AGP Executive Report

Publishing & Education: Veteran Philippine journalist Julius Segovia is turning newsroom know-how into a self-published workbook, “Eere Tayo! A Practical Workbook for Journalism, Broadcasting and Digital Media,” launching this September. Nature Writing: Robert Macfarlane and Jackie Morris’ “The Book of Birds” returns to their wonder-and-loss mission, spotlighting nearly 50 birds through lyrical sections on nest, egg, beak, song, feather, flight and migration. Literary Culture & Debate: A new controversy swirls around London mayor Sir Sadiq Khan, who could face a City Hall investigation after calling for Benjamin Netanyahu’s arrest. AI & Books: ISBNdb removed pages pitching physical books for AI training after reporting exposed the practice, though the broader legal market for scanning and destroying books remains. Libraries & Access: San Antonio’s Book Festival is pushing a petition to protect city funding amid a major budget shortfall. Community Reading: A Rikers Island nonprofit, Rosebuds Reading Collective, is expanding book clubs and writing workshops for incarcerated women. Health & Learning: Karnataka’s KEA says document verification for new medical/dental/AYUSH applicants runs Aug. 4–8.

Spider-Man Box Office Buzz: “Spider-Man: Brand New Day” swings into theaters with strong audience demand, praise for Tom Holland’s more mature Peter Parker, and standout action/cinematography. Publishing & Rights: Massachusetts lawmakers advanced a bill to protect free expression in schools and public libraries, aiming to curb political book bans and set clearer rules for removals. Self-Publishing Watch: MindStir Media topped a 2026 ranking of self-publishing services, highlighted for full-service support from editing to marketing. New Book-to-Game: Shueisha Games announced a fully voiced Nintendo Switch/PC mystery game based on Honobu Yonezawa’s novel, launching in winter 2026. International Literary Events: The 9th Yerevan Book Festival runs Sept. 4–6 with a bridge-building theme and major international participation. Library Surprise: An Australian library got back a book “Antiquities of Athens” found bricked in a fireplace—about 150 years overdue. AI & Copyright: Authors’ court fight against Anthropic’s training practices continues, with the dispute centered on what “fair use” should cover.

Publishing & Politics: Taslima Nasreen returned to Kolkata after nearly 19 years in exile, praising renewed security and arguing that freedom of expression is essential for democracy. Film-to-Books Buzz: Rebecca Hall has officially joined Netflix’s adaptation of Dan Brown’s The Secret of Secrets, starring opposite Morgan Spector as Robert Langdon. Community & Events: Sacramento’s first romance convention, KnottyCon 2026, runs Aug. 15–16 with more than two dozen authors and panels. Local Theatre Milestone: Athlone Little Theatre marks its 90th anniversary with a BBQ and a civic-centre exhibition celebrating nine decades of drama. Book World Oddity: An 1858 copy of Antiquities of Athens was found bricked into a fireplace in Kiama, Australia, and returned about 150 years late. Health & Reading: A new journal for family caregivers aims to spark shared conversations as memory fades, while a separate study suggests daily multivitamins may improve older adults’ day-to-day functioning. Satire & New Fiction: Kent Heckenlively’s This Never Happened: A Call Girl in D.C. blends political satire, romance, and suspense set in 1972 Washington.

Film & Casting Buzz: Paramount’s trailer for Children of Blood and Bone spotlights Tomi Adeyemi’s Orïsha world, with Ayra Starr debuting on screen and Tems serving as executive music producer and curator for original songs. Publishing & Community: A new Independent Manga Alliance launched at San Diego Comic-Con to help indie creators and smaller publishers with marketing, translation, distribution, and global sales. Global Reading Growth: China’s online literature keeps scaling up—over 33 million works and about 250 million overseas readers in 2025, with exports topping 130,000 titles. Book Culture & Events: Coronado Public Library hosts Annie Jacobsen for Biological War: A Scenario on Aug. 6, while local festivals and signings keep rolling, including a History Book Festival spotlighting trailblazing women. Opinion & Policy: Gabriel Zucman’s short We Need to Tax Billionaires argues for a global 2% minimum wealth tax on fortunes over $100M. Pop-Culture Reviews: Spider-Man: Brand New Day lands as a big, emotional franchise entry—spectacular action, but built on familiar beats.

