The Latest on Writing and Publishing in Canada
ARTIFICIAL INTELLIGENCE | BOOK SALES | CENSORSHIP | EDUCATION | PROMOTIONS
ARTIFICIAL INTELLIGENCE
National Strategy Missing Key Regulation
Prime Minister Mark Carney and AI Minister Evan Solomon launched “AI for All,” Canada’s national strategy for dealing with the rapid advancement of artificial intelligence technology on June 4th. Cultural groups, including The Writers’ Union of Canada, have engaged with the government for years now on consultations and questions concerning how Canada should respond to the AI boom. The professional cultural sector was, therefore, disappointed to note not a single mention of copyright — the key legal construct protecting creative work from the ravages of the unregulated development artificial intelligence — in the strategy document. While the concept of intellectual property was addressed, that mention was in the context of protecting the value of AI platforms themselves as they compete for business.
By contrast, the Australian Prime Minister Anthony Albanese recently delivered a speech promising strong support for Australia’s creative sector in the face of advancing AI, recognizing that copyright and artists’ control of their own work are central to a fair acceptance of this technology.
“...let me make this crystal clear: not everything produced in Australia is up for grabs. Not at all. Australian writers, musicians, artists, and journalists must retain ownership and control of their work. Our laws will spell that out, plain as day. An artist’s creative endeavour is their work and their property. No company should use Australian books, music, art, or news to build or train AI without the artist’s control. That includes the artist’s control of the price and value of their work. Anything less, is theft. No country has got this right yet. Nowhere do artists or rights holders have sufficient control of their work, when it comes to AI training. That is why the best way to secure the strongest copyright protections for Australian artists is for Australia to be active and involved. To build the best possible solution for ourselves. And to preserve the creativity that is fundamental to who we are to our national identity and the journalism that is essential to our democratic society.”
The Writers’ Union will continue to press Canada’s government on these concerns.
Kobo Struggling to Filter out AI Submissions
Rakuten Kobo has noted they rejected 45 percent of the titles submitted to Kobo Writing Life in the last year. Writing Life is Kobo’s self-publishing service, and it has apparently been inundated by poor-quality and obviously AI-generated work. Fully 80 percent of the 45 percent of works rejected by Kobo have been judged to be AI-generated because of their poor quality.
Presumably to protect the value of the human-created self-published work on their platform, Kobo has been forced to apply a tighter quality control on the work that makes it to the publication stage through Writing Life. Kobo has decided to use manuscript quality as their primary measure, rather than trying to recognize AI through the array of detection tools available.
BOOK SALES
Wildfire Smoke Affects Book Sales
U.S. trade magazine Publishers Weekly reported that the cross-border extreme smoke events from July’s Northern Ontario wildfires had both negative and positive effects on book sales in stores in the affected areas. Apocalyptically orange skies initially resulted in a drop in foot traffic to stores as folks sought shelter from terrible Air Quality Index readings. Vacation area stores in northern Michigan and Minnesota were most affected. Then, as visiting tourists had to shift and pivot their plans from outdoor recreational activities, they sought out bookstores to stock up on reading material. Stores reported a year-to-year increase of up to 12 percent in sales during the smoky week.
CENSORSHIP
Documentary Examines Books Bans and Attempts at Library Censorship
The American public television network PBS recently aired The Librarians, a documentary addressing the growing challenges to library collections resulting from an organized “parental rights” movement in the United States. Directed by Kim A. Snyder (Oscar nominee for her previous documentary, Death by Numbers) and produced by actor Sarah Jessica Parker, The Librarians follows the committed library professionals of Granbury Texas as they navigate a growing public and legislative backlash against the books in their collection. The Librarians was featured at Toronto’s Hot Docs Cinema last autumn and is available for streaming in Canada through Kanopy, the library streaming service, as well as through PBS Passport for those who contribute to U.S. public television.
PEN America Criticized for Highlighting Concerns of Jewish Writers
Summer Lopez and Clarisse Rosaz Shariyf, co-CEOs of PEN America, released a statement in July defending A Silent Moratorium, a recent PEN Canada report documenting feelings of isolation and exclusion among Israeli and Jewish writers since October 7, 2023. This followed the resignation of novelist Dinaw Mengestu from the PEN America presidency. Addressing his resignation, Mengestu has described the PEN report in question as being “about trying to suppress constitutionally protected speech.”
As part of A Silent Moratorium, PEN’s position against cultural boycotts is expressed and explained:
“PEN America upholds a long-standing position opposing any efforts to inhibit the free international exchange of literature, art, knowledge, or culture, including cultural and academic boycotts. We believe that such boycotts threaten the free expression rights not only of those associated with the boycotted institutions but also of those in the countries where the boycott is practiced. PEN America also recognizes that participating in or advocating for boycotts is an exercise of free expression, and we defend the rights of writers to do so without facing retaliation.”
EDUCATION
Simon Fraser Suspends Master of Publishing Program
Citing a shift in student interest to more interdisciplinary learning, Simon Fraser University is ending its 30+-year-old Master of Publishing program, the only graduate level program of its kind in Canada. The University takes pains to emphasize that publishing education at the school is not ending. It will simply no longer be offered as a stand-alone degree program. New admissions to the program are now suspended, meaning the 2026 cohort for the program will be its last. An Undergraduate Minor in publishing will still be offered through the university’s School of Communications.
PROMOTIONS
Open Book Closes
The Ontario literary book site Open Book has announced that it is shutting down due to loss of funding. Operated for almost twenty years by the Organization of Book Publishers of Ontario (OBPO), Open Book was known as a crucial promotions tool for Canadian-authored and published books from Ontario publishers, running excerpts, profiles, interviews, and columns. Dedicated public funding declined in recent years, and an attempt to make up for those losses through increased advertising sales and sponsorship with the printing firm Copywell fell short of providing the necessary revenues.
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