Beijing government to invest millions to increase number of bookstores
Wednesday, 25 July 2018
In China, the Beijing municipal government announced it will invest RMB 50 million (A$10m) per year to support 150 brick-and-mortar bookstores in the city, reports the China Daily. The government aims...
Man Booker Prize 2018 longlist announced
Tuesday, 24 July 2018
The longlist for the 2018 Man Booker Prize has been announced. The 13 books longlisted for the £50,000 (A$88,800) prize are: Snap (Belinda Bauer, Bantam) Milkman (Anna Burns, Faber) Sabrina...
US sales declined slightly in 2017; 5.4% rise in adult nonfiction sales
Tuesday, 24 July 2018
US publishers’ total industry sales fell slightly in 2017 to US$26.23 billion (A$35.5bn), down from US$26.27 billion (A$35.6bn) in 2016, according to results released by the Association of American Publishers...
Kampot Readers & Writers Festival cancelled for 2018
Monday, 23 July 2018
In Cambodia, the 2018 Kampot Readers & Writers Festival (KRWF) has been cancelled, but festival organisers say it will return in 2019 as a biennial event. Festival founder and director...
‘The Intrusions’ wins 2018 Theakston Crime Novel of the Year
Monday, 23 July 2018
Stav Sherez’s The Intrusions (Faber) has won the 2018 Theakston Old Peculier Crime Novel of the Year Award, reports the Guardian. The winning novel follows detectives Jack Carrigan and Geneva...
UK book sales up 5% in 2017
Friday, 20 July 2018
British publishing sales rose 5% to £5.7 billion (A$10bn) in 2017, according to the Publishers Association’s (PA) annual yearbook, reports the Bookseller. Export sales drove the growth, and were up...
Charnock wins 2018 Arthur C Clarke Award
Thursday, 19 July 2018
Anne Charnock’s Dreams Before the Start of Time (Amazon Publishing) has won the 2018 Arthur C Clarke Award for science-fiction, reports the Guardian. Set in London in 2034, Dreams Before the...
Smith to leave Bonnier Zaffre UK
Wednesday, 18 July 2018
In the UK, Mark Smith is stepping down from the position of CEO of Bonnier Zaffre after selling his equity stake in the firm, reports the Bookseller. Smith was named...
UK study reveals only 4% of children’s books feature a BAME character
Tuesday, 17 July 2018
In the UK, a new report has found that only 4% of children’s books published in the UK in 2017 featured black, Asian and minority ethnic (BAME) characters, and only...
PRH announces two-year partnership with National Literacy Trust
Monday, 16 July 2018
In the UK, Penguin Random House (PRH) has announced a two-year partnership with the National Literacy Trust (NLT), an independent charity that works with disadvantaged children to develop their literacy skills. PRH will...
Family memoir wins 2018 PEN/Ackerley Prize
Friday, 13 July 2018
Richard Beard's family memoir The Day That Went Missing (Vintage) has been awarded the 2018 PEN/Ackerley Prize for a work of memoir or autobiography. Beard received a cheque for £3000 (A$5330)...
European Amazon workers plan strike for Prime Day
Thursday, 12 July 2018
In Spain, unions have asked 1000 Amazon workers to go on strike during Amazon Prime Day, reports the Independent. Amazon Prime Day, which begins at noon AEST on 16 July and...
US print sales rose 2% in first half of 2018
Wednesday, 11 July 2018
US print sales in the first half of 2018 have increased 2% in volume compared to the first six months of 2017, reports Publishers Weekly. Volume sales in the first...
UK films based on books create 44% more revenue
Tuesday, 10 July 2018
A new research report commissioned by the UK Publisher’s Association (PA) has found that UK-produced films based on books generate 44% more revenue in the British box office (and 53%...
‘The English Patient’ voted best Man Booker winner
Monday, 9 July 2018
Michael Ondaatje’s 1992 novel The English Patient (Bloomsbury) has won the Golden Man Booker Prize, which awards the best work of fiction from the last five decades of the Man...
