French bookshop chain Furet du Nord buys competitor Decitre
22 January 2019
In France, the Furet du Nord chain of bookshops has confirmed it has bought its competitor the Decitre group, reports the Bookseller. Based in the city of Lille, Furet du Nord...
Authors’ associations demand that Open Library stops lending scanned books
21 January 2019
The Society of Authors (SoA) in the UK and the Authors Guild (AG) in the US are simultaneously demanding that the Internet Archive’s Open Library stops lending scanned copies of...
UK publishing workforce still lacking in BAME representation, regional diversity
18 January 2019
In the UK, the Publisher's Association (PA) has released the results of its second survey of the publishing workforce, finding that while improvements have been made around representation of women...
Print book sales in Canada remain flat in 2018
17 January 2019
Print book sales in Canada have remained flat in 2018, with backlist books still dominating the market (60%) and nonfiction sales up slightly more than fiction, the same as in...
More guests boycott Dubai lit fest, protest human rights abuses in UAE
16 January 2019
Former Irish president and former UN human rights commissioner Mary Robinson is the latest guest to pull out of the Emirates Airline Festival of Literature, following concerns about human rights...
Sullivan wins 2018 T S Eliot Prize
15 January 2019
In the UK, London-based poet Hannah Sullivan has won the 2018 T S Eliot Prize for poetry. Sullivan won the prize for her debut collection Three Poems (Faber), making it the third debut...
Costa Book Awards 2018 category winners announced
14 January 2019
In the UK, the five category winners for the 2018 Costa Book Awards have been announced. The five winners were chosen from shortlists announced in November 2018. The winning authors...
Activist author made director of Mexico’s largest state-owned publishing house
7 December 2018
Author and activist Pablo Ignacio Taibo II has been made director of Mexico's largest state-owned publishing house, Fondo de Cultura Económica (FCE), reports Publishers Weekly. Mexico's new president Andrés Manuel...
UK Society of Authors issues ‘Brexit Briefing’
6 December 2018
The UK's Society of Authors (SoA) has issued a report outlining the vulnerabilities faced by the UK's creative industries during the government's Brexit negotiations, reports Publishers Weekly. Representing 10,500 members,...
RightsTech: Europe conference announced for Frankfurt in 2019
5 December 2018
Frankfurt Book Fair (FBF) has partnered with RightsTech Project (RTP) to launch a new conference called RightsTech: Europe, to be held in Frankfurt, Germany, on 9-10 April 2019. Modelled on...
Frey wins Bad S-x in Fiction Award
4 December 2018
US author James Frey has received the 2018 Bad S-x in Fiction Award, the Literary Review’s annual prize for ‘poorly written, perfunctory or redundant passages of sexual description in modern fiction’....
Bad S-x in Fiction Award 2018 shortlist announced
3 December 2018
In the UK, the Literary Review has announced the Bad S-x in Fiction Award shortlist for 2018. The seven shortlisted books are: Scoundrels: The Hunt for Hansclapp (Major Victor Cornwall & Major Arthur St John...
Rooney wins 2018 Waterstones book of the year award
30 November 2018
UK bookselling chain Waterstones has selected Sally Rooney’s Normal People (Faber) as its book of the year for 2018. Chosen from a shortlist of eight, ‘Normal People was swiftly championed...
Rooney wins novel of the year at 2018 Irish Book Awards
29 November 2018
The winners of the 2018 Irish Book Awards have been announced. Chosen from shortlists announced in October, the winners include: Novel of the year Normal People (Sally Rooney, Faber) Popular...
Netflix to adapt Dahl classics into animated series
28 November 2018
Netflix has secured the rights to adapt many of Roald Dahl's works for screen, including Charlie and the Chocolate Factory, The BFG, Matilda and George’s Marvellous Medicine (all Puffin). It also has plans to create a...
PEN Afrikaans criticises proposed changes to South Africa’s Copyright Act
27 November 2018
In South Africa, PEN Afrikaans has joined international organisations in protesting against proposed changes to South African copyright law outlined in the Copyright Amendment Bill. According to a statement from...
