London Book Fair 2013

Special link: London Book Fair 2013

Thursday, December 29, 2011

Designers & Books

Designers & Books is devoted to publishing lists of books that esteemed members of the design community identify as personally important, meaningful, and formative - books that have shaped their values, their worldview, and their ideas about design

63% of publishers plan eBook in 2012: DCL Report

Publishers are beginning to understand the importance of having their eBooks available in multiple digital formats. According to a new survey from Data Conversion Laboratory (DCL), 43 percent of publishers "realized the importance of compatibility with all e-readers, including iPad, MOBI (Kindle), Nook and custom formats." The report, which interviewed 411 publishers, found that 63 percent of publishers plan to publish a digital book in 2012. The report also found that 64 percent of publishers are interested in publishing non-fiction and technical digital content. The preferred eReader among is group was the iPad with 44 percent of the respondents preferring the iPad as their eReader of choice, versus 36 percent preferring a Kindle

Tuesday, December 27, 2011

Pan Macmillan launches new ebook bundles and second round of digital-only Short Reads

Pan Macmillan has published its first ebook bundles (collections of 2 or 3 titles in a single ebook) and a second collection of ebook Short Reads for 2011's digital Christmas. The ebook bundles will sell from between £13.99 and £15.99 and include books by bestselling writers Ken Follett, Jon Ronson, Sue Grafton and Andrew Marr. Ken Follett’s Thundering Good Thrillers feature three classic spy thrillers from the master stortyteller, Eye of the Needle, Jackdaws and Hornet Flight. A History of 20th Century Britain bundles together for the first time Andrew Marr's two bestselling volumes, A History of Modern Britain and The Making of Modern Britain. Jon Ronson's Adventures with Extraordinary People includes The Pyschopath Test, published earlier this year. Sue Grafton's new novel, V Is For Vengeance, has also been published early in ebook to meet the demand over Christmas, with the hardback out in January

Monday, December 26, 2011

BTB #270: For Authors, A Changing World, in Europe & Beyond

Not only publishers feel the impact of the digital revolution. For better and for worse, authors around the world face new questions and new challenges brought by the Internet and the rise of social media. Personal branding and marketing; new income sources and remuneration schemes; copyright protection and licensing; even the act of writing itself – all these are evolving into new forms. But are the changes happening the same way for every region of the world, whether in bigger and smaller countries, or in language communities of different sizes? As part of special programming within Beyond the Book from RightsDirect, the European subsidiary of Copyright Clearance Center, Victoriano Colodrón speaks with Natalie Ariën of VAV, the Flemish Authors’ Association, representing the interests of Dutch-speaking authors from the Flanders region of Belgium. VAV members include authors of prose, poetry, plays, screenplays, children's and youth literature, literary non-fiction and comic strip/cartoons, as well as illustrators and literary translators

Sunday, December 25, 2011

Jo Shapcott wins Queen's Gold Medal for Poetry

Jo Shapcott has won the Queen's Gold Medal for Poetry, its judges saluting the "calm but sparkling Englishness" of her award-winning verse. Poet Laureate Carol Ann Duffy, chair of the judging panel, said the medal was "the true crowning of her career". Shapcott won the Costa Book of the Year award in January for Of Mutability, a collection of poems partly inspired by her battle against breast cancer. George V inaugurated the Gold Medal for Poetry in 1933

Lesley Pearse event (UK)

Meet Lesley Pearse at Greenwich libraries (UK) on 23 January 2012 at 7-8 pm. She will be talking about her latest novel "The Promise"

Thursday, December 22, 2011

Dangdang launches E-book platform in China

Dangdang has announced the launch of its e-book platform in China. Dangdang provides approximately 50,000 book titles in the initial launch of the e-book platform at e.dangdang.com. After online payment, customers can download the digital content using Dangdang's free applications on iPhone(TM), iPad(TM) and Android(TM) devices or read online on their PCs

