This has nothing to do with the PEN World Voices Festival but a lot to do with the climate for literature in the good old US of A. The Atlanta Journal Constitution, one of the major papers of the Southeast, has announced plans to fire their book editor, Teresa Weaver and eliminate their book review section. Well. I don't need to go on and on about why this is bad, even if you don't like reviews much. It's still important for books to have a place in major papers, for them to be part of the cultural discussion.

The NBCC has started an online petition to protest the Atlanta Journal Constitution's decision Here's the link.
 
http://www.petitiononline.com/atl2007/petition.html

The petition...