Book drama: May 16, 2024

The conflict isn't always within the pages of literature — sometimes (often?) it's beyond the binding.

Here are some news stories about hackles being raised, for varying reasons.

• PEN America, a group founded to advocate for the freedom of expression, continues to be under fire for its response (or, as some would say, its lack thereof) to the fighting in the Gaza Strip (The New York Times).

• Author Johann Hari and his publisher have both apologized to a restaurant critic who is wrongly described in Hari's book, Magic Pill, as having lost his pleasure in food after taking the diabetes drug Ozempic (The Guardian).

• Also attacked for inaccuracies: a number of poor-quality imitations of Rebel Girl: My Life as a Feminist Punk, the just-released memoir of Kathleen Hanna (Literary Hub).

• OpenAI's offices look very much like a typical tech company's, says a reporter who visited, but inside the building is — paradoxically — an invitingly cozy old-fashioned library (The New York Times).