In June 2023, author Katharine Beutner published “Killingly,” a historical fiction novel set at Mount Holyoke College based on the real-life disappearance of Bertha Mellish in 1867. Mount Holyoke News has previously interviewed Beutner, and the author signed books at The Odyssey Bookshop during Reunion last year.
The literary science fiction Hugo Awards stirred up major controversy this year with the disqualification of two of science fiction’s biggest hits of last year: R.F. Kuang’s speculative novel “Babel” and Xiran Jay Zhao’s “Iron Widow” were disqualified despite having the votes to qualify in the awards.
Spotify recently announced a new benefit for Premium users that would give them free access to audiobooks for a total of 15 hours each month. The new feature, announced on Oct. 3, will make more than 150,000 audiobooks on the platform available for Premium users – though this does not include Spotify’s entire audiobook catalog.
A queer romance set in Harlem’s art scene is the subject of “Lush Lives,” the first fiction book published by author J. Vanessa Lyon under her own name. On Tuesday, Sept. 12, the Odyssey Bookshop invited Lyon to speak about the book, marking Lyon’s first bookstore reading. Prior to “Lush Lives,” Lyon wrote “The Groves,” an Audible original, and “Meet Me in Madrid” under the pseudonym of Verity Lowell. Lyon is an art history professor at Bennington College, a liberal arts college in Vermont, and her academic background shines through in “Lush Lives.” The book’s protagonist, Glory, explores the rich and storied history of the Harlem Renaissance, a time when Black creativity in the arts flourished, and how it connects to her own experiences in the modern day.
With the popularity of chatbots like ChatGPT on the rise, the functions of artificial intelligence have garnered greater interest around the world. In the publishing industry, AI has been used in two distinct ways for content creation. On an individual basis, AI has been used to generate stories to send to magazines that are accepting submissions or to upload to self-publishing platforms. On a larger scale, companies have begun to use AI to create content for their websites.
Mount Holyoke’s campus in the nineteenth century is the setting for the upcoming book “Killingly” by Katharine Beutner, a professor at the College of Wooster in Ohio. Based loosely on true events, the novel follows the search for missing Mount Holyoke student Bertha Mellish. In an interview with Mount Holyoke News, Beutner described “Killingly” as “a queer historical crime novel … It was a time when there was a lot of anxiety in the culture about women’s roles and this idea about the new woman now as an independent, possibly even financially independent, figure.”
HarperCollins has begun negotiations with union following months-long strike that began Nov. 10. Photo courtesy of Actualitté.
By Jude Barrera ’24
Staff Writer & Copy Editor
On Nov. 10, 2022, the unionized employees of HarperCollins began striking to demand better wages and a new contract. One of the four major publishing companies in the United States and the only one to have a union, HarperCollins was not forthcoming in meeting the demands of its workers, according to the HarperCollins Union, with no word from the company for the first 55 days of the strike. Feb. 1 marked 60 business days since the strike began. Strikers took breaks when HarperCollins offices were also closed, such as weekends and federal holidays. On Jan. 26, the 56th day of the strike, HarperCollins agreed to mediations. These mediations began on Feb. 1.
Despite not communicating directly with the union, HarperCollins made several press releases that addressed union concerns prior to the start of negotiations. On Dec. 15, 2022, HarperCollins released a statement addressing their employee compensation. In it, HarperCollins stated that while they pay “a base salary on the 35-hour work week,” employees who work more than that are eligible for overtime pay. Yet, in the initial press release announcing the strike, it was stated that “many employees cite pressure to work extra hours without additional compensation.” According to Publishers Weekly, a few days after agreeing to mediations with the union, HarperCollins announced layoffs of about 5 percent of its North American staff “by the end of the fiscal year, which ends June 30.”
Though mediations have begun, workers have continued and will continue to strike until their demands have been met and a contract has been reached. Striking workers held a rally on Jan. 31 on 195 Broadway, the current location of the HarperCollins offices. Supporters of the union were encouraged to visit in person, and the union organized an Instagram Live for people who were not local to show their support. The union then held a second rally, with a slogan of “Take it to the Top,” on Feb. 2. This rally was held outside the offices of HarperCollins’ parent company NewsCorp.
This was not the first rally that union members have held in front of NewsCorp offices, as another protest was held there in mid-January. The union is still asking for support throughout the process of mediation. Authors and agents have been asked to refrain from submitting new material to HarperCollins. Laura Harschberger, the union chair, revealed in an interview with Hellgate NYC that “more than 200 agents [signed] a letter indicating that they’re going to withhold submissions from HarperCollins until the strike is over.” Supporters of the strike who are not within the publishing industry are also encouraged to donate to the union’s strike fund. These donations contribute to employees’ ability to strike in a sustainable way, as “striking workers have been without a paycheck for months” according to Andrew Limbong of NPR. The strike fund replaces a striking worker’s regular wage, as employees on strike do not get paid.
Amid HarperCollins’ months-long strike, the unionized employees of HuffPost, a news website, also began negotiations on a new contract. On Jan. 30, a day before their contract expired, the HuffPost union released a statement pledging to strike if their demands were not met. The statement had a 98 percent signature rate from union members. The union bargained from the morning through the night, and at 1:43 a.m. on Feb. 1, almost two hours after their old contract expired, a new contract that met the union’s demands was made. In comparison, the contract for HarperCollins union members expired on Dec. 31, 2021, making it over 400 days since the union has had a valid contract.
The unionized workers of HarperCollins, one of the four major publishing companies in the United States, have been on strike since Nov. 10, after the publishing company failed to agree to the union’s proposed contract. HarperCollins has been unionized for over 80 years and is the only major publisher in the United States to be unionized. Negotiations for a new union contract started in December 2021, and employees have been working without a contract since. Currently, the striking workers are demonstrating in front of the company’s New York City offices and will continue to strike until their demands are met.
Students and faculty alike gathered in the Mount Holyoke College Art Museum to attend readings by Mount Holyoke visiting lecturers T Kira Madden and Lucas de Lima, two new faculty members in the English department. The reading took place in the John and Norah Warbeke Gallery where the crowd was surrounded by works depicting landscapes in the Northeastern U.S., including “View of Mount Holyoke” by David John Gue and “Hetch Hetchy Canyon” by Albert Bierstadt. Both professors took attendees out of the surrounding Massachusetts landscape and into other cities during their readings.
