‘Kindness’ voted OUP UK children’s word of the year
Thursday, 23 January 2025
In the UK, Oxford University Press (OUP) has announced 'kindness' as the Oxford Children's Word of the Year for 2024. Each year, OUP's 'language experts and academic researchers’ announce a word...
Bestseller Awards: Donaldson overtakes Rowling in units sold
Wednesday, 22 January 2025
In the UK, Nielsen BookData and BolognaBookPlus have awarded the annual Bestseller Awards, reports BookBrunch. Based on UK volume sales data, the Bestseller Awards recognise all-time sales across both print...
London Book Fair announces 2025 keynote speakers
Tuesday, 21 January 2025
The London Book Fair (LBF) has announced its keynote speakers and sessions. On day one, Waterstones managing director and Barnes & Noble CEO James Daunt will be in conversation with...
BookTok reprieve: TikTok restoring US accounts
Monday, 20 January 2025
In the US, TikTok has announced it has begun restoring access to the social media platform after incoming president Donald Trump indicated that one of his first acts will be...
UK 2024 book sales down as indie bookstore numbers decline
Thursday, 16 January 2025
In the UK, there was a ‘small decline’ in the number of independent bookstores in 2024, from 1063 to 1052, reports the Bookseller. The decline continues the previous year’s downward...
Gizzi wins 2024 TS Eliot Prize
Wednesday, 15 January 2025
In the UK, Peter Gizzi has won the 2024 TS Eliot Prize, worth £25,000 (A$49,319), for Fierce Elegy (Penguin), reports Book Brunch. Fierce Elegy was chosen from a shortlist of...
S&S launches audio-first imprint
Tuesday, 14 January 2025
In the US, Simon & Schuster has launched Simon Maverick, an audio-first imprint, under the guidance of Jason Pinter, the imprint’s vice-president and editorial director. Publishers Weekly (PW) reported that...
Authors allege Meta knowingly used pirated books
Monday, 13 January 2025
In the US, a group of authors including Ta-Nehisi Coates and Sarah Silverman is suing Meta for copyright infringement, alleging CEO Mark Zuckerberg approved the use of pirated books to...
‘Supremacy’ wins 2024 FT Business Book of the Year
Wednesday, 11 December 2024
In the UK, Supremacy: AI, ChatGPT and the Race That Will Change the World (Parmy Olson, St Martin’s Press) has won the 2024 Financial Times (FT) Business Book of the...
UK publishing 2024 workforce report indicates ‘disappointing trend’
Tuesday, 10 December 2024
In the UK, the Publishers Association (PA) has released its annual workforce survey report, which, among other findings, suggests ‘improvement in geographic diversity’, while showing ‘a small, but statistically significant,...
Internet Archive copyright case ends
Monday, 9 December 2024
The copyright case against the Internet Archive has drawn to a close after representatives from the organisation ‘decided against exercising their last option, an appeal to the [United States] Supreme...
Chatterji wins 2024 Wolfson History Prize
Thursday, 5 December 2024
In the UK, historian Joya Chatterji has won the £50,000 (A$98,781) Wolfson History Prize 2024 for Shadows at Noon: The South Asian Twentieth Century (Vintage). Previously longlisted for the Women’s Prize...
Polari Prizes 2024 winners announced
Wednesday, 4 December 2024
In the UK, the winners of the 2024 Polari Prizes have been announced. The winners in each category are: Polari Book Prize (£2000; A$3908) The Gallopers (Jon Ransom, Muswell Press),...
Number of publishing start-ups using AI explodes
Thursday, 28 November 2024
Spines, a startup technology company founded in 2021 that published its first titles this year, is ‘offering the use of AI to proofread, produce, publish and distribute books’, reports the...
ByteDance publishing imprint announces first books
Tuesday, 26 November 2024
TikTok’s parent company ByteDance has announced it will start selling print books in bookshops from early 2025, under its publishing imprint 8th note press, reports the Bookseller. ByteDance filed a US...