‘The Joy of Waterboiling’ wins 2018 Diagram Prize
26 November 2018
The Joy of Waterboiling (Achse Verlag) has won the 2018 Diagram Prize for Oddest Book Title of the Year presented by the Bookseller. The German cookbook is a guide to the preparation of classic,...
Costa Book Awards 2018 shortlists announced
23 November 2018
In the UK, the shortlists for the 2018 Costa Book Awards have been announced. Shortlisted for the Costa Novel Award are: The Silence of the Girls (Pat Barker, Hamish Hamilton) The...
Chinese author jailed for publishing gay erotic novel
22 November 2018
In China, an erotic novelist has been sentenced to over a decade in prison for writing and selling a gay porn novel, reports the Guardian. The book in question, Gongzhan...
Edugyan wins Canada’s Giller Prize for ‘Washington Black’
21 November 2018
Canadian author Esi Edugyan has won Canada’s Scotiabank Giller Prize—the country’s richest literary award—for her novel Washington Black (Serpent's Tail). Set in 19th century Canada, Washington Black tells the story of an 11-year-old boy who...
Canadian literary prize suspended after authors protest Amazon sponsorship
20 November 2018
In Canada, a Québécois literary prize has been suspended by organisers after prize finalists and the public protested the sponsorship by Amazon, reports the Guardian. The five finalists for the 2019...
Jasanoff wins US$75,000 Cundill Prize in History
19 November 2018
US author and academic Maya Jasanoff has won Canada's 2018 Cundill Prize in History—the largest international prize for a work of history, worth US$75,000 (A$102,500)—for her book The Dawn Watch: Joseph...
‘Optical Illusions’ wins Royal Society Young People’s Book Prize
19 November 2018
In the UK, Optical Illusions by visual artist and author pair Gianni A Sarcone and Marie-Jo Waeber (Quarto) has won the Royal Society Young People’s Book Prize for the best...
National Book Award 2018 winners announced
16 November 2018
The winners of the 2018 US National Book Awards have been announced. Sigrid Nunez has won the fiction award for her novel The Friend (Riverhead), which follows a woman who is...
‘Chernobyl’ wins 2018 Baillie Gifford Prize for nonfiction
16 November 2018
Ukrainian-American author and historian Serhii Plokhy has won the £30,000 (A$53,880) 2018 Baillie Gifford Prize for nonfiction for his book Chernobyl: History of a Tragedy (Allen Lane). Chosen from a shortlist of six,...
‘Eleanor Oliphant is Completely Fine’ wins BAMB Readers’ Choice Award
16 November 2018
Gail Honeyman’s Eleanor Oliphant is Completely Fine (HarperCollins) has won the Books are My Bag (BAMB) Readers’ Choice Award in the UK. Honeyman’s bestselling debut novel, which follows a socially...
Hachette Book Group reorganises divisions, dozens made redundant
15 November 2018
In the US, the Hachette Book Group (HBG) has reorganised its Hachette Books and Nashville divisions, resulting in a number of layoffs, reports Publishers Weekly. Under the reorganisation, Hachette Books...
Robertson wins 2018 Goldsmiths Prize for ‘The Long Take’
15 November 2018
In the UK, Robin Robertson has won the £10,000 (A$17,970) 2018 Goldsmiths Prize for The Long Take (Picador). The prize, established in 2013, rewards British and Irish fiction which ‘breaks the...
‘Bad Blood’ wins 2018 Business Book of the Year
14 November 2018
In the UK, Bad Blood: Secrets and Lies in a Silicon Valley Startup (Picador) by investigative journalist John Carreyou has won the 2018 Financial Times (FT) and McKinsey & Company Business Book of...
UAE grants companies accreditation to self-monitor book content
13 November 2018
In the United Arab Emirates (UAE), regulatory body the National Media Council (NMC) has granted Content Self-Monitoring Program (CSMP) accreditation to five book industry companies so they can monitor the content...
