AGP Executive Report

Publishing & Rights: TSHA Press released Texas Songbird: The Life and Songs of Cindy Walker, a new biography by Barbara Finlay that aims to restore the Texas songwriter’s mainstream legacy beyond country circles. AI & Work: OpenAI’s Codex is getting enterprise plugins and deeper ChatGPT integration, signaling more end-to-end marketing and creative workflows. Trade Policy Books: A new guide, How to Win a Trade War, reflects the shift toward economic nationalism and “security-first” trade thinking. Climate/Water History: A new long-form book argues water has been “captured” for millennia—and that today’s warming is breaking the old control model. Local Book Culture: Reform-led Essex County Council tells libraries to pause promotion of events including Pride and Black History Month, raising fresh questions about access. Reading & Learning: A UK debate flares over the SAT’s return and whether it’s the right tool for STEM admissions. Market Watch: STT Global Data Centres bought land in Navi Mumbai for a ₹282 crore data centre push, underscoring how publishing-adjacent infrastructure keeps expanding.

Space & IPO Watch: Saudi Arabia’s Kingdom Holding says it owns a 0.34% stake in SpaceX, valuing it at 16.76bn riyals and hinting at bigger upside as the company pushes toward a record $75bn IPO. Publishing & Culture: Marjane Satrapi, creator of Persepolis, has died at 56; her graphic memoir reshaped global comics and publishing. Book & Ideas: Quinn Slobodian and Ben Tarnoff’s Muskism frames Elon Musk as a symptom of the political and economic forces behind today’s chaos. AI & Work: Cognition’s Devin is pitching an “AI Productivity Guarantee,” promising up to $10m if the tool doesn’t deliver value. Markets & Books: Egypt logs record EGP 5.1bn corporate bond issuance by EFG Corp-Solutions, showing how finance keeps moving even as costs bite. Local Reading Life: ESWACOS launches a creativity fund for creators (including book publishing) with grants up to E5,000.

Gene Editing Debate: A new piece frames CRISPR as the leap from reading the “instruction manual” of the genome to actively editing it—raising both hopes and fears about redesigning humanity. Clean Energy Investment: PixelSky Capital backs India’s GPS Renewables with Rs 40–45 crore for compressed biogas plants that turn farm waste into renewable gas, aligning with energy security and biofuel goals. Comics & Publishing Deals: Dark Horse Comics says it will voluntarily recognize its employees’ union, signaling a rare employer step toward collective bargaining. Book Trade & Culture: BBC Books (Ebury) acquires Rick Stein’s Cookery Course, compiling recipes and techniques from his 60-year career. Pop Culture Event: GalaxyCon returns to New Orleans July 10–12 with major celebrity guests, aiming to draw thousands and boost local tourism. Finance for Readers: BSE Index Services launches a new BSE India 5-Year Sovereign Bond Index to expand passive fixed-income options via ETFs and index funds. Trading Rules Shift: The U.S. ends the Pattern Day Trader $25,000 requirement, a major change for retail investors.

Depositor Crisis in Nepal: The Rastriya Swatantra Party promised to return cooperative savings within 100 days, but the 2026/27 budget offers no direct refund allocation—only a plan to keep using the Integrated Depositor Protection Fund, leaving depositors waiting. Publishing & Tech: Elsevier is buying Wellsheet to plug EHR data into ClinicalKey AI, aiming to guide clinicians at the point of care. AI in Everyday Life: Joanna Stern’s new book, I Am Not a Robot, chronicles a year of letting AI run parts of her life and asks what comes next when machines do “almost everything.” Edinburgh Festivals Ticketing: Festival leaders want a single box office and shared data across 11 events, while the Fringe is pushing ahead with its own AI-built app. Comics Spotlight: DC’s Deadman #1 gets a fresh Next Level push, leaning into life-and-death storytelling. IPO Watch (Publishing-adjacent markets): Sunshine Silver Mining prices its NYSE IPO; SpaceX files for a record-setting IPO valuation near $1.77T.

