Picador apologises over response to criticism of Orwell Prize-winner
11 August 2021
In the UK, Kate Clanchy will partially rewrite her 2020 Orwell Prize-winning book Some Kids I Taught and What They Taught Me as publisher Picador says it’s ‘profoundly sorry’ for...
Reynolds, Smith win 2021 Carnegie, Greenaway medals
17 June 2021
The UK Chartered Institute of Library and Information Professionals (CILIP) has announced the winners of the 2021 Carnegie and Kate Greenaway medals. Jason Reynolds won the Carnegie Medal for children’s...
UK book industry unites for ‘Save Our Books’ copyright campaign
9 June 2021
In the UK, publishing industry organisations have launched a campaign against mooted changes to copyright laws they claim would lead to a flood of cheap copies of UK books coming...
‘World first’ UK plan to pay authors royalties on used book sales
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...
Barjas wins US$50k International Prize for Arabic Fiction
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...
Gilligan wins Ondaatje Prize for ‘The Butchers’
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...
UK publisher consumer sales up 7% in 2020
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...
Shortlist announced for 2021 Jhalak Prize for BAME writers
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...
International Booker Prize longlist announced
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...
Bertelsmann’s S&S merger faces scrutiny in US, UK
24 March 2021
Penguin Random House (PRH) parent company Bertelsmann’s acquisition of Simon & Schuster (S&S) is facing scrutiny from government agencies in both the US and the UK, reports the Bookseller. In...
Women’s Prize for Fiction 2021 longlist announced
11 March 2021
In the UK, the longlist for the 2021 Women’s Prize for Fiction has been announced. Now in its 26th year, the £30,000 (A$54,040) prize is presented annually to the best...
PEN/Faulkner Award for Fiction 2021 finalists announced
3 March 2021
In the US, the finalists have been announced for the 2021 PEN/Faulkner Award for Fiction, which recognises the best work of fiction published in the preceding year by an American...
Bezos to step down as Amazon CEO
3 February 2021
In the US, Amazon CEO Jeff Bezos has announced he will step down from the role and become executive chairman, reports the Sydney Morning Herald. Under the transition, Amazon Web...
Chinese book market down 5% in 2020: Beijing OpenBook
20 January 2021
Beijing OpenBook has reported a 5% downturn on book sales in the Chinese market in 2020—the first drop in value since OpenBook began its tracking in 2001, reports Publishing Perspectives....
UK supply chain hit by border delays, Brexit issues
13 January 2021
In the UK, booksellers are facing issues with goods coming into and out of Europe due to border delays and Brexit red tape, reports the Bookseller. Waterstones has suspended deliveries...
Reed to retire BookExpo
2 December 2020
BookExpo, the largest publishing trade show in the US, is being retired by Reed Exhibitions, reports Publishers Weekly. Book-focused events BookCon and Unbound will also be retired. Organiser ReedPop, a...
PA to aggregate diversity statistics
25 November 2020
In the UK, the Publishers Association (PA) will aggregate publisher statistics on the diversity make-up of their books, reports the Bookseller. After a number of big publishers confirmed they were...
Bologna moves to June; plans new general publishing exhibit
18 November 2020
The Bologna Children’s Book Fair has changed its dates for next year’s fair from April to June 14-17. Director Elena Pasoli said pushing the fair back ‘gives us the valuable...
Thammavongsa wins Canada’s $100k Giller Prize
11 November 2020
In Canada, Souvankham Thammavongsa has won this year’s C$100,000 (A$106,150) Giller Prize for her short story collection How to Pronounce Knife (Bloomsbury). Of Thammavongsa’s collection, the prize jury said: ‘How...
LBF moved to June 2021; new director named
5 November 2020
In the UK, the London Book Fair (LBF) has announced next year’s event will take place from 29 June to 1 July, according to the Bookseller. The fair was originally scheduled...
‘Imperial Intimacies: A Tale of Two Islands’ wins Nayef Al-Rodhan Prize
28 October 2020
In the UK, Hazel V Carby has won the £25,000 (A$46,750) Nayef Al-Rodhan Prize for Global Cultural Understanding for her book Imperial Intimacies: A Tale of Two Islands (Verso), reports the Bookseller....
UK, North American bodies form green book supply chain alliance
30 September 2020
The UK’s Book Industry Communication (BIC) has formed an international green book supply chain alliance with Canada’s BookNet and US body the Book Industry Study Group, reports the Bookseller. Under...
Booker Prize 2020 shortlist announced
16 September 2020
The shortlist for the 2020 Booker Prize has been announced. The six books shortlisted for the £50,000 (A$90,000) prize are: The New Wilderness (Diane Cook, Oneworld) This Mournable Body (Tsitsi Dangarembga, Faber)...
No physical exhibitors at 2020 Frankfurt Book Fair
9 September 2020
This year’s Frankfurt Book Fair won’t feature physical exhibitors due to the Covid-19 pandemic, reports the Bookseller. Organisers said it was no longer feasible to hold the planned ‘special edition’...
PRH revenue down 1.4% in first half of 2020; Bertelsmann ‘interested’ in buying S&S
2 September 2020
Bertelsmann, the parent company of Penguin Random House (PRH), has reported that the publisher’s global revenue fell 1.4% in the first half of 2020 compared to the same period in...
Nigerian-British writer Okojie wins Caine Prize for African Writing
29 July 2020
Nigerian-British writer Irenosen Okojie has won the 2020 Caine Prize for African Writing, worth £10,000 (A$18,000), for her short story ‘Grace Jones’. The story appears in Okojie's 2019 collection Nudibranch...
Gardners owner makes Bertrams asset purchase
8 July 2020
The Little Group, owner of UK book wholesaler Gardners, has agreed to an asset purchase of book wholesaler the Bertram Group, which went into administration earlier this year. Books+Publishing understands...
Johnson wins 2020 PEN Pinter Prize
8 July 2020
In the UK, poet and reggae artist Linton Kwesi Johnson has been awarded the 2020 PEN Pinter Prize. Prize judge Claire Armitstead said: ‘Once we had laid our nominations on...
Indian writer Pandey named overall winner of 2020 Commonwealth Short Story Prize
1 July 2020
Indian writer Kritika Pandey has been named the overall winner of the 2020 Commonwealth Short Story Prize for her story ‘The Great Indian Tee and Snakes’. Pandey’s story explores forbidden...
Macmillan US sets up inclusive management team; CEO steps back
24 June 2020
In the US, Macmillan Publishing will establish a 13-member trade management committee to set goals and objectives for its trade publishers, divisions and departments, reports Publishers Weekly. In a letter...
