy Conference in Oakland next week! I'm moderating "Fantasy and Horror Writing: An Act of Resistance" (Friday, 10-11am) with panelists Linda D. Addison, Cynthia Gomez, Kate Maruyama, and Tamika Thompson.

Solidarity Corner

After discovering Lnk.bio, I've finally migrated my personal Linktree there! I'm currently in the process of updating links and migrating my Solidarity Corner.

I'd again like to spotlight Eva Rosin's GoFundMe, as Eva is such a supportive member of our community and deserves to be safely housed. Again, send me a receipt if you donate for a chance to win a signed and personalized copy of one of my books!

Donate to help Eva avoid returning to an abusive home!

If you have organizations, causes, or mutual aid requests you'd like me to spotlight here, please send those links my way. We get through these things when we do so together.

An image of the cover of The Glade by Naseem Jamnia. An Iranian American tween with long wavy brown hair , wearing a blue-purple hoodie and jeans, stares up and away, her fists clenched. Around her are eerie glowing mushrooms and vines. — My middle-grade horror IGNYTE Award-winning debut THE GLADE is now available!

Image description: Naseem's author signature with "xx," above it. The author signature is their name in Farsi.

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Industry news: Book bans, LLMs/AI, bad contracts