Question:

Submitted by Muhammad Shujaat, Saudi Arabia

When will your new book Key Issues in Language Teaching be launched?

Professor Richards Responds:

Publication of the book has been delayed due to difficulties in clearing permissions for many of the citations that occur through the text, of which there are several hundred. Some greedy publishers have been asking up to $1000 to cite a 45 word extract from a journal article, and some have not yet responded to requests to cite from sources they hold the copyright for. In many instances I have hence had to rewrite and rephrase citations due to copyright restrictions. My publisher has informed me that she has set March 22 as the deadline to clear copyright issues, and anything not clarified by that date I will have to rewrite. She is now suggesting a June 2015 publication date for the e-book and a July date for the print book. WATCH THIS SPACE!