The News

by Debi Staples

Amazon buys Chinese Outpost

After being rebuffed by Chinese online retailer DangDang.com, Amazon has bought four-year-old Joyo.com instead, the "largest online retailers of books, music and videos in China." The transaction is valued at $72 million in cash. Analysts believe the Chinese deal is part of Amazon's efforts to maintain rapid revenue growth.

Seattle-based Amazon said it did not expect the deal to have a significant impact on its net sales or operating profits for the third quarter of 2004.

Meanwhile, executives at Joyo said this week that they expect its revenue to nearly double in 2004.

Family Education Network Launches Home Schooler Network

- Family Education Network, part of Pearson Education, the global leader in educational publishing, has announced the launch of HomeSchoolerNetwork.com

(http://www.homeschoolernetwork.com), a website offering educational materials for the 1.1 million U.S. children now being home schooled each year. HomeSchoolerNetwork offers more than 5,000 articles, activities, and lesson plans. The site provides content organizers, allowing the sorting of material by age and subject area; free email newsletters; a national database of support groups; parenting resources; and a getting started guide.

Frankfurt Book Fair Opens its Doors on October 9th

With around 3,000 events based on books, authors and their readers, this year's Frankfurt Book Fair is once again the biggest literary festival worldwide.

On Saturday, October 9 th , and Sunday, October 10 th , the Frankfurt Book Fair opens its doors to all readers. They will experience a fascinating show of new book titles, inspirational dialogue between cultures and encounters with authors from all over the world, as well as personalities from the world of politics, sports and show business.

Click here for more information on the Frankfurt Book Fair: http://www.frankfurt-book-fair.com

Judy Blume to Receive the Medal from National Book Foundation

The National Book Foundation will bestow its 2004 Medal for Distinguished Contribution to American Letters upon Judy Blume, one of the country's most beloved and widely read children's authors. She is the first author of young-adult literature and the fifth woman to receive the Medal in the sixteen-year history of the award. She will be honored at the 55th National Book Awards Ceremony and Benefit Dinner in New York City on Wednesday, November 17.

In making the announcement, Harold Augenbraum, executive director of the Foundation, said, "Judy Blume is the first recipient of the National Book Foundation Medal for Distinguished Contribution to American Letters whose primary audience is young readers. Ms. Blume's active participation in the causes of the literary community and her struggles against censorship have also been exemplary."

The award is given to a person, who, in the opinion of the Board of Directors of the National Book Foundation, has enriched our literary heritage over a life of service, or corpus of work. The author of more than twenty books, Judy Blume has had a tremendous impact on young people, who turn to her books for help in navigating the travails of growing up and for characters with whom they can identify. From Tales of a Fourth Grade Nothing , a comic look at sibling rivalry, to Are You There God? It's Me, Margaret , a coming-of-age classic for girls, Blume gives children and teens emotional truths void of sentimentality.

"I'm thrilled by this unexpected honor," said Ms. Blume. "We don't write hoping to win awards. We write because we have to -- because of a burning need to share our characters and stories. For those of us who write for young readers, the hope is always that something we've written will so touch a young person that she or he will become a lifelong reader."

Updated information regarding the National Book Foundation's 2004 Awards Ceremony and Benefit Dinner, as well as events in conjunction with National Book Month (October), can be found on the Foundation's website www.nationalbook.org .

Judy's website: http://www.judyblume.com

Frozen Playwright Accused of Plagarism

English playwright Bryony Lavery has been accused of plagiarizing passages from a criminal psychiatrist and a magazine writer in her Tony Award-nominated play about a serial killer and his psychiatrist.

Dr. Dorothy Otnow Lewis and Malcolm Gladwell of The New Yorker said they had found at least 12 instances of plagiarism in "Frozen," which earned a Tony nomination for best play this year.

Biographical and thematic details had also been taken from a New Yorker profile Gladwell wrote about Lewis in 1997 and from Lewis' 1998 book "Guilty by Reason of Insanity," the two charged.

"Had she asked for material we would have given it to her, but what she has done is a theft," Lewis' lawyer, Martin Garbus, told The Associated Press Saturday.

The charges were first reported in Saturday's editions of The New York Times.

"Attorneys have been engaged, the discussions are amicable, and we expect a resolution," Boneau said in a statement. He did not immediately respond to requests for further comment.

"Frozen" opened in New York last March at off-Broadway's East 13th Street Theatre. It transferred to Broadway in May and closed in August.