LBF to run as digital-only event
16 April 2021
This year’s London Book Fair (LBF) will run as a series of digital-only events at the beginning and end of June, after having previously been rescheduled to run from 29...
Rathbones Folio loses £30k prize money to cyber scam
15 April 2021
In the UK, the Bookseller has revealed that the Rathbones Folio Prize lost £30,000 (A$53,500) to an email fraudster last year, while other awards, publishers, agents and industry bodies have...
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...
Survey of UK publisher catalogues shows representation on the rise
12 April 2021
In the UK, a survey of the country’s most prolific publishing houses by the Bookseller has found that there were 200 books by British writers of colour this northern spring....
Bologna cancels in-person events
9 April 2021
The organisers of the Bologna Children’s Book Fair, Bologna Licensing Trade Fair and BolognaBookPlus have announced the cancellation of in-person events, due to ongoing Covid-19 restrictions in Italy and Europe....
PRH revenue up 4.6%, earnings up 23.3% in 2020
7 April 2021
Penguin Random House’s (PRH) global sales in 2020 were up 4.6% and its operating EBITDA (earnings before interest, taxes, depreciation and amortisation) was up 23.3%, according to PRH parent company...
Hachette Livre CEO replaced
1 April 2021
Long-time Hachette Livre CEO Arnaud Nourry has been replaced by Pierre Leroy, co-managing partner of Hachette's parent company Lagardère. Nourry, who had run Hachette since 2003, was replaced on Monday,...
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...
HarperCollins to acquire Houghton Mifflin Harcourt trade division
30 March 2021
HarperCollins parent company News Corp will purchase the trade publishing division of US publisher Houghton Mifflin Harcourt (HMH) for US$349 million (A$457 million), reports Publishers Weekly (PW). According to PW HMH...
National Book Critics Circle Awards winners announced
29 March 2021
In the US, the winners of the 2020 National Book Critics Circle (NBCC) Awards have been announced. The winners include: Fiction Hamnet (Maggie O’Farrell, Tinder Press) Nonfiction Island on Fire: The...
Dublin Literary Award shortlist announced
26 March 2021
The shortlist for the 2021 Dublin Literary Award, worth €100,000 (A$155,200), has been announced, reports the Bookseller. The shortlisted titles are: Girl, Woman, Other (Bernardine Evaristo, Hamish Hamilton) Lost Children...
Machado wins 2021 Folio Prize
25 March 2021
In the UK, American writer Carmen Maria Machado has won the 2021 Rathbones Folio Prize, worth £30,000 (A$54,100), for In the Dream House (Serpent’s Tail), an examination of her experience...
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...
Windham-Campbell Prize recipients announced
23 March 2021
In the US, the recipients of the 2021 Windham-Campbell Prizes, worth US$165,000 (A$213,000) each, have been announced. This year’s recipients are US playwrights Michael R Jackson and Nathan Alan Davis...
UK publishing staff ‘crushed’, ‘unfocused’ after one year of Covid
22 March 2021
In the UK, publishing staff are predicting a 50-50 split between home and office working in the future, while many feel ‘crushed, tired, unfocused and lacking in motivation’ after a...
Greenaway, Carnegie Medal shortlists announced
19 March 2021
In the UK, the shortlists for this year's CILIP Carnegie and Kate Greenaway Medals, celebrating outstanding achievement in children’s writing and illustration respectively, have been announced, reports the Bookseller. The works...
BolognaBookPlus to open with rights and licensing training event
18 March 2021
BolognaBookPlus, the general publishing conference running in parallel with the Bologna Children’s Book Fair, has announced a new rights and licensing training event to take place on the eve of...
Egmont rebrands as Farshore
15 March 2021
HarperCollins standalone children’s division Egmont Books has rebranded as Farshore. The publisher said the rebrand ‘reflects the company’s mission to make every child a proud reader through a broad and...
Brexit hits UK book orders to EU
12 March 2021
Orders from the EU for UK books are down by around 43% since the outbreak of Covid-19 and Brexit, a freight forwarding company has told the IPG International Publishing Forum,...
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...
Frankfurt to take place as hybrid event in October
9 March 2021
This year’s Frankfurt Book Fair will take place as a hybrid digital–physical event from 20–24 October, under the motto of ‘re:connect’, reports the Bookseller. The fair, which will charge ‘significantly’...
PRH launches online casting platform for voiceover actors
5 March 2021
In the US, Penguin Random House (PRH) Audio has launched Ahab, a global online casting platform for voiceover actors, reports Publishers Weekly. The platform is open to the public and...
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...
US 2020 bookstore sales down 28%
18 February 2021
In the US, full-year data for 2020 shows bookstore sales fell 28.3% from 2019, according to preliminary estimates from the US Census Bureau, reports Publishers Weekly. Bookstore sales were down...
No change to UK publishing’s BAME numbers in three years
15 February 2021
In the UK, the Publishers Association’s (PA) latest annual workforce survey has found representation of Black, Asian and minority ethnic (BAME) groups in the industry has ‘stalled’ at 13% for...
Folio Prize 2021 shortlist announced
11 February 2021
In the UK, the shortlist for the £30,000 (A$53,700) Rathbones Folio Prize has been announced. The eight shortlisted titles are: handiwork (Sara Baume, Tramp Press) Indelicacy (Amina Cain, Text) As...
Major UK publishers’ ebook sales up 15%
8 February 2021
In the UK, the top six trade publishers recorded a total 15.5% rise in ebook sales in 2020, the first double-digit percentage bump in seven years, reports the Bookseller. Collectively,...
Waterstones staff petition for furlough raise
4 February 2021
In the UK, a group of current and former Waterstones staff is calling on the bookselling chain to top-up furloughed booksellers’ pay to the minimum wage, after accounts showed the...
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...
Authors groups ask DoJ to halt PRH acquisition of S&S
2 February 2021
In the US, the Authors Guild, Open Markets Institute and five other writers’ groups have sent a letter to the Department of Justice, asking the government to block Penguin Random...