OUP turnover drops 0.9% following ‘unexpected market conditions’
Friday, 6 July 2018
Oxford University Press (OUP) has recorded a 0.9% decrease in turnover to £840.1 million (A$1.5bn) for the year ending 31 March 2018, reports the Bookseller. The results were attributed to 'challenging...
French book sales fell 1.6% in 2017
Thursday, 5 July 2018
French publishing sales fell in 2017 by 1.6% in value to €2.79 billion (A$4.4bn), according to figures from the French Publishers Association (Syndicat National de l’Edition, SNE), reports the Bookseller....
Alternative Nobel Prize in Literature planned
Wednesday, 4 July 2018
A group of Swedish cultural figures have joined together to bestow an alternate literature award to replace this year’s Nobel Prize in Literature, reports the Guardian. As previously reported, the...
Barnes & Noble fires CEO
Wednesday, 4 July 2018
US chain bookseller Barnes & Noble (B&N) has fired CEO Demos Parneros after 14 months in the role, reports Publishers Weekly. In a brief statement, the retailer said Parneros will...
Kenyan writer Onjerika wins 2018 Caine Prize for African Writing
Tuesday, 3 July 2018
Kenyan writer Makena Onjerika has won the 2018 Caine Prize for African Writing for her short story ‘Fanta Blackcurrant’, first published in the spring 2017 issue of quarterly British literary...
PRH India buys Hindi-language publisher Hind Pocket Books
Monday, 2 July 2018
Penguin Random House India has acquired Hind Pocket Books, one of the oldest and best-known Hindi-language publishers in India, reports the Bookseller. Established in 1958, Hind Pocket Books predominantly publishes...
Royal Society of Literature admits 40 fellows under the age of 40
Friday, 29 June 2018
In the UK, the Royal Society of Literature (RSL) has appointed 40 new fellows as part of its 40 Under 40 initiative, which aims to ‘welcome a new generation of writers...
UK survey reveals 15% drop in average author earnings since 2013
Thursday, 28 June 2018
In the UK, the latest income survey from the Authors Licensing and Collecting Society (ALCS) has found that writers' average earnings have fallen by 15% since the last review in...
Rapper ‘Loki’ wins 2018 Orwell Prize
Wednesday, 27 June 2018
In the UK, Darren McGarvey, also known as the rapper ‘Loki’, has won the £3000 (A$5547) Orwell Prize for Books for Poverty Safari: Understanding the Anger of Britain’s Underclass (Luath...
US online sales tax ruling applauded by booksellers
Tuesday, 26 June 2018
In the US, the Supreme Court has ruled that online retailers with no physical presence in a state are required to collect tax on sales in that state, reports Publishers...
ALA renames Laura Ingalls Wilder Medal
Monday, 25 June 2018
In the US, a division of the American Library Association (ALA) has voted to remove the name of Laura Ingalls Wilder from a children’s book award, over concerns about how...
US audiobook sales up 22.7% in 2017
Friday, 22 June 2018
In the US, a new report by the Audio Publishers Association (APA) has found that audiobook sales experienced another consecutive year of double-digit growth, estimating that sales in 2017 were...
B&N posts $125m loss in fiscal 2018
Friday, 22 June 2018
US retail chain Barnes & Noble (B&N) reported a total sales decline of six percent in the fiscal year ending 28 April 2018, with revenue falling to US$3.66 billion (A$4.95bn),...
Taneja wins 2018 Desmond Elliott Prize
Thursday, 21 June 2018
Preti Taneja has won the 2018 Desmond Elliott Prize for first-time novelists for We Are That Young (Galley Beggar Press). A reworking of William Shakespeare’s King Lear, We Are That Young is...
Vida count 2017: male writers still dominate
Wednesday, 20 June 2018
In the US, Vida, the non-profit organisation for women in literary arts, has found that female writers accounted for less than 40% of articles and reviews at more than half...
