‘World first’ UK plan to pay authors royalties on used book sales
Wednesday, 2 June 2021
In the UK, a collaboration between online retailers and writers’ organisations will pay authors royalties on used book sales for the first time, reports the Bookseller. The agreement between the...
UK author, illustrator earnings take hit in 2020
Monday, 31 May 2021
In the UK, 63% of authors and illustrators saw a fall in their income in 2020 compared to 2019, according to a survey by the Bookseller. The drop in income...
Bonnier Books UK introduces industry-first pregnancy loss policy
Friday, 28 May 2021
Bonnier Books UK has introduced the UK publishing industry’s first pregnancy loss policy to help ‘break the silence’ around the issue, reports the Bookseller. The policy, developed in consultation with...
Makumbi, Lawrence win 2021 Jhalak prizes
Thursday, 27 May 2021
In the UK, the winners of the 2021 Jhalak prizes, which recognise ‘authors who feel that their work is often marginalised unless it fulfils a romantic fetishisation of their cultural...
Barjas wins US$50k International Prize for Arabic Fiction
Wednesday, 26 May 2021
Jordanian poet and novelist Jalal Barjas has won the International Prize for Arabic Fiction for his novel Notebooks of the Bookseller (Arabic Institute for Research and Publishing). Barjas receives US$50,000...
Hughes wins £10k Encore Award for ‘The Wild Laughter’
Tuesday, 25 May 2021
In the UK, Caoilinn Hughes has won the £10,000 ($18,260) Royal Society of Literature (RSL) Encore Award, presented annually to the best second novel of the year, for her book...
Luiselli wins 2021 International Dublin Literary Award for ‘Lost Children Archive’
Friday, 21 May 2021
Mexican writer Valeria Luiselli has won the €100,000 (A$157,230) Dublin Literary Award for her novel Lost Children Archive (Fourth Estate). Lost Children Archive, which also won last year’s Rathbones Folio Prize,...
Von Reinhold wins Republic of Consciousness Prize for ‘Lote’
Thursday, 20 May 2021
In the UK, Shola von Reinhold and Jacaranda Press have won this year’s Republic of Consciousness Prize for Small Presses for von Reinhold's debut novel Lote, reports the Bookseller. Von Reinhold’s novel explores...
Beijing Book Fair to run as hybrid event
Tuesday, 18 May 2021
This year’s Beijing International Book Fair (BIBF), which runs from 25–29 August, will be held as a hybrid fair, with physical presence limited to Chinese and China-based publishers. International publishers...
Leilani wins Dylan Thomas prize for ‘Luster’
Monday, 17 May 2021
In the UK, American writer Raven Leilani has won the £20,000 (A$36,240) Dylan Thomas Prize for her debut novel Luster (Picador). Luster follows Edie, a young Black woman who begins...
‘Shuggie Bain’ wins Book of the Year at the British Book Awards
Friday, 14 May 2021
Douglas Stuart’s Booker Prize-winning debut novel Shuggie Bain (Picador) has won book of the year at the British Book Awards, reports the Bookseller. Stuart’s novel, which also won the debut...
UK’s CMA clears Bertelsmann’s S&S acquisition
Thursday, 13 May 2021
In the UK, the Competition and Markets Authority (CMA) has cleared Penguin Random House (PRH) owner Bertelsmann’s acquisition of Simon & Schuster (S&S) following an investigation, reports the Bookseller. Bertelsmann...
Gilligan wins Ondaatje Prize for ‘The Butchers’
Wednesday, 12 May 2021
In the UK, Ruth Gilligan has won the £10,000 (A$18,000) Royal Society of Literature Ondaatje Prize for The Butchers (Atlantic), a literary thriller set in the Irish Borderlands during the 1996...
Oseman wins YA Book Prize for ‘Loveless’
Friday, 7 May 2021
Alice Oseman has won the Bookseller’s 2021 YA Book Prize for Loveless (HarperCollins), a ‘joyful’ coming out story about a romance-obsessed teenager who realises she is aromantic and asexual. Loveless tells the...
