In this week’s edition: State laws restricting how race and gender are taught in schools delay new phonics curriculum for elementary students; Simon & Schuster’s most senior Black publisher quits after just two years; why narrative storytelling is essential to medicine; and more.

Nielsen BookData Opens a Third Annual Industry-Wide Awards Survey
Publishing Perspectives
Nielsen is conducting a survey of authors, publishers, agents, and other book industry professionals in the U.K. and Europe on the impact of international book awards in driving book sales and raising author profiles.

Dana Canedy, Publisher of Simon & Schuster’s Flagship Imprint, Has Left the Job
The New York Times
After a brief two-year tenure, Dana Canedy, the first Black woman to serve as publisher of Simon & Schuster’s flagship imprint, has resigned to focus on writing the sequel to her 2008 memoir, A Journal for Jordan. Her hiring in 2020 was regarded as a significant step in increasing diversity in the senior ranks of book publishing.

Marvel’s Movie Math: Comic Creators Claim It’s “Bait and Switch” On Payments
Hollywood Reporter
Writers for Marvel Studios claim that they are being under-compensated for their work due to a “Special Characters Agreement” they are being asked to sign.

New Reading Curriculum Is Mired in Debate Over Race and Gender
The New York Times
Textbook publisher Heinemann has delayed a new phonics curriculum for K–2nd grade students in 15 states, including Florida and Texas, over concerns about new laws restricting the discussion or mention of race, gender, and other identity issues. Hundreds of school districts had planned on using the new curriculum this fall.

Why Storytelling is Part of Being a Good Doctor
The New Yorker
This essay explores how various physician writers have approached their need to narrate the stories they witness.

2022 Whiting Literary Magazine Prize Winners Announced
Book Riot
This year’s Whiting Literary Magazine Prizes, which “acknowledge, reward, and encourage organizations that actively nurture the writers who tell us, through their art, what is important,” go to ZYZZYVA ($60,000 prize), Bennington Review ($30,000 prize), Apogee Journal ($19,500 prize), Electric Literature ($19,500 prize), and American Chordata ($15,000 prize). The amount of each prize is based on the size of the winning organization’s budget.