Al-Diwan brings you the latest news and analysis from the publishing and academic worlds that relate to pedagogy and knowledge production.

Publishing

Penguin Young Readers Announces Imprint for Diverse Books
By Claire Kirch (Publishers Weekly)

Responding to the need for more diverse children’s books, Penguin Young Readers launched Kokila, an imprint that hopes to “add depth and nuance to they way children and young adults see the world and their place in it.” The imprint’s debut list will come out in summer 2019 and is set to include fiction, nonfiction, and graphic novels.
 

Industry Notes: Angoulême Focus on Arab Comics; Scholastic’s New Nonfiction Imprint
By Porter Anderson (Publishing Perspectives) 

Arab comics – both their history and future – were at the forefront of conversations during France’s 46^th Angoulême International Comics Festival. Alongside the exhibit is an official catalog that includes the artists and authors that were part of the festival and “critical essays that contextualize the frequently challenged place the comics sector has held in the Maghreb and Levant.”

Writers of Color Are Making their Own Canon
By Akwaeke Emezi (Buzzfeed)

“As a young African writer who came to the US for college, Akwaeke Emezi worried that she wouldn’t get published with her abstract style. She found the nerve to write the book she wanted anyway.”
 

Alaqiya Sobh’s Maryam: Keeper of Stories Makes Inaugural EBRD Literature Prize Shortlist
By M. Lynx Qualey (Arabic Literature)

The European Bank for Reconstruction and Development, alongside the British Council and the London Book Fair, established their literature prize to honor literature from “almost 40 countries where the Bank invests, from Morocco to Mongolia, from Estonia to Egypt.” The prize has a unique restriction that ultimately took many Arab authors out of the running; in order to be eligible for the prize, translated tests had to be produced by a UK publisher.

Education

Higher Education is Drowning in BS
By Christian Smith (The Chronicle of Higher Education)

Christian Smith, a professor of sociology at the University of Notre Dame, remarks how the “complex dysfunctions in institutional systems” of higher education have eroded politics and culture.
 

Taking a Hard Look at Teacher Training
By Habib Battah (Al-Fanar Media)

Educators from across the Middle East gathered together in Beirut to discuss professional development and teacher-training programs in the region. Participants explored the impacts of refugee migration and the comprehensive high school exam on pedagogical opportunities or lack thereof.

How Hard do Professors Actually Work
By Laura McKenna (The Atlantic)

Academic-Twitter recently debated the amount of time professors spend working – even questioning what qualifies as work. Some faculty say they keep the traditional 40-hour workweek, while others work upwards of 60 hours.

Does Higher Education Have the Courage to Disrupt Itself?
By Brian C. Mitchell (Academe Blog)

Brian C. Mitchell reflects on what he sees as an “unstable finance model” that is currently utilized across institutions of higher education. There are various players, such as the media, local governments, and members of higher education, who can disrupt and create change, pushing us away from such an outdated and dangerous financial state.