Benson’s ‘Vertigo & Ghost’ wins Forward Poetry Prize
21 October 2019
Fiona Benson’s poetry collection Vertigo & Ghost (Cape Poetry) has won the £10,000 (A$18,846) Forward Prize for best poetry collection, reports the Guardian. Vertigo & Ghost explores vulnerability and rage,...
US$75k Cundill History Prize 2019 finalists announced
18 October 2019
The three finalists for the Cundill History Prize have been announced. Chosen from a shortlist of eight, the finalists are: Reckonings: Legacies of Nazi persecution and the quest for justice (Mary...
Self-published books in the US grew by 40% in 2018
17 October 2019
Self-publishing in the US grew by 40% in 2018, according to a report published by Bowker. In total 1.68 million print and ebooks were self-published in 2018, up from 1.19...
‘Supper Club’ wins 2019 Not the Booker
17 October 2019
English writer Lara Williams has won the Guardian’s 2019 Not the Booker Prize for her debut novel Supper Club (Hamish Hamilton). For the second year running, the judges overruled the public...
Shortlist for India’s JCB Prize for Literature announced
16 October 2019
The shortlist for India's richest literary award, the Rs 2.5 million (A$51,800) JCB Prize for Literature, has been announced. The shortlisted works of fiction are: Ib’s Endless Search for Satisfaction...
Atwood, Evaristo tie for Booker Prize 2019
15 October 2019
The 2019 Booker Prize has been jointly awarded to Bernadine Evaristo for Girl, Woman, Other (Hamish Hamilton) and Margaret Atwood for The Testaments (Chatto & Windus). It is the third...
RELX Group named world’s largest publisher
14 October 2019
RELX Group—formerly known as Reed Elsevier—has been named the world’s largest publishing company on Livres Hebdo/Publishers Weekly’s annual ranking for 2018. RELX posted publishing revenue of US$5.28 billion (A$7.8b) to...
Tokarczuk, Handke awarded Nobel Prizes in Literature
11 October 2019
Polish writer Olga Tokarczuk and Austrian writer Peter Handke have been awarded Nobel Prizes in Literature, after the Swedish Academy postponed the 2018 prize following sexual assault allegations. Tokarczuk received...
National Book Award 2019 shortlists announced
9 October 2019
In the US, the shortlists for the 2019 National Book Award have been announced. The shortlisted titles are: Fiction Trust Exercise (Susan Choi, Serpent’s Tail) Sabrina & Corina: Stories (Kali Fajardo-Anstine, One...
Amazon launches Kindle for kids
8 October 2019
Amazon has launched a Kindle for children, marking the first time the company has designed a device specifically for kids. The Kindle Kids Edition, priced at A$182.50, includes the standard...
Goldsmiths Prize 2019 shortlist announced
3 October 2019
In the UK, the shortlist for the £10,000 (A$18,300) Goldsmiths Prize, which rewards fiction that ‘breaks the mould or extends the possibilities of the novel form’, has been announced. The...
National Translation Award 2019 shortlists announced
2 October 2019
The American Literary Translators Association (ALTA) has announced the shortlists for the National Translation Awards for poetry and prose. The shortlisted titles in each category are: Prose Anniversaries: From a year in...
Giller Prize 2019 shortlist announced
1 October 2019
In Canada, the shortlist for the C$100,000 (A$112,000) 2019 Giller Prize for the best Canadian fiction published in English has been announced. The shortlisted novels are: Immigrant City (David Bezmozgis,...
US adult audiobook consumption on the rise
26 September 2019
In the US, audiobooks are on the rise, according to a recent survey conducted by Pew Research. While the reading habits of Americans have remained relatively unchanged over the past...
Audiobooks for children double in popularity in UK
25 September 2019
In the UK, the popularity of children's audiobooks has increased by 138% since January 2018, reports the Bookseller. In a report shared at the Bookseller Children's Conference in London, market...