Arabic Literature Honors: Qatar Foundation and the University of Granada named Aya Mansour (Iraq) and Gerges Shokry (Egypt) winners of the Radwa Ashour Award, spotlighting new work that reworks epic memory and war-time oral histories. Community Education via Royalties: Indian author Mithilesh Khandwala says all book royalties from Bansi – The Melody of Eternal Knowledge will fund schools, digital learning, and digital libraries in Gujarat border villages. Publishing & Culture in Motion: Su Che Publishing released Happy Rath Yatra: The Festival of Chariots, a children’s non-fiction guide to Puri’s Rath Yatra. Book-to-Screen Buzz: Children of Blood and Bone author Tomi Adeyemi renewed her criticism of the film adaptation, calling it the “worst thing” she’s lived through. Crime and Books: A New Jersey man was convicted for attempting to support Hizbollah in a case tied to the 2022 stabbing of novelist Salman Rushdie. Tech Meets Reading: Cambridge Analytica’s old domain is reportedly back as an AI “slop farm,” raising fresh concerns about data and content. Health Research in Print: Astrin Biosciences published results for a blood test aimed at early-stage breast cancer detection, touting high sensitivity and specificity.

Courtroom Drama: A federal jury convicted Hadi Matar of terrorism charges tied to the 2022 Salman Rushdie stabbing, finding he acted to carry out a 1989 fatwa and provided material support to Hezbollah; Rushdie was left partially blind after being slashed on stage. Publishing & Culture: DIG in York is extending its How to Train Your Dragon School “dig” exhibition with a new conservation lab and added attractions tied to Cressida Cowell’s book world. New Books: Trish Harris’s illustrated YA “Out of the Box” spotlights 25 Deaf and disabled New Zealanders who shaped history through activism, art, sport, and leadership. Author News: Benjamin Alire Sáenz, best known for “Aristotle and Dante Discover the Secrets of the Universe,” died at 71; his final book “When the World Was Happy” is due in September. Tech & Reading: China’s online literature industry topped 33 million works in 2025, with overseas readership around 250 million, signaling continued global reach. Science for Readers: A Mayo Clinic Proceedings study reports GLP-1 weight loss comes mostly from fat rather than muscle, supporting personalized monitoring.

AI & Reading Experience: A new wave of “ask the book” tools lets readers chat with ebooks and audiobooks, raising fresh copyright and creator-pay questions as platforms roll out conversational features. Publishing & Tech: Meta’s appeal over “user damages” tied to Facebook data claims is back in focus, keeping legal pressure on big platforms that touch publishing and media. Fantasy on Screen: Brandon Sanderson says the first draft of the Mistborn movie screenplay is done, but fans still face a long road to release. Literary Culture: George R.R. Martin has shared previously unseen “canon” prose with HBO’s A Knight of the Seven Kingdoms team, reviving Winds of Winter chatter. Community & Books: A Sharon Book Signing spotlights psychiatrist Mathilde Ross’s campus mental-health guide. Space Memoir: Canadian astronaut Jeremy Hansen’s Earthrise recounts the Artemis II mission, due Oct. 27. Local History: Marv Fullner records Nooksack’s family and township past through maps and a telephone book.

AI in Reading: New “ask your book” tools are letting readers chat with the text via book-only chatbots and audiobook features, while another report warns AI-written prose is slipping into self-published novels on Amazon. Publishing & Adaptations: Ten Speed Press will publish graphic adaptations of Rebecca Yarros’ Empyrean series, and Star Trek’s 60th anniversary is getting a wave of specialty books and games. Literary Loss: Japanese mystery giant Keigo Higashino has died at 68, with tributes and renewed interest in his translated hits. Legal Spotlight: Trump is asking the U.S. Supreme Court to overturn an $83.3 million E. Jean Carroll defamation award, arguing presidential immunity. Education & Books: A Philippine lawmaker pushes for a five-year textbook review cycle to keep learning materials current. Health & Research: A new review highlights hantavirus’s possible brain and nerve effects beyond the lungs. Community Culture: A Chicago exhibit and play spotlight Filipino nurses’ history in America.