Shortlist announced for £40k Wolfson History Prize
Monday, 3 May 2021
In the UK, the shortlist for the £40,000 (A$76,200) Wolfson History Prize shortlist has been announced. The shortlisted titles are: Survivors: Children’s lives after the Holocaust (Rebecca Clifford, Yale University Press)...
Lagardère makes ‘peace agreement’ between shareholders
Friday, 30 April 2021
In France, Hachette Livre parent company Lagardère has confirmed the group’s transformation into a joint-stock company as part of a ‘peace agreement’ to end all legal disputes between shareholders, reports...
Women’s Prize for Fiction 2021 shortlist announced
Thursday, 29 April 2021
In the UK, the shortlist for the 2021 Women’s Prize for Fiction has been announced. Now in its 26th year, the £30,000 (A$53,600) prize is presented annually to the best...
UK publisher consumer sales up 7% in 2020
Wednesday, 28 April 2021
In the UK, Publishers Association (PA) figures show UK book sales—particularly fiction and audiobooks—soared in 2020, with consumer sales up 7% on 2019 despite bookshop closures, reports the Guardian. The...
Lagardère in discussions to revamp company governance
Tuesday, 27 April 2021
In France, the Lagardère group, owner of Hachette Livre, has confirmed that negotiations are under way to transfer the group into a joint stock company, reports the Bookseller. The move...
Publisher halts Philip Roth biography after sexual assault allegations
Monday, 26 April 2021
In the US, publisher W W Norton has halted the distribution and promotion of Blake Bailey’s Philip Roth: The biography after several women accused Bailey of grooming and sexual assault....
International Booker Prize shortlist announced
Friday, 23 April 2021
The shortlist for the 2021 International Booker Prize for translated fiction has been announced. The six shortlisted titles are: At Night All Blood is Black (David Diop, trans from French by...
S&S US to publish Pence books despite staff petition
Thursday, 22 April 2021
Simon & Schuster US (S&S) will proceed with publishing two books by former US vice president Mike Pence despite a petition from staff, reports the Bookseller. In the petition, staff...
LBF to run as digital-only event
Friday, 16 April 2021
This year’s London Book Fair (LBF) will run as a series of digital-only events at the beginning and end of June, after having previously been rescheduled to run from 29...
Rathbones Folio loses £30k prize money to cyber scam
Thursday, 15 April 2021
In the UK, the Bookseller has revealed that the Rathbones Folio Prize lost £30,000 (A$53,500) to an email fraudster last year, while other awards, publishers, agents and industry bodies have...
Shortlist announced for 2021 Jhalak Prize for BAME writers
Wednesday, 14 April 2021
The shortlist for the UK’s Jhalak Prize for Black, Asian and minority ethnic (BAME) writers, and the inaugural Jhalak Children’s & Young Adult Prize have been announced. The titles shortlisted...
Survey of UK publisher catalogues shows representation on the rise
Monday, 12 April 2021
In the UK, a survey of the country’s most prolific publishing houses by the Bookseller has found that there were 200 books by British writers of colour this northern spring....
Bologna cancels in-person events
Friday, 9 April 2021
The organisers of the Bologna Children’s Book Fair, Bologna Licensing Trade Fair and BolognaBookPlus have announced the cancellation of in-person events, due to ongoing Covid-19 restrictions in Italy and Europe....
PRH revenue up 4.6%, earnings up 23.3% in 2020
Wednesday, 7 April 2021
Penguin Random House’s (PRH) global sales in 2020 were up 4.6% and its operating EBITDA (earnings before interest, taxes, depreciation and amortisation) was up 23.3%, according to PRH parent company...
Hachette Livre CEO replaced
Thursday, 1 April 2021
Long-time Hachette Livre CEO Arnaud Nourry has been replaced by Pierre Leroy, co-managing partner of Hachette's parent company Lagardère. Nourry, who had run Hachette since 2003, was replaced on Monday,...
International Booker Prize longlist announced
Wednesday, 31 March 2021
The longlist for the 2021 International Booker Prize for translated fiction has been announced. The 13 longlisted titles are: I Live in the Slums (Can Xue, trans from Chinese by...
