‘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...
UK book industry calls to end VAT on ebooks, audiobooks
1 November 2019
UK book industry figures and organisations have delivered a letter to the chancellor of the exchequer Sajid Javid calling for an end to the 20% value-added tax (VAT) that currently...
UNESCO announces 11 new cities of literature
1 November 2019
UNESCO has announced 11 additional cities of literature among 66 newly designated creative cities. The new cities of literature are: Angoulême (France) Beirut (Lebanon) Exeter (UK) Kuhmo (Finland) Lahore (Pakistan)...
‘A Fistful of Shells’ wins 2019 Nayef Al-Rodhan Prize
31 October 2019
In the UK, historian Toby Green has won the £25,000 (A$46,750) Nayef Al-Rodhan Prize for Global Cultural Understanding for his book A Fistful of Shells: West Africa from the rise...
Warwick Prize for Women in Translation 2019 shortlist announced
30 October 2019
In the UK, the shortlist for the Warwick Prize for Women in Translation has been announced. The shortlisted titles are: Disoriental (Négar Djavadi, trans Tina Kover, Europa Editions) Drive Your...
New online platform to help US indies compete with Amazon
28 October 2019
In the US, a new website designed to help independent bookstores compete with Amazon will launch in January, reports Publishers Weekly. Backed by the American Booksellers Association (ABA), Bookshop is...
‘Girl, Woman, Other’ more than doubles lifetime sales after Booker win
24 October 2019
In the UK, joint Booker winner Bernardine Evaristo’s Girl, Woman, Other (Hamish Hamilton) more than doubled its lifetime sales in the week following its win on 14 October, reports the...
Chadwick, McMillan win 2019 Polari Prizes
23 October 2019
In the UK, writers Angela Chadwick and Andrew McMillan have won the 2019 Polari Prizes for work that explores the LGBT experience, reports the Bookseller. Now in its ninth year,...
Baillie Gifford Prize for Nonfiction 2019 shortlist announced
23 October 2019
In the UK, the shortlist for this year’s Baillie Gifford Prize for Nonfiction, formerly the Samuel Johnson Prize, has been announced. The six shortlisted titles are: Furious Hours: Murder, fraud...
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...