AI & Environment: A new UN report urges AI firms to disclose their carbon, water, and land footprints, warning the AI boom is straining power grids and water supplies. Publishing & Rights: The UK’s CMA says publishers can opt out of having their content used for Google AI Overviews—an important shift for how search treats copyrighted material. AI Search Visibility: Sitecore buys Scrunch to help brands track and improve how they show up in AI-driven search answers, aiming to lift traffic and conversions. Private Markets Scrutiny: SDNY prosecutors are probing how private credit funds “mark” assets and whether valuations are being managed to support fees and returns. Forced Labor Tariffs: The US proposes 10%–12.5% tariffs on medical supply imports from countries failing to stop forced labor. Book Trade & Community: Belleville Public Library’s Pride Month picks spotlight memoirs and diverse voices, while Elk City Library’s beer-and-wine fundraiser reportedly topped 70 attendees and funded new books. Local Publishing Launch: Bulgaria’s BTA debuted a Romanian-language LIK magazine at Bucharest’s book fair, tying wellness tourism coverage to hundreds of SPA sites. Tech & Books: Kanwal Rekhi launched “The Ground Breaker” in Ottawa, blending entrepreneurship lessons with a publishing spotlight on immigrant success. Agribusiness: CHS will close three Minnesota grain elevators after the 2026 fall harvest, shifting farmers toward nearby processing and river terminals.

Publishing & Books: Putnam fast-tracked Lindsey Anderson Beer’s gothic, erotic supernatural novel “Hollow” for a Fall 2027 release, tied to a feature film starring and produced by Sydney Sweeney under Honey Trap, with Beer writing and directing. Publishing Industry: Wiley is buying Emerald Publishing for £337m, a major consolidation move in academic publishing. Book Culture & Access: Libraries keep expanding beyond lending—one report highlights how libraries are evolving into community hubs for services and programs. Book Launch & Events: The Licensing Awards 2026 deadline is Thursday 4 June, with free online entry across product, retail, marketing, sustainability and live events categories, and winners set for 8 September in London. Travel & Media Tie-ins: EgyptAir resumes Los Angeles flights after more than 20 years, while Princess Cruises announces its biggest Europe season for 2028—both signals of how publishing-adjacent entertainment and travel continue to drive audience demand.

Major Deal: Wiley is buying Emerald Publishing from Cambridge Information Group for £337m, a big consolidation move for the UK academic and professional publishing market. Rights & Talent: Bright Agency appoints Michael Joosten as global agent, while Fitzcarraldo Editions hires Jennifer Tighe as operations director to run day-to-day publishing operations. New Books: Puffin acquires Pamela Butchart’s Diary of a Number One Superfan; Ebury Spotlight lands GK Barry’s It’s Giving Life; and Hamish Hamilton buys Zoë Hitzig’s Your Life Without You. Industry Spotlight: Libraries Connected names Kate Mosse Public Library Champion for 2026, underscoring the push for public libraries’ role in reading and community. Publishing Pipeline: Malaysia’s National Writers’ Association (PENA) launches phase three of its MADANI book publishing project with RM1m funding, opening submissions across genres until Dec 31. Book Trade Events: Hay Festival’s Nibbies Salon hosts Saara El-Arifi and Natasha Bardon on the author-editor relationship.

Publishing & Adaptations: Netflix has tapped Anna Kendrick to direct its film adaptation of Taylor Jenkins Reid’s bestselling novel The Seven Husbands of Evelyn Hugo, after earlier directors exited the project. Rights & Licensing: A Nigerian filmmaker says Nollywood can’t freely use Afrobeats songs in movies because artists’ publishing deals and sold rights block licenses. AI & Markets: Anthropic filed for a proposed IPO, adding fuel to the AI boom as investors weigh whether hype matches results. Book Culture & Community: A new Mono Lake Basin book review spotlights how historians and science writers are using place-based storytelling to connect ecology, people, and loss. Local Books & Events: Libraries and community groups across the US are running summer reading and book-sale programs, including multiple weekend sales and youth-focused events. Food & Travel (book-adjacent): Summer travel plans are shifting as gas prices bite, with many Americans adjusting destinations and budgets.

