What’s Mine is Mine!

In 1976 I made a half hour video about the artist Norman Lewis, a personal friend. Nineteen years later I sold a few copies at a very nominal cost of the copyrighted film to a few people who were also friends of Norman Lewis for their personal use. Twenty years after that when visiting a […]

Beware of Lone Wolves

When members come to us with grievances for nonpayment against reputable publishers or corporate clients, we can usually help them get their money. Yet more and more of our grievances are against lone wolves: scam artists who hide, change identities, or just plain ignore writers’ claims. A lot of them run blogs, which they start […]

The Art of the Ask: Get Your Book Sponsored

I’ve had a lot of success in gaining local and national sponsorship for my books, which has allowed me to sell thousands of books, while also—and this is my favorite part—raising thousands of dollars for charities close to my heart.  As a writer and a person with a huge heart for service, I could not […]

World Press Freedom Day at the UN

The National Writers Union (NWU), International Federation of Journalists (IFJ), Communications Coordination Committee for the United Nations (CCCUN) and Metro NY Labor Communications Council (MNYLCC) organized a panel discussion May 3 for World Press Freedom Day. Held at the United Nations in New York City, the event explored the media’s role in supporting human rights […]

NWU Joins Day of Action for Verizon Strikers

May 5, Cinco de Mayo, was a National Day of Action to support nearly 40,000 striking Verizon workers.  The strikers, members of the Communications Workers of America (CWA) and the International Brotherhood of Electrical Workers (IBEW), are beginning the fourth week of the strike. NWU represented from New York to Los Angeles! In NY, the […]

Verizon Strike Attracts SoCal Union Support

Members of several unions, including the NWU, stood in front of a Verizon store in Burbank, CA, on May 5 to support the nearly 40,000 striking Verizon workers from Massachusetts to New York to Virginia. Most of the strikers are represented by the Communications Workers of America (CWA). Those who came to show their support […]

Connell on Rise of Conservatism in 1950s

Tula A. Connell discussed her new work— a historical account of right-wing opposition to the postwar New Deal—during a book discussion at Busboys & Poets in Takoma Park, MD, on Thursday, May 5. Since completing her doctorate, she refined her dissertation, which was published by the University of Illinois Press in April. “Conservative Counterrevolution: Challenging […]

SCOTUS Upholds Google Scanning for-Profit

In a very bad decision for authors,  the US Supreme Court decided not to hear the Authors Guild (AG) appeal of the Google Book Scanning Project, terminating on April 15 a decade-long case that has struck at the heart of the publishing industry. This decision comes after two separate appeals courts ruled that Google did […]

DC Chapter Retreat gets Writers on the Same Page

Wordsmiths in and around Washington, DC came together April 9 to discuss new ways to connect and organize around the issues that matter to writers: copyright, freelance pay rates, and fair contracts.Twenty-four people attended the conference, hosted by the National Writers Union, DC Chapter, and came from DC, Virginia, Maryland, and even New York to […]

Third Annual DC LaborFest Set for May

With nearly 60 labor arts events planned for the third annual DC LaborFest in May, now’s the time to mark your calendar and spread the word! The just-released LaborFest “Save the Date” card makes that easy. It includes a full color-coded calendar with a schedule of all the labor films, concerts, history, art, and book […]