Booker Prize 2022 shortlist announced
7 September 2022
The shortlist for the 2022 Booker Prize has been announced. The six books shortlisted for the £50,000 (A$85,510) prize are: Glory (NoViolet Bulawayo, Viking) The Trees (Percival Everett, Influx) Treacle...
HarperCollins global revenue up 10%; profits hit by higher costs
10 August 2022
HarperCollins global revenue grew 10% in the financial year ending 30 June. Parent company News Corp reported the publisher’s full year revenue was up US$206 million (A$296m) to US$2.2bn (A$3.1bn)...
Booker Prize 2022 longlist announced
27 July 2022
The longlist for the 2022 Booker Prize has been announced. The 13 books longlisted for the £50,000 (A$86,650) prize are: Glory (NoViolet Bulawayo, Viking) Trust (Hernan Diaz, Picador) The Trees...
HarperCollins US staff to go on one-day strike
20 July 2022
In the US, unionised employees of HarperCollins will hold a one-day strike on Wednesday, July 20, reports Publishers Weekly. UAW Local 2110, a union for technical, office and professional workers,...
HarperCollins US union authorises strike
6 July 2022
Unionised employees of HarperCollins US have voted to authorise a strike if the publisher does not agree to a fair contract, reports Publishers Weekly. UAW Local 2110, a union for...
Eswatini writer Kota wins overall Commonwealth Short Story Prize
22 June 2022
Eswatini writer Ntsika Kota has been named the overall winner of the 2022 Commonwealth Short Story Prize for his story ‘and the earth drank deep’. Kota’s story centres on a...
Ozeki wins Women’s Prize for Fiction for ‘The Book of Form and Emptiness’
16 June 2022
In the UK, Ruth Ozeki has won the £30,000 (A$52,120) Women’s Prize for Fiction for her fourth novel The Book of Form and Emptiness (Text), reports the Bookseller. Ozeki's novel tells the...
US audiobooks grow by double digits for 10th straight year
8 June 2022
The US audiobook market recorded its 10th straight year of double-digit growth in 2021, with data from the Audio Publishers Association (APA) showing the market grew 25% compared to 2020,...
Spufford wins £10k Encore Award for ‘Light Perpetual’
25 May 2022
In the UK, Francis Spufford has won the £10,000 (A$17,630) Royal Society of Literature (RSL) Encore Award, presented annually to the best second novel of the year, for his book...
UK publishing staff report stress, burnout
11 May 2022
A survey by the Bookseller has found the UK publishing trade is facing ‘industry-wide burnout’, with nearly nine out of 10 (89%) respondents having experienced work-related stress over the past...
Ondaatje Prize 2022 shortlist announced
21 April 2022
The shortlist for this year’s £10,000 (A$17,500) Royal Society of Literature Ondaatje Prize has been announced. The annual award recognises the book ‘of highest literary merit—fiction, nonfiction or poetry—which best...
Water Scott Prize 2022 shortlist announced
13 April 2022
In the UK, the Water Scott Prize 2022 shortlist has been announced. The titles shortlisted for the £25,000 (A$43,600) prize for historical fiction are: Rose Nicolson (Andrew Greig, Riverrun) News of the Dead...
SoA calls on Amazon to cut ebook refund window
6 April 2022
In the UK, the Society of Authors (SoA) is calling on Amazon to cut its ebook returns window from 14 days to 48 hours, reports the Bookseller. An online petition,...
US publishers to attend LBF in ‘limited’ capacity; Russia banned from fairs
2 March 2022
Large US publishers including Hachette Book Group and HarperCollins US will only attend this year’s London Book Fair, which runs 5–7 April, in a ‘limited fashion’, reports the Bookseller. This...
Opposition grows as Vivendi files Lagardère takeover bid
23 February 2022
In France, media company Vivendi has filed its proposed takeover bid for Hachette Livre parent company Lagardère Group amid growing opposition to the merger, reports the Bookseller. In December Vivendi—which...
Blackwell’s up for sale for first time
2 February 2022
In the UK, independent bookshop chain Blackwell’s is up for sale, reports the Bookseller. Blackwell’s comprises 18 shops including flagship stores in Oxford and Cambridge. It’s the first time the...
US publishing sales up 12%: AAP
27 January 2022
US publishers have recorded a 12.2% increase in sales for 2021, according to the latest data from the Association of American Publisher’s StatShot program, reports Publishers Weekly. Sales from the...
UK government delays decision on copyright changes
19 January 2022
The UK government has decided not to make changes to copyright exhaustion laws following a consultation period, reports the Bookseller. The Intellectual Property Office (IPO), which launched a consultation last...
UK, Ireland bookshop numbers grow for fifth consecutive year
12 January 2022
Data from the UK Bookseller’s Association (BA) shows the number of independent bookshops in the UK and Ireland has grown for the fifth year in a row, reports the Bookseller....
US ed publishers sue Shopify over alleged selling of pirated material
8 December 2021
In the US, educational publishers have filed a lawsuit in the US District Court for Eastern Virginia accusing ecommerce platform Shopify of selling pirated material, reports Goodereader. Pearson Education, Macmillan...
Costa Book Awards shortlists announced
24 November 2021
In the UK, the shortlists for the 2021 Costa Book Awards have been announced. Shortlisted for the Costa Novel Award are: Unsettled Ground (Claire Fuller, Fig Tree) The High House...
Galgut wins Booker Prize for ‘The Promise’
4 November 2021
South African author Damon Galgut has won the £50,000 (A$91,830) Booker Prize for his ninth novel The Promise (Chatto & Windus), reports the Bookseller. Galgut’s novel, set in South Africa during the...
Bonnier UK to launch ‘disruptive’ new publisher
27 October 2021
In the UK, Bonnier Books is launching a new ‘independently run, disruptive publisher of literary fiction and narrative nonfiction’, Footnote Press, in partnership with founders Vidisha Biswas and Sujoy Roy,...
National Book Awards 2021 shortlists announced
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...
Dohle assures agents of competitive bidding between PRH, S&S
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...
Booker Prize 2021 shortlist announced
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)...
Wainwright Prizes for nature, conservation writing winners
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...
PRH half-yearly profits up 55%
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...
Beijing International Book Fair postponed at last minute
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...
US half-yearly bookstore sales up 30%
18 August 2021
In the US, bookstore sales in the first half of 2021 rose 30.3% compared to the same period last year, reports Publishers Weekly. Bookstore sales rose from US$2.82 billion (A$3.9b)...