Publishing & IP: Sheikha Bodour Al Qasimi witnessed ERRA sign a bilateral cooperation deal with Poland’s KOPIPOL at Warsaw International Book Fair 2026, aimed at strengthening reprographic rights and cross-border collective rights management. YA & Deals: Hachette Children’s Group acquired debut YA dark academia thriller Ink and Shadows by Lauren Willmore. Publishing & Rights (More): Viking acquired Harriet F Townson’s seasonal mystery Murder on the Royal Crescent. Book Culture & Controversy: Meta forced whistleblower Sarah Wynn-Williams to stay silent at Hay Festival after a legal order blocking her from promoting her tell-all book Carless People. Global Literary Spotlight: The International Booker Prize 2026 process is in focus, with publishers submitting 128 titles and the shortlist narrowed to six before the winner is chosen. Animation Books: Viz Media will release Studio Ghibli: Chronicles in English on Sept 22, 2026, offering Toshio Suzuki’s insider history of the studio. Book Trade Business: NielsenIQ BookData’s Jeremy Neate retires after 52 years in the industry.

US Publishing & Food Heritage: Chef Jam Melchor says he’s updating and reprinting his controversial Filipino cookbook “Kayumanggi,” adding an improved editorial team and donating 1,000 copies after legal action tied to claims of errors in ingredients and origins. Bees & Research Funding: The USDA plans to close the Beltsville Bee Research Lab, a major US hub for bee disease diagnosis, just as beekeepers face pesticide-resistant varroa mites and collapsing colonies. Music Rights Power Struggle: Bolloré vs Pershing Square over Universal Music Group turns into a governance referendum on who should control the catalog-heavy company. Private Credit Transparency: Apollo starts daily pricing for about $830B in credit assets, pushing more public-market-style price discovery into private finance. Tech & Dev Tools: Midrange Dynamics says Git adoption on IBM i is driven more by shop expectations than AI hype. Children’s Books & Censorship: A Swedish author’s “How to Make a Baby” for kids sparks bans and death threats abroad, highlighting how schools and libraries handle taboo topics. Independent Bookstores: The ABA reports independent stores are expanding again, with membership up sharply and new formats like mobile and pop-up shops.

Publishing & Fairs: Malaysia’s PBAKL 2026 is leaning hard on social media to boost writer-reader ties and sales, while ITBM is bringing 500+ TVET titles to widen access to technical knowledge. Prison Reading Awards: In Minnesota, incarcerated readers vote on the Inside Literary Prize, with Freedom Reads pushing prison libraries nationwide. Tech, Regulation & Growth: Front Royal and Shenandoah County are weighing data-center rules and the tax/utility impact of major new builds. Hay Festival Legal Fallout: Sarah Wynn-Williams was silenced onstage after legal pressure tied to Meta, with her book “Careless People” pulled from sale to enable her appearance. AI Cost Pressure: Companies are rethinking AI after “subsidized intelligence” gives way to higher bills from agents and strained chips/data centers. Nollywood vs Afrobeats Licensing: Filmmakers say foreign publishing deals are making song use in movies far more expensive, threatening creative overlap. Book-to-screen Buzz: Gen Z horror drives box office as A24’s “Backrooms” and “Obsession” keep outperforming bigger franchises. Community Reading Events: Flat Rock’s ice cream social includes used books for sale, and Warsaw’s PublisHer program spotlights women reshaping global publishing.

Book Trade & Rights: Hay Festival says it will withdraw Sarah Wynn-Williams’ Careless People from sale so she can appear at the festival without breaching an injunction tied to promotion. Publishing & Culture Diplomacy: Sharjah’s Book Authority touts its global push after Warsaw International Book Fair 2026 named Sharjah Guest of Honour, with 21 cultural entities taking part. New Book Launch: Eddy Alexandre’s Trading Options Like a Risk Manager lands as a structured options-and-risk framework aimed at helping traders pick strategies by market environment. Literary Community Tech: Atlanta’s Krog District is getting a book vending machine for “staff picks,” turning browsing into a token-powered grab-and-go habit. Music Rights Impacting Film: Nollywood producers can’t freely use Afrobeats songs in movies anymore without permission, as publishing deals and sold rights raise costs. Aviation & Book-Adjacent Human Story: Delta’s veteran flight attendant prepares to retire after 66+ years, a reminder of how publishing and storytelling keep careers and culture in view.

