Lagardère’s sales drop slightly in 2018
8 February 2019
Hachette Book Group (HBG) parent company Lagardère Publishing's total consolidated sales for its publishing group fell by 1.6% in 2018 compared to the previous year, dropping to €2.52 billion (A$4bn)....
Gladwell to release first book in six years
7 February 2019
Penguin Random House Australia imprint Allen Lane will publish Malcolm Gladwell’s first book in six years, Talking to Strangers: What We Should Know About the People We Don’t Know, on 10...
All-women shortlist announced for inaugural Selfies Awards
6 February 2019
In the UK, BookBrunch has announced the shortlist for the inaugural Selfies Awards for a self-published novel. The new prize was unveiled in December 2018, and aims to 'discover new talent...
New Salinger writings to be published, confirms son
5 February 2019
The unpublished work of J D Salinger will be published in the near future, Salinger's son Matt Salinger has confirmed in an interview with the Guardian. Salinger, who published his last...
Amazon reports 31% net sales increase in 2018
4 February 2019
Amazon has released full-year financial results, showing a net sales increase of 31% in 2018. The retailer earned net sales of US$232.9 billion (A$321.3bn) this year, compared with US$177.9bn (A$245.4)...
YA author postpones debut release following social media controversy
1 February 2019
In the US, YA author Amélie Wen Zhao has asked her publisher to postpone the release of her debut novel following social media backlash, reports the New York Times. Zhao's YA...
Jacaranda receives £25k in donations for #Twentyin2020 initiative
31 January 2019
In the UK, independent press Jacaranda Books has received anonymous donations totalling £25,000 (A$45,240), reports the Bookseller. The donations came after the press revealed its list of 20 Black British...
Van Es awarded Costa Book of the Year for ‘The Cut Out Girl’
30 January 2019
In the UK, Bart van Es has been awarded the £30,000 (A$54,900) Costa Book of the Year award for his biography The Cut Out Girl (Fig Tree). The Cut Out Girl is...
Man Group withdraws Booker sponsorship
29 January 2019
In the UK, hedge fund company Man Group has withdrawn its sponsorship of the Booker Prize. The sponsorship departure will not affect this year’s awards cycle for the Man Booker...
Makkai, Laymon win 2019 ALA Andrew Carnegie Medals
29 January 2019
The American Library Association (ALA) has announced the winners of the 2019 Andrew Carnegie Medals. The fiction prize was awarded to Rebecca Makkai for The Great Believers (Fleet) and the nonfiction...
ALA Youth Media Awards 2019: Newbery, Caldecott, Printz, Stonewall
29 January 2019
In the US, the American Library Association (ALA) has announced the winners of its Youth Media Awards, including the Newbery and Caldecott medals. Meg Medina’s Merci Suárez Changes Gears (Candlewick)...
Wattpad launches data-driven publishing division
25 January 2019
In the US, online storytelling platform Wattpad is launching a publishing division called Wattpad Books. Producing both print and ebooks, Wattpad Books will launch its list in September 2019 with...
Goldsmiths Prize expands eligibility criteria
24 January 2019
In the UK, the Goldsmiths Prize has expanded its eligibility criteria, allowing authors of any nationality to enter, as long as they have resided in the UK or the Republic of...
Edgar Awards 2019 shortlists announced
23 January 2019
In the US, the shortlists for the 2019 Edgar Allan Poe Awards (the Edgars) have been announced. The Edgars honour ‘the best in mystery fiction, nonfiction and television’ published or produced...
National Book Critics Circle Awards 2018 shortlists announced
23 January 2019
In the US, the shortlists for the 2018 National Book Critics Circle (NBCC) Awards have been announced. The finalists include: Fiction Milkman (Anna Burns, Faber) Slave Old Man (Patrick Chamoiseau, trans by Linda...
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...
