ALA Youth Media Awards 2020: graphic novel wins Newbery for first time
28 January 2020
In the US, the American Library Association (ALA) has announced the winners of its Youth Media Awards, including the Newbery and Caldecott medals. Jerry Craft’s graphic novel New Kid (Quill...
Higher book prices contribute to UK market growth
24 January 2020
The UK book market's consistent growth over the last decade can be attributed to a steady increase in the average selling price (ASP) of books, reports the Bookseller. While volume...
PRH withdraws ebooks from unlimited subscription platforms
23 January 2020
Penguin Random House (PRH) has withdrawn its ebooks and digital audiobooks from unlimited access subscription services. According to Goodereader, the publisher has withdrawn its books from platforms including Scribd in...
China issues guidelines banning foreign teaching materials in schools
22 January 2020
China’s Ministry of Education published guidelines earlier this month that ban the use of foreign teaching materials in primary, middle and high schools, reports the Bookseller. Private schools and high...
Chinese book market up 14.4% in 2019; online retailers capture 70% of sales
20 January 2020
China’s retail book market in 2019 grew at a rate of 14.4% on the previous year, reports Publishing Perspectives. According to data from Chinese industry-data research firm OpenBook, the total...
Amitabha Bagchi wins 2019 DSC Prize for South Asian Literature for ‘Half the Night is Gone’
17 January 2020
Indian writer Amitabha Bagchi has won the US$25,000 (A$36,250) DSC Prize for South Asian Literature for his English-language novel Half the Night is Gone (Juggernaut). Bagchi was announced as the...
German book market revenue up 1.4% in 2019
16 January 2020
German trade publication Börsenblatt has reported that revenue in the German book market in 2019 grew by 1.4% on the previous year. According to an English-language report in Publishing Perspectives,...
Robinson wins 2019 T S Eliot Prize
15 January 2020
In the UK, writer and performer Roger Robinson has won the 2019 T S Eliot Prize for poetry for his collection A Portable Paradise (Peepal Tree Press), reports the Bookseller....
US publishers reach settlement with Audible in Captions lawsuit
15 January 2020
In the US, Audible and the seven publishing houses suing the company for copyright infringement over the proposed Captions program have reached an undisclosed settlement, reports Publishers Weekly (PW). The...
US print sales down 1.3% in 2019
14 January 2020
US print sales in 2019 fell by 1.3% in volume compared to the previous year, reports Publishers Weekly. Volume sales for the year totalled 689.5 million units, down from 698.4...
Pearson sells remaining 25% stake in PRH to Bertelsmann
13 January 2020
Pearson is selling its remaining 25% stake in Penguin Random House (PRH) to Bertelsmann, giving the German corporation 100% ownership of the world’s largest trade publisher, reports the Bookseller. The...
Costa Book Awards 2019 category winners announced
13 January 2020
In the UK, the five category winners for the 2019 Costa Book Awards have been announced. The five winners were chosen from shortlists announced in November 2019. The winning authors each...
Staff at NYC bookshop chain McNally Jackson ‘likely’ to unionise
11 December 2019
In the US, employees at New York City bookshop and stationary store chain McNally Jackson are voting on whether to join the Retail, Wholesale, and Department Store Union (RWDSU) this...
‘The Dirt Hole and its Variations’ wins 2019 Diagram Prize
5 December 2019
Charles L Dobbins' self-published title The Dirt Hole and its Variations has won the 2019 Diagram Prize for Oddest Book Title of the Year presented by the Bookseller. Dobbins, who was...
More than 380,000 UK children don’t own a single book: National Literary Trust
3 December 2019
In the UK, research from the National Literary Trust (NLT) has found more than 380,000 children don’t own a single book, reports the Bookseller. The research found children who own...
‘The Boy, the Mole, the Fox and the Horse’ named Waterstones book of the year, Thunberg named author of the year
2 December 2019
In its annual awards, UK bookselling chain Waterstones has announced The Boy, the Mole, the Fox and the Horse by Charlie Mackesy (Ebury) as book of the year and climate...
Costa Book Awards 2019 shortlists announced
28 November 2019
In the UK, the shortlists for the 2019 Costa Book Awards have been announced. Shortlisted for the Costa Novel Award are: Middle England (Jonathan Coe, Viking) Confession with Blue Horses...
O’Brien awarded £40k David Cohen Prize for Literature
27 November 2019
Irish novelist Edna O'Brien has been awarded the £40,000 (A$75,800) David Cohen Prize for Literature, which recognises a living writer from the UK or Ireland's lifetime achievement in literature. O'Brien...
Medieval mystery ‘The Western Wind’ wins 2019 Staunch Book Prize
26 November 2019
In the UK, Samantha Harvey has won the 2019 Staunch Book Prize—for the best thriller novel in which no woman is beaten, stalked, sexually exploited, raped or murdered—for her novel...
‘Trust Exercise’ wins 2019 National Book Award for fiction
22 November 2019
In the US, the winners of the 2019 National Book Awards have been announced. The winners in each category are: Fiction Trust Exercise (Susan Choi, Serpent’s Tail) Nonfiction The Yellow House...
Book on Jack the Ripper’s victims wins £50k Baillie Gifford Prize for nonfiction
20 November 2019
UK historian Hallie Rubenhold has won the £50,000 ($94,700) 2019 Baillie Gifford Prize for nonfiction for her book The Five: The untold lives of the women killed by Jack the...
Canada’s $100k Giller Prize awarded to Ian Williams’ ‘Reproduction’
20 November 2019
Canadian writer Ian Williams has been announced as the 2019 winner of the C$100,000 (A$111,400) Giller Prize for his novel Reproduction (Random House Canada). Williams is assistant professor of poetry...
Lovell wins US$75k Cundill History Prize for ‘Maoism’
18 November 2019
In Canada, British author and Chinese literature translator Julia Lovell has won the 2019 Cundill History Prize, worth US$75,000 (A$110,050), for her book Maoism: A Global History (The Bodley Head)....
VIDA Count 2018 results released
15 November 2019
In the US, the results of the 2018 VIDA Count, which analyses gender representation in literary magazines, have been released. Out of the 15 literary publications included in the main...
‘Ducks, Newburyport’ wins 2019 Goldsmiths Prize
14 November 2019
In the UK, Lucy Ellmann has won the £10,000 (A$18,800) Goldsmiths Prize for her eighth novel Ducks, Newburyport (Text). Chosen from a shortlist of six, Ducks, Newburyport follows the internal monologue of...
Amazon cuts publishers’ orders to ease warehouse congestion
12 November 2019
In the US, Amazon has cut book orders to publishers to ease congestion issues at its warehouses, reports Publishers Weekly. Several independent publishers told Publishers Weekly their weekly orders have...
Report shows UK audiobook listeners read print book at the same time
11 November 2019
In the UK, new research commissioned by the Bookseller has found a quarter of audiobook readers listen to an audiobook and read a print version of a book at the...
The Bookworm Beijing to close amid cleanup of ‘illegal structures’
7 November 2019
Beijing's English-language bookstore The Bookworm is due to close on 11 November, before its building is demolished by the city government, with the owners hoping to open in a new...
PRH to acquire complete works of Eric Carle
6 November 2019
Penguin Random House US (PRH) children’s imprint Penguin Young Readers will acquire author and illustrator Eric Carle’s company, Eric Carle LLC, which holds the intellectual property rights to Carle’s books,...
Staunch Book Prize 2019 shortlist announced
4 November 2019
In the UK, the shortlist for the Staunch Book Prize—for the best thriller novel in which no woman is beaten, stalked, sexually exploited, raped or murdered—has been announced. The shortlisted...