Children’s Reading Push: Malaysia’s Selangor Children’s Literature Festival (Aug 28–31) is built as a gadget-free alternative, using batik-themed, hands-on activities to help parents steer kids toward reading. International Publishing Spotlight: The Kuala Lumpur International Book Fair is already lining up bigger global ties for KLIBF 2027, with talks on a British Council collaboration and more countries signaling interest. Book-to-Community Moments: A Minnesota thrift-store find turned into a real-life “time capsule” of medical school notes, while Chicago photographer Mati Maldre is set to launch a new local history book with a talk and signing. Literary Awards Watch: The 2026 Booker Prize longlist is out, including Irish debut novelist Djamel White, as well as past winners Douglas Stuart and Marlon James. Fantasy Adaptation Buzz: The first full trailer for Gina Prince-Bythewood’s Children of Blood and Bone brings Tomi Adeyemi’s Orïsha quest to the screen with a star-heavy cast. Tech & Publishing Security: OpenAI and Hugging Face’s autonomous-agent breach is a reminder that basic cybersecurity still matters most.

AI & Work: A new aviation-focused look at “intelligent automation” argues AI doesn’t cut labor or mental load—it often shifts it into heavier layers of oversight and accountability. Literary Culture: A Shanghai symposium replays the famed 1933 meeting between George Bernard Shaw and Lu Xun, underscoring how one brief exchange still echoes in modern literary ties. Book Fairs & Access: Egypt’s inaugural El Alamein Book Fair runs Aug. 1–Sept. 15 with workshops and family programming, while Santo Domingo launches “Book Bank: A book, a hope,” collecting used books for free distribution. Publishing & Community: A Los Angeles indie bookstore crawl drew huge crowds across 13 shops, and Wisconsin’s Madison debate over body cameras is reigniting calls for transparency—an issue that’s now spilling into local public conversation. Major Loss: Japanese mystery titan Keigo Higashino dies at 68, leaving a global legacy from Devotion of Suspect X to the Galileo series. New Fiction: Naeem Murr’s Every Exit Brings You Home lands as an absorbing novel shaped by Palestinian life and loss.

Dog-park inspiration: Camille Perri says her “pandemic puppy” sparked her new novel, turning everyday park gossip into a crime-solving vibe. Graphic-music crossover: Sumerian Comics announced “Janis Joplin: Pearl,” a full-color hardcover graphic novel arriving in October. Royal-family chatter: A new documentary claims Prince Harry resented a childhood “heir and spare” snub, with Diana pushing back on the Queen Mother. Housing policy spotlight: Vermont named Shane Phillips as keynote for its Nov. 18 statewide housing conference, focusing on supply, stability, and subsidies. Queer TV impact: “Heartstopper” returns for its final chapter, with coverage noting how rare LGBTQ+ representation still is on U.S. screens. Publishing & tech: Notabene and Ripple plan to expand enterprise stablecoin payments by integrating Ripple USD into Notabene Flow. Author news: Japanese mystery star Keigo Higashino, 68, has died.

AI & Reading: New tools let readers “chat with” a book while they read or listen, pulling answers from the text itself—Amazon’s Audible and Kindle are among the players, alongside startups like Sinai.ai and My Smart Book. Literary Journalism Spotlight: A major Hemingway conference in Toronto is zeroing in on his 1920–24 Toronto Star articles, arguing they shaped his shift from reporter to writer. Publishing Tech & Access: The rise of AI reading assistants is being pitched as a way to make books more approachable—especially for listeners who want help with characters, themes, and context. Book-to-Screen Adaptation: Director Ruchir Arun says his Musafir Café adaptation aims to keep the novel’s character simplicity and relationship honesty, not just replicate every page. Cultural Events: The San Francisco Art Book Fair drew 30,000 visitors and rejected a “haunted” proposal that didn’t fit the fair’s book focus. Local Media Legacy: Nigeria’s Daily Times marks 100 years with calls to preserve history and strengthen credible journalism in the digital era.

