Book News: U.S. Appeals Court Slams 'Extortion' By Conan Doyle Estate
The daily lowdown on books, publishing, and the occasional author behaving badly.
The estate of Arthur Conan Doyle has been ordered to pay more than $30,000 in legal fees to Leslie Klinger, an author and Sherlock Holmes expert who successfully challenged the estate's copyright. Calling the estate's grip on the Sherlock Holmes story "a form of extortion," a U.S. appeals court said Klinger "performed a public service" and deserved to be repaid. In December, a court ruled that the character of Sherlock Holmes, as well as Holmes stories written before 1923, are in the public domain. That ruling was upheld in June.
"Dubstep," "mojito" and "frenemy" are among more than 5,000 new words added to The Official SCRABBLE Players Dictionary. "Selfie," "mixtape" and "schmutz" also made the cut.
Christian Wiman has two new poems in Commonweal magazine. One of them, "Memories Mercies," begins:
"Memory's mercies
mostly aren't
but there were
I swear
days
veined with grace"