Perez wins Royal Society Science Book Prize for ‘Invisible Women’
24 September 2019
In the UK, Caroline Criado Perez has won the £25,000 (A$45,500) Royal Society Science Book Prize for Invisible Women: Exposing data bias in a world designed for men (Chatto & Windus),...
National Book Award 2019 fiction longlist announced
23 September 2019
In the US, the National Book Award fiction longlist has been announced. The finalists in the fiction category are: Fleishman Is in Trouble (Taffy Brodesser-Akner, Wildfire) Trust Exercise (Susan Choi,...
US$75k Cundill History Prize 2019 shortlist announced
23 September 2019
In North America, the shortlist has been announced for the Cundill History Prize, which rewards ‘the best history writing in English’. The shortlisted titles are: Orphans of Empire: The fate...
National Book Award 2019 longlists announced
20 September 2019
In the US, longlists in four categories of the National Book Award have been announced. The longlists announced so far are: Nonfiction Go Ahead in the Rain: Notes to A...
US Justice Department files suit against Edward Snowden, Macmillan
19 September 2019
In the US, the Department of Justice has filed a suit against whistleblower Edward Snowden and his publisher Macmillan, looking to seize proceeds from Snowden’s new memoir Permanent Record, reports...
Dalcher wins Goldsboro Glass Bell for ‘Vox’
18 September 2019
In the UK, debut novelist Christina Dalcher has won the £2000 (A$3650) Goldsboro Books Glass Bell Award for Vox (HQ). Set in an America where women are restricted to speaking no...
FT and McKinsey Business Book of the Year Award 2019 shortlist announced
17 September 2019
In the UK, the shortlist for the Financial Times and McKinsey Business Book of the Year Award has been announced. This year’s six shortlisted books are: Invisible Women: Exposing data bias...
Baillie Gifford Prize for Nonfiction 2019 longlist announced
16 September 2019
In the UK, the longlist for this year’s Baillie Gifford Prize for Nonfiction, formerly the Samuel Johnson Prize, has been announced. The 10 longlisted titles are: I Will Never See...
Porter’s ‘Firefly’ wins 2019 Wilbur Smith Adventure Prize
16 September 2019
In the UK, English writer Henry Porter has won the £15,000 (A$27,250) Wilbur Smith Adventure Prize for his novel Firefly (Quercus). Firefly follows a highly intelligent 13-year-old Syrian refugee who is...
McLaughlin wins 2019 Sunday Times Audible Short Story Award
13 September 2019
Irish writer Danielle McLaughlin has won the £30,000 (A$54,000) Sunday Times Audible Short Story Award for her story ‘A Partial List of the Saved’. The story follows two people who...
Love wins 2019 Klaus Flugge Prize
12 September 2019
In the UK, Jessica Love has won the £5000 (A$8990) Klaus Flugge Prize for most promising newcomer to children’s picture book illustration for Julian is a Mermaid (Walker Books), reports...
Print revenue up for Canadian indies in 2017–18
11 September 2019
In Canada, industry research group BookNet has revealed 65% of indie booksellers saw increased revenue from new print book sales between 2017–18, reports Publishing Perspectives. The report, called What’s in Store:...
British Academy’s Nayef Al-Rodhan Prize shortlist announced
10 September 2019
In the UK, the British Academy has announced the shortlist for the £25,000 (A$44,930) Nayef Al-Rodhan Prize for Global Cultural Understanding, reports the Bookseller. The shortlisted titles are: How the...
Amazon breaks Atwood embargo in US
5 September 2019
Amazon has shipped hundreds of copies of Margaret Atwood’s The Testaments (Chatto & Windus), the embargoed follow-up to The Handmaid’s Tale, to US customers ahead of its official release date...
Booker Prize 2019 shortlist announced
4 September 2019
The shortlist for the 2019 Booker Prize has been announced. The six books shortlisted for the £50,000 (A$88,875) prize are: The Testaments (Margaret Atwood, Chatto & Windus, September) Ducks, Newburyport (Lucy Ellmann,...
