S&S UK, US launch new imprint
Thursday, 2 October 2025
Simon & Schuster (S&S) US and UK have jointly announced the launch of new imprint Scarlett Press, reported BookBrunch and Publishers Weekly. Scarlett Press is envisioned as a ‘home for romance-forward...
Chapter Ukraine launched
Wednesday, 1 October 2025
Craft magazine and Chytomo have announced the launch of Chapter Ukraine, an interactive digital platform that ‘offers comprehensive information about Ukrainian books available in translation’. The platform features translations of...
Bulawayo wins Best of Caine Award
Tuesday, 30 September 2025
Zimbabwean writer NoViolet Bulawayo has won the 2025 Best of Caine Award for her short story ‘Hitting Budapest’, which originally won the Caine Prize in 2011, reported BookBrunch yesterday. The Best...
Booker Prize 2025 shortlist announced
Wednesday, 24 September 2025
The shortlist for the 2025 Booker Prize has been announced. Shortlisted for the £50,000 (A$102,449) prize are six titles: Flashlight (Susan Choi, Jonathan Cape) The Loneliness of Sonia and Sunny (Kiran...
Hilary Mantel Prize launched
Tuesday, 23 September 2025
Literary agency AM Heath has launched a biennial prize for novel writers in the UK and Ireland, in honour of late author Hilary Mantel. ‘Hilary was a staunch supporter of...
PW revives Freedom to Read issue
Monday, 22 September 2025
In the wake of ongoing threats to access to books in the US, Publishers Weekly (PW) has revived its ‘Freedom to Read’ issue. In a letter introducing the issue, PW...
Trump sues PRH, New York Times
Wednesday, 17 September 2025
US President Donald Trump is suing Penguin Random House (PRH), along with the New York Times (NYT) and several of its reporters for ‘disparagement’, reported Publishers Weekly (PW) yesterday. Among reporters...
Arthur Sze named US poet laureate
Tuesday, 16 September 2025
Arthur Sze has been named the 25th poet laureate of the United States, reported Publishers Weekly yesterday. Sze will serve for one year and succeeds Ada Limón, whose term in the...
National Book Awards 2025 longlists announced
Monday, 15 September 2025
In the US, the longlists for the 2024 National Book Awards have been announced. The longlisted fiction, poetry and nonfiction titles are: Fiction The Antidote (Karen Russell, Chatto & Windus)...
Inaugural PEN Presents x International Booker Prize winners announced
Tuesday, 9 September 2025
In the UK, the inaugural winners of the PEN Presents x International Booker Prize have been announced, reported BookBrunch last night. Chosen from a shortlist of 12, the winning translators and their...
Anthropic agrees to settle book piracy lawsuit
Monday, 8 September 2025
AI company Anthropic has agreed to pay US$1.5 billion (A$2.28b) to settle a class-action lawsuit by book authors who say the company took pirated copies of their works to train...
Donaldson sells 50 million units
Thursday, 4 September 2025
In the UK, children's author Julia Donaldson has become the first author to ‘sell more than 50 million units through British bookshops since accurate records began’, reported the Bookseller. According to NielsenIQ...
NEA cancels creative writing grants
Tuesday, 2 September 2025
In the US, the National Endowment for the Arts’ (NEA) 2026 Creative Writing Fellowships have been cancelled, reported Publishers Weekly (PW). The annual endowments have historically offered grants up to...
‘Tentative agreement’ in Anthropic copyright lawsuit
Monday, 1 September 2025
AI company Anthropic has reportedly reached a preliminary agreement with attorneys representing authors and publishers in a class action lawsuit, reported Publishers Weekly (PW). Anthropic has been charged with illegally using...
US publishing sales: ‘modest gains’ in 2024
Thursday, 28 August 2025
The Association of American Publishers (AAP) has announced its final publishing industry sales estimates for 2024. In 2024, total sales ‘rose 4.1%, to $32.5 billion (A$50b)’ from the 1281 publishers...
