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Free All Words#FreeAllWords: International Text and Translation Fund of the European Writers‘ Council (EWC) gives a voice to authors from Belarus and Ukraine

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How to champion writers and translators behind every book

22nd June 2020
Nina George Photo ©Helmut Henkensiefken

What Can We Do For Authors, Nina George?

A special view on the German and the European Situation in and after the Covid-19 crisis

22 June 2020 I I could take an alarmist approach to this: after all, the situation for writers and translators, as the sources behind the german 13.4 billion-euro book value chain[1], continues to be serious. Event cancellations, sales losses, programme downsizing and reduced advance fees. Writers also fall through the cracks when it comes to governmental support – our state apparatus is not prepared for a freelancer crisis.

However, I would like to couch this in different terms: pride. Yes, I am proud of my colleagues. They refuse to be left high and dry. They continue to write, even if they don’t know what lies in store for them. They talk about money. They make the case for fairness, for anti-racism. They support one another at Zoom campfires, tweet against Trump, knit masks and motivate readers to make purchases at their local bookshops. The crisis releases something both gentle and forceful alike; in the words of the late Carlos Ruiz: “Every single book has a soul. The soul of those who wrote it, and the soul of those who read it, experienced it and dreamt of it.”

And defending these people, these souls interwoven with each book: this should be the joint mission pursued by the entire book world.

On 29 May, upon official request, the Netzwerk Autorenrechte (Network for Authors’ Rights) sent a crisis stocktaking including action paper  to the German Federal Chancellery to propose solutions for the economic stimulus package. On 2 June, we submitted an evaluation of the EWC study of 24 countries on economic repercussions of the Covid-19 crisis for the European book world, which contains 37 recommendations. Germany could draw inspiration from Italy with its Reading Promotion Act, from France with its payments of up to 1,500 euros / month for writers, or from Spain with its remuneration fund for school events. I also would like to see life-long Lesen! (reading!) funds for reading fees according to the Swiss model; and in order to put hybrid formats such as “Herein, bitte!” (Come in, please!), at dringeblieben.de on a solid foundation, consideration could be given to the Literatur-Online! funds. What’s more, I’d like to convene an book sector summit. Our papers can lay the groundwork for us to jointly champion EVERYONE behind every book.

English translation: Philippa Carr.

To the original article (in German)

[1] https://www.kultur-kreativ-wirtschaft.de/KUK/Redaktion/DE/Publikationen/2018/monitoring-wirtschaftliche-eckdaten-kuk.pdf?__blob=publicationFile&v=7

 

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eyshans Eystein Hanssen 🏴‍☠️ @eyshans ·
2 Feb

@FreeAllWords publiserer oversatte tekster fra ukrainske og belarusiske forfattere. Prosjektet er i regi av @CouncilWriters, med bidrag fra bla. @FrittOrd, @Kopinor og @Forfatterforb. Sjekk ut ...hjemmesiden her: https://freeallwords.org

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cultcreatorseu Cultural Creators Friendship Group 🇪🇺 @cultcreatorseu ·
1 Feb

In 2022, our #CCFG (co-)hosted or officially supported 7 public events, including with these partners: @le_CNM @MinistereCC @regiongrandest @saabrussels @SportsGroup2024 @Liveurope @ABconcerts ...@Creators_ECSA @Film_directors @CouncilWriters @ScreenwritersEU @EVisual_Artists.

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agstrait Andrew Strait agstrait@someone.elses.computer @agstrait ·
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There are also the impacts these systems are having on small rights holders, whose data is often used without their consent, attribution, or compensation. Hence the lawsuits against Midjourney by ...artists, and against OpenAI/Microsoft/Github by coders

https://twitter.com/neilturkewitz/status/1614316534750654465

neil turkewitz @neilturkewitz

NEWS ALERT…

Class action lawsuit filed against Midjourney, StabilityAI (StableDiffusion) & DeviantArt for the unauthorized use of copyright protected works to train their AI systems.

...https://stablediffusionlitigation.com/pdf/00201/1-1-stable-diffusion-complaint.pdf

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What impact will ChatGPT have on colleges, the workforce and democracy? Monday on http://andrewyang.com/podcast writer for the Atlantic and author of “The Next Civil War: Dispatches from ...America’s Future” @StephenMarche joins to talk where AI is taking us - whether we like it or not.

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pubperspectives PubPerspectives @pubperspectives ·
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From the week: Surveying the Profession(s): How Much Do UK Writers Earn? | @Porter_Anderson https://bit.ly/3WDDnT8 @ALCS_UK @Soc_of_Authors @copyrightcentre @UofGlasgow | A new British survey of ...authors warns of falling incomes and faltering sustainability in writing occupations

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