Summer Reading Push: Bemis Public Library is running “Unearth A Story” with age-tailored logs, prizes, family performances, and teen review challenges to fight the “summer slide.” Survival Story in Schools: East Hampton’s PTA speaker series brought fishermen John Aldridge and Anthony Sosinski to share their survival book “A Speck in the Sea,” turning real-world risk into lessons for students. Publishing & Culture Links: A new literary look at Latin America’s encounters with India traces how writers like Cecília Meireles and Octavio Paz shaped cross-continental imagination. AI in the Creative World: A fresh debate argues writers and editors must become AI-literate as AI-assisted submissions rise, with prizes and publishers already grappling with suspected AI use. Book Market & Community: Local library sales and bookstore community events keep popping up, from Friends of the Library book sales to new independent spaces for creatives. Rare Book Buzz: Multiple reports highlight record-setting Harry Potter auction prices, fueling collector interest in scarce editions.

Trust & Communication: Malcolm Gladwell told Lancaster Chamber that trust isn’t built by performance, but by shared values and clear human connection. Markets & Publishing-Adjacent Business: The U.S. stock market pushed to more records as profits climbed, with a tentative U.S.-Iran ceasefire extension helping sentiment. Regulation & Corporate Reporting: SEBI fined Suzlon Energy and executives ₹28.95 crore over alleged misleading financial statements. Indie Book Trade: The American Booksellers Association called 2025 a “banner year” for indie bookstores while warning 2026 is still tough. Global Publishing Events: Sharjah opened as the first Arab Guest of Honour at the Warsaw International Book Fair, spotlighting Emirati and Arab culture. Book Launch Spotlight: A local teacher, Katie Ortiz, revealed her debut novel cover, The Southern Sorority of Superstitious Witches, due Oct. 6. AI in Media: A new analysis argues consumer wearable platforms are becoming health “gatekeepers,” shaping what care people pursue. Crypto & Speculation: Wintermute is moving into prediction markets as institutional event-contract trading volumes top $20B a month.

Healthcare Access: A new push is targeting the “first call” problem—long holds, voicemails, and missed callbacks—arguing AI should help patients get through the front door faster. Publishing & Trust: An industry voice warns that public confidence is the real currency for advertising and media, tying trust to daily integrity, not just performance. Social Platforms & Security: Bluesky is adding long-form article publishing while also pointing to a recent disinformation incident, underscoring how openness brings both reach and risk. Book/Media Crossover: John Travolta’s Cannes-premiered film, based on his book, starts streaming on Apple TV—another reminder of how publishing feeds screen stories. Menopause Misinformation: A new book highlights how online advice and dismissive care leave women “needlessly suffering,” calling for better guidance and listening. Local Book Culture: A Niagara-on-the-Lake used bookstore, Virgil’s Book Nook, launches to fund migrant farmworker support via the Farmworker Hub. Industry Finance: Firefly Aerospace prices a public stock offering, while Singapore’s CapitaLand Ascott Trust plans hotel divestments—signals of continued deal-making across sectors.

Publishing & Rights: The Madhya Pradesh High Court refused to quash an FIR against a preschool director accused of not disclosing book prices and seller details, stressing franchisees still must follow regulatory orders. Independent Book Trade: The American Booksellers Association says independent stores are multiplying, with membership up over 500 in a year to the highest level since the late 1990s. New LGBTQ+ Titles: Interlink Publishing highlights fresh queer and LGBTQ releases, including Homosexual Intifada, an anthology amplifying queer Palestinian voices. AI in Media: Amazon MGM greenlit three generative-AI animated children’s series for Prime Video, signaling studios’ cautious shift from pilots to production. Tech & Safety Funding: Gray Swan, an AI security firm trusted by frontier labs, raised $40M Series A to help organizations assess and prevent unsafe model behavior. School Reading & Civics: A civics push from the League of Women Voters focuses on helping people understand the Declaration of Independence as the U.S. marks 250 years. Local Book Events: Saugerties’ library street fair returns with a book sale and community activities.