S&S CEO to step down, launch Simon Six imprint
Wednesday, 27 August 2025
In the US, Simon & Schuster CEO Jonathan Karp has announced he will step down to launch and lead a new imprint, Simon Six, reported Publishers Weekly (PW) yesterday. Karp will...
Polari Prize ‘paused’ following author, judge withdrawals
Tuesday, 26 August 2025
In the UK, the Polari Prize organisation has announced that the 2025 awards are ‘paused’, reported Book Brunch. This follows news earlier this month that more than half of the...
Denmark drops taxes on books to combat reading crisis
Monday, 25 August 2025
The Danish government announced it will abolish a 25% sales tax on books, ‘in an effort to combat a “reading crisis”’, reported the BBC. The move to abolish the tax...
Inaugural Sustainable Story Award shortlist announced
Thursday, 21 August 2025
World of Books has announced the shortlist for the inaugural Sustainable Story Award. The shortlisted titles are: Fiction ‘AYAH’ (Annabelle Sami) ‘The First Years’ (Kate Evans) ‘Life or Death’ (Rebecca...
Sally Rooney ‘could face prosecution’ for pledging funds to Palestine
Wednesday, 20 August 2025
Irish novelist Sally Rooney has pledged proceeds of her work and public platform to support British advocacy group Palestine Action, which could lead to possible legal ramifications in relation to...
Hugo Awards 2025 winners announced
Tuesday, 19 August 2025
The 2025 Hugo Award winners have been announced. A selection of winners are: Best novel The Tainted Cup (Robert Jackson Bennett, Hodderscape) Best novella The Tusks of Extinction (Ray Nayler,...
Future Library announces Ghosh as 2025 author
Monday, 18 August 2025
The Future Library Project announced Indian author Amitav Ghosh as the next Future Library author at the Edinburgh Book Festival on 13 August. Ghosh's next manuscript will be stored and...
OUP reports ‘hampered’ financial progress
Thursday, 14 August 2025
In the UK, Oxford University Press has announced its annual results. The company reported a turnover of £796 million (A$1.65b), and a surplus from trading of £75m (A$156m), however when...
Polari Prizes to proceed despite withdrawals after ‘terf’ longlisting
Wednesday, 13 August 2025
In the UK, the Polari Prize organisation has announced plans to undertake a ‘full review’ following the withdrawal of a significant proportion of authors on its longlists (and several judges)...
AP to stop publishing book reviews
Tuesday, 12 August 2025
The Associated Press (AP) will stop publishing its weekly book reviews effective 1 September, reported Publishers Weekly (PW). In an email from AP global entertainment and lifestyles editor Anthony McCartney to...
HarperCollins reports sales up 3%, profits up 10%
Monday, 11 August 2025
In the US, HarperCollins parent company News Corp has announced its fourth quarter and annual results. The company reported that its book publishing division saw sales rise six percent for...
Penguin SEA to publish ‘Stories from the Island’
Tuesday, 5 August 2025
Penguin Random House (PRH) Southeast Asia (SEA) has announced the publication of Stories from the Islands, its first bilingual short story anthology of writers selected as part of the Ubud...
Pearson: first half of 2025 stable, ‘stronger growth expected’ in second half
Monday, 4 August 2025
In the UK, educational publisher Pearson has reported a stable financial performance for the first half of 2025, with sales up two percent, to £1.7bn (A$3.5bn), and adjusted operating profit...
Taylor & Francis ‘further strong growth’ in first half of 2025
Thursday, 31 July 2025
Informa has published its half-year results, with the organisation reporting ‘20%+ reported revenue growth, increasing operating margins and confirming £150m of additional share buybacks,’ reported BookBrunch. In the report, the...
Booker Prize 2025 longlist announced
Wednesday, 30 July 2025
The longlist for the 2025 Booker Prize has been announced. Longlisted for the £50,000 (A$102,449) prize are 13 titles: Love Forms (Claire Adam, Faber) The South (Tash Aw, Fourth Estate)...
