In England they have something called Public Lending Right, which funnels a publicly funded royalty payment to authors, based on their library circulation. (What a cool idea.) A press release from PLR includes links to lists of their 'top lending authors'. Children's author Jacqueline Wilson is at the top of the list. Who? We do have Jacqueline Wilson in our catalog , but she sure isn't among our first couple hundred most popular authors. Thanks to Gary Price's Resource Shelf for pointing to this item.
Meanwhile, on this side of the pond, CBC's Canada Reads event this spring gives us another 'Who?' moment. They highlighted five titles, only one of which, Margaret Atwood's Oryx and Crake, our own library already owns. We have of course heard of Leonard Cohen, but don't have his 1966 experimental novel, Beautiful Losers (yikes, what a Cohen-esque title!). The other three authors and works are unfamiliar: Rockbound, by Frank Parker Day (published in 1928); Volkswagen Blues, by Jacques Poulin (1984); No Crystal Stair, by Mairuth Sarsfield (1997).
It makes you wonder what people are reading in Australia...
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