Goldsmiths Prize 2021 shortlist announced
Thursday, 7 October 2021
In the UK, the shortlist for the 2021 Goldsmiths Prize, worth £10,000 (A$18,700), has been announced. The shortlisted novels are: Checkout 19 (Claire-Louise Bennett, Jonathan Cape) Assembly (Natasha Brown, Hamish Hamilton) A...
National Book Awards 2021 shortlists announced
Wednesday, 6 October 2021
In the US, the finalists for the 2021 National Book Awards have been announced. The shortlisted titles are: Fiction Cloud Cuckoo Land (Anthony Doerr, Fourth Estate) Matrix (Lauren Groff, William...
Whitfield wins Glass Bell Award for ‘People of Abandoned Character’
Tuesday, 5 October 2021
In the UK, Clare Whitfield has won the £2000 (A$3650) Goldsboro Books Glass Bell Award for her debut novel People of Abandoned Character (Head of Zeus), reports the Bookseller. Described...
Canadian book sales up 11%
Monday, 4 October 2021
In its annual look at Canadian publishing, Publishers Weekly reports that print sales for the first six months of this year were up 11.2% over the same period in 2020,...
France proposes minimum rates for book deliveries
Friday, 1 October 2021
In France, lawmakers are considering a draft law that would stop Amazon from offering virtually free delivery for book purchases, reports Politico. The draft law, which has the backing of...
Frankfurt expecting up to 800 international delegates
Thursday, 30 September 2021
The Bookseller reports that Frankfurt Book Fair organisers are expecting between 700 and 800 international delegates to attend this year’s event, which runs from 20–24 October. The number is down...
US$75k Cundill History Prize shortlist announced
Tuesday, 28 September 2021
The shortlist for the 2021 Cundill History Prize, which rewards ‘the best history writing in English’, has been announced. The shortlisted books are: The Loss of Hindustan: The invention of...
FT and McKinsey Business Book of the Year 2021 shortlist announced
Monday, 27 September 2021
In the UK, the shortlist for the Financial Times and McKinsey Business Book of the Year Award has been announced. This year’s six shortlisted books are: The World for Sale:...
‘Gustavo the Shy Ghost’ wins 2021 Klaus Flugge Prize
Thursday, 23 September 2021
Flavia Z Drago has won the £5000 (A$9400) Klaus Flugge Prize for most promising newcomer to children’s picture book illustration for Gustavo the Shy Ghost (Walker Books). The book is...
Dohle assures agents of competitive bidding between PRH, S&S
Wednesday, 22 September 2021
Penguin Random House (PRH) CEO Markus Dohle has told literary agents in a Zoom chat that, following the acquisition of Simon & Schuster (S&S), editors at PRH and S&S will...
Bookshop.org, BA to help underrepresented communities open indie bookshops
Tuesday, 21 September 2021
In the UK, Bookshop.org and the Booksellers Association (BA) have launched a program to help launch and foster new bookshops founded by members of underrepresented communities. The New Futures program...
Joyce wins £10,000 Wilbur Smith prize for ‘Miss Benson’s Beetle’
Monday, 20 September 2021
In the UK, Rachel Joyce has won the £10,000 (A$18,900) Wilbur Smith Adventure Writing Prize for her novel Miss Benson’s Beetle (Black Swan), reports the Bookseller. Set in 1950, the book follows Margery...
Rival French publishing company ups stake in Lagardère
Friday, 17 September 2021
In France, media company Vivendi has upped its stake in Hachette Livre parent company Lagardère to over 45% ownership, reports the Financial Times. Vivendi, which owns French publisher Editis, has...
Booker Prize 2021 shortlist announced
Wednesday, 15 September 2021
The shortlist for the 2021 Booker Prize has been announced. The six books shortlisted for the £50,000 (A$94,300) prize are: A Passage North (Anuk Arudpragasam, Granta) The Promise (Damon Galgut, Chatto & Windus)...
US investment fund becomes largest WHSmith shareholder
Tuesday, 14 September 2021
A US-based investment fund has become the largest shareholder of WHSmith after it upped its stake in the company to around 9%, reports the Times. ‘We are firm believers in...