Indie Book Culture: Los Angeles’ inaugural Indie Book Crawl wraps Sunday, with readers visiting 13 local stores, collecting $10+ purchase “passport” stamps, and meeting authors including Taylor Jenkins Reid, Gabrielle Zevin, and Marie Lu. Publishing & Adaptation Buzz: Apple TV has released a teaser for its “Neuromancer” series, bringing William Gibson’s “unfilmable” cyberpunk classic to the screen with Callum Turner as Case. Comics & Franchise News: IDW teases a new era for Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles—Gene Luen Yang’s run ends at issue #24, with Matthew Rosen and Juann Cabal taking over in 2025, plus the final “Last Ronin” volume arriving in 2027. Kids & Community Reading: A major free children’s exhibition, “Wild Things: Animals in Children’s Books,” opens at Lowry in Salford, featuring interactive, screen-free activities and original illustration art. AI & Creativity: Cory Doctorow warns that the AI “bubble” could burst as skills and systems fail to keep up, urging creators not to rely on copyright alone.

Bahrain’s Literary Memory Work: Muharraq Governor Salman Bin Hindi praised Bahraini writers and researchers for preserving the kingdom’s collective history, spotlighting Dr Khalid Ismail Al Alawi’s book From the Neighbourhood’s Memory. Partition-Era Publishing: A new historical account, From Raj to Republic, revisits how Sardar Patel’s States Department tried to block princely-state fragmentation ahead of 1947. Student-Protest Resonance: A 150-year-old Jyotiba Phule play, Trutiya Ratna, translated into English, is being read anew as debates over education and who it’s for. Stephen King on Screen Again: Prime Video set Carrie for an Oct. 7 release, with Mike Flanagan reworking the mother-daughter dynamic and updating the story for the social-media era. Sci-Fi Adaptation Watch: Apple TV announced Neuromancer for Jan. 22, 2027, and also previewed Dark Matter Season 2’s Aug. 28 return. Comic Publishing Moves: Marvel and Kadokawa are launching a Japan-only manga line in 2026, while Thump Records debuted East Side Story at Comic-Con.

Book Culture vs. Real Estate: Nobel laureate Han Kang’s Seoul bookstore Onul Books has closed after a change in ownership forced tenants out, a stark reminder that even major literary stars can’t outlast rising costs. Children’s Publishing: Pitt Community College instructor Christine Bates released “The Tiny Door: An Irp’s Tale,” a colorful new picture-book style adventure about an artist saving her village. AI in Schools: A new report warns that AI tools are spreading through K-12 faster than safeguards for student data, raising privacy fears. True Crime & Publishing: Author James Renner’s new book “A Cruise to Nowhere” revisits the Amy Bradley disappearance, arguing she may have jumped after depression and family conflict. Publishing & Pop Culture: Lucasfilm announced “Star Wars: Twin Crossroads,” a new adult novel exploring Luke and Leia’s mission to Coruscant, due April 2027. Book Trade & Events: Albuquerque’s Books on the Bosque lists multiple author talks this week, including Annie Hartnett’s “The Road to Tender Hearts.” Global Publishing: China’s 34th National Book Expo opened in Hangzhou with 1,000+ exhibitors and nearly 1 million books on offer.

AI & Creative Work: “Open Intelligence: Education Between Art and Artificial” argues creative arts can be taught, but also asks what’s uniquely human when AI learns the teachable patterns. Myth on the Big Screen: Christopher Nolan’s “The Odyssey” is driving renewed interest in Homer, with related books climbing charts. Book Fairs & Culture: Hong Kong’s 36th Book Fair opened July 15, spotlighting global literary exchange. Reviews (Fiction): Missouri Williams’s “The Vivisectors” is praised for its ideas but criticized for not revealing them early enough; Mark Bowles’s “How Do People Stay the Same” uses reverse chronology to make small life moments hit harder. Community Reading: Venezuela’s National Bicentennial Reading Plan kicks off from transitional camps, aiming to bring youth closer to Bolívar’s legacy. Health & Sleep: A small trial reports fecal transplants improved chronic insomnia sleep for up to six months. Publishing Events: Goodyear hosted sci-fi author book signings, while Comic-Con continues to spotlight new graphic novels like John Cusack’s “Momo.”