National Book Award winners announced
Monday, 25 November 2024
In the US, the winners of the 2024 National Book Awards, worth US$10,000 (A$15,367) in each category, have been announced. The winners in each category are: Fiction James (Percival Everett,...
Michaels wins 2024 Giller Prize for ‘Held’
Thursday, 21 November 2024
Anne Michaels has won the C$100,000 (A$110,028) Giller Prize, Canada’s richest literary award, for her novel Held (Bloomsbury). Of the book, the judging panel wrote: ‘Held is a novel that...
HarperCollins becomes first major US trade publisher to reach AI licensing deal
Wednesday, 20 November 2024
In the US, HarperCollins has become the first of the Big Five publishers to accept an AI licensing deal, reaching an agreement with an undisclosed company ‘to provide access to...
National Book Network to close in US
Tuesday, 19 November 2024
In the US, Publishers Weekly (PW) reports that independent distributor National Book Network (NBN) will close next year. The forthcoming closure follows the collapse of Small Press Distribution (SPD) in...
WH Smith revenue up as it plans US expansion
Monday, 18 November 2024
In the UK, travel bookseller WH Smith has announced its total revenue in its travel category was up 11% for the year ended 31 August 2024. In its preliminary results...
Harvey wins 2024 Booker Prize for ‘Orbital’
Wednesday, 13 November 2024
In the UK, Samantha Harvey has won the 2024 Booker Prize, worth £50,000 (A$97,635), for Orbital (Vintage). Orbital takes place over a single day in the life of six astronauts...
PW industry report finds ‘generational shift’, unease about AI
Tuesday, 12 November 2024
In the US, Publishers Weekly (PW) has released its 2024 publishing industry salary and jobs report, which ‘reveals the beginnings of a generational shift in publishing and continuing unease about...
Cusk wins Goldsmiths Prize for ‘Parade’
Thursday, 7 November 2024
In the UK, Rachel Cusk has won the £10,000 (A$19,605) Goldsmiths Prize for Parade (Faber), a novel that ‘offers an enigmatic and thought-provoking meditation on art, gender and the complexities...
S&S-owned publisher plans ‘limited experiment’ using AI for English translations
Wednesday, 6 November 2024
In the Netherlands, the country’s largest book publisher—Veen Bosch & Keuning (VBK), which was acquired by Simon & Schuster earlier this year—has confirmed it plans to use artificial intelligence (AI)...
DuVal wins 2024 Cundill History Prize
Friday, 1 November 2024
Kathleen DuVal has been announced as the 2024 winner of the US$75,000 (A$114,122) Cundill History Prize for Native Nations: A Millennium in North America (Random House US). Jury chair Rana...
Scribd to change from unlimited to credit-based subscription model
Thursday, 31 October 2024
The US-based reading subscription platform Scribd—which offers formats including magazines, ebooks and audiobooks through its Everand reading platform and announced its Australian launch in 2021—is moving away from its unlimited...
Bloomsbury ‘exploring the opportunity’ of AI deals, Sarah J Maas sales soar
Tuesday, 29 October 2024
In the UK, Bloomsbury has announced its interim results for the six months to the end of August, reporting revenue growth of 32% to £179.8 million (A$354.1m), according to the...
‘A City on Mars’ wins 2024 Trivedi Science Book Prize
Monday, 28 October 2024
In the UK, A City on Mars: Can We Settle Space, Should We Settle Space, and Have We Really Thought This Through? (Kelly & Zach Weinersmith, Particular Books) has won the...
Industry bodies, creators sign open letter on AI training
Thursday, 24 October 2024
In the UK, a coalition of trade bodies including the Publishers Association, the Society of Authors, Publishers’ Licensing Services, Independent Publishers Guild, Authors’ Licensing and Collecting Society and Association of...
‘Language City’ wins 2024 British Academy Book Prize
Wednesday, 23 October 2024
In the UK, US author writer Ross Perlin has won the £25,000 (A$48,543) British Academy Book Prize for Global Cultural Understanding for Language City: The Fight to Preserve Endangered Mother...