Canongate revenue up 16% in 2020
Monday, 13 September 2021
In the UK, Canongate Books recorded a turnover of £13.9 million (A$26.1m) in 2020, up 16% on its 2019 result, reports the Bookseller. The company’s pre-tax profit totalled £2.6 million...
Amazon, Big Five seek to dismiss indie booksellers’ price-fixing claim
Friday, 10 September 2021
In the US, Amazon and the Big Five publishers have made separate filings asking a federal court to dismiss the latest iteration of a price-fixing claim filed against them on...
Clarke wins Women’s Prize for Fiction for ‘Piranesi’
Thursday, 9 September 2021
In the UK, Susanna Clarke has won the £30,000 (A$56,100) Women's Prize for Fiction for her second novel Piranesi (Bloomsbury), reports the Bookseller. Clarke’s novel, published long after her award-winning...
Wainwright Prizes for nature, conservation writing winners
Wednesday, 8 September 2021
In the UK, the winners of the Wainwright Prizes for nature and conservation writing have been announced, reports the Bookseller. James Rebanks won the nature category for English Pastoral (Allen...
Chinese book market up 11%
Tuesday, 7 September 2021
Books sales in the Chinese retail book market in the first half of 2021 are up 11.45% compared to the same time last year, according to Open Book Data. Sales...
US book industry faces supply chain challenges
Monday, 6 September 2021
In the US, various factors are putting increasing pressure on the book industry’s supply chain, reports Publishers Weekly. The challenges include shortages of truck drivers and trailers, congestion at the...
Rushdie to publish next book on Substack
Friday, 3 September 2021
Salman Rushdie plans to serialise his next book on the online platform Substack, the Bookseller reports. Rushdie’s new book The Seventh Wave—a 35,000-word novella about a ‘film director and an...
New September dates for Beijing Book Fair
Thursday, 2 September 2021
The Beijing International Book Fair (BIBF) will go ahead on 14–18 September after it was postponed from August dates due to Covid-19 measures. While in-person attendance is limited to Chinese...
PRH half-yearly profits up 55%
Wednesday, 1 September 2021
Penguin Random House (PRH) parent company Bertelsmann has reported the publisher posted a profit rise of 55.1% and a 10.9% growth in sales for the first half of 2021. Total...
PA: £2.2b book revenue ‘at risk’ in copyright consultation
Tuesday, 31 August 2021
In the UK, Publishing Perspectives has reported new research from the Publishers Association (PA) showing that a total of 64% of its member publishers’ revenue is estimated to be ‘at...
‘Into Books’ campaign spreads to Paris, New York
Monday, 30 August 2021
The Sharjah Book Authority (SBA) has expanded its new ‘Into Books’ campaign to Paris, New York and Riyadh, reports Publishing Perspectives. The campaign, which has the slogan ‘If you’re into...
Barnes & Noble sales up 5–6%
Friday, 27 August 2021
Barnes & Noble (B&N) CEO James Daunt is confident the bookselling chain can ‘weather the Covid storm’ with book sales ‘resilient’ during the recession, reports Publishers Weekly (PW). In an...
Von Reinhold, Ní Ghríofa win James Tait Black prizes
Thursday, 26 August 2021
In the UK, Shola Von Reinhold and Doireann Ní Ghríofa have won the James Tait Black prizes for fiction and biography respectively, reports the Bookseller. Von Reinhold won the fiction prize...
Beijing International Book Fair postponed at last minute
Wednesday, 25 August 2021
The Beijing International Book Fair (BIBF), which was set to run from 25–29 August, has been postponed due to an outbreak of Covid-19 in the city, reports the Bookseller. 'Due...
Rooney ARCs sell for hundreds of dollars online
Tuesday, 24 August 2021
Uncorrected proofs of Sally Rooney’s upcoming novel Beautiful World, Where Are You (Faber) have fetched hundreds of dollars on trading sites eBay and Depop, reports the Guardian. A copy listed on...