Wednesday, December 21, 2011

Read Google eBooks offline

Google eBooks now supports offline reading in Google Chrome

Tuesday, December 20, 2011

National Post launches e-book publishing program (Canada)

The National Post has become the first Canadian daily to launch an e-book publishing program. Following the model made popular by Amazon's Kindle Singles and Byliner.com, the newspaper's editors, in partnership with HarperCollins Canada, will bring together feature-length articles that have appeared in print and online and republish them in a downloadable EPUB format. Duncan Clark, vice-president of digital media, says the project responds to growing reader appetite for intelligent, long-form journalism they can "dig into" and "invest time in."

Monday, December 19, 2011

Tower Hamlets Book Award 2011 wiiner (UK)

The winner of the Tower Hamlets Book Award 2011 is Joe Layburn, for Street Heroes

Charles Taylor Prize for Literary Nonfiction longlist

The longlist for the Charles Taylor Prize for Literary Nonfiction has been announced:

* Something Fierce: Memoirs of a Revolutionary Daughter, by Carmen Aguirre
* Into the Silence: The Great War, Mallory, and the Conquest of Everest, by Wade Davis
* The Patrol: Seven Days in the Life of a Canadian Soldier in Afghanistan, by Ryan Flavelle
* Eating Dirt: Deep Forests, Big Timber, and Life with the Tree-Planting Tribe, by Charlotte Gill
* Nation Maker: Sir John A. MacDonald: His Life, Our Times Volume Two: 1867-1891, by Richard Gwyn
* The Measure of a Man: The Story of a Father, a Son, and a Suit, by J.J. Lee
* Facing the Hunter: Reflections on a Misunderstood Way of Life, by David Adams Richards
* Why Not? Fifteen Reasons to Live, by Ray Robertson
* Afflictions and Departures: Essays, by Madeline Sonik
* The Chimps of Fauna Sanctuary: A Canadian Story of Resilience and Recovery, by Andrew Westoll
* Bad Animals: A Father's Accidental Education in Autism, by Joel Yanofsky

The short list will be announced on January 10, 2012 and the winner on March 5, 2012

Sunday, December 18, 2011

Vaclav Havel, Czech leader and playwright, dies at 75

Vaclav Havel, the Czech Republic's first president after the Velvet Revolution against communist rule, has died at the age of 75. The former dissident playwright, who suffered from prolonged ill-health, died on Sunday morning, his secretary Sabina Tancecova said

Saturday, December 17, 2011

Roger McGough becomes new Poetry Society president (UK)

Roger McGough, the one-time pop star with the Liverpool band The Scaffold – famed for its 1968 Christmas No1 Lily the Pink – has been drafted in as the new president of the beleaguered Poetry Society. The society said McGough, dubbed the "patron saint of poetry" by Carol Ann Duffy, would provide "a serious depth of experience, vitality and irrepressible wit"

George Whitman, Paris bookseller and cultural beacon, is dead at 98

George Whitman, the American-born owner of Shakespeare & Company, a fabled English-language bookstore on the Left Bank in Paris and a magnet for writers, poets and tourists for close to 60 years, died on Wednesday in his apartment above the store. He was 98

Quindlen named World Book Night chair

Anna Quindlen has been named honorary national chairperson for World Book Night U.S., and the organization has named the 30 titles that will be given away on World Book Night, set for April 23. In addition, World Book Night U.S. has opened the registration process for those wishing to become volunteer book givers

Reader's Digest cuts 150 positions

Reader's Digest has completed another restructuring, eliminating 150 positions across its worldwide operations. The cuts were in all business groups, including books. In the U.S., Harold Clarke continues to oversee the book group as president and publisher, books, music & trade publishing

Friday, December 16, 2011

Paris museum wins Bronte bidding war

A French museum has won a bidding war for an unpublished Charlotte Bronte manuscript, dashing hopes that it could return to the author's former home. The Musee des Lettres et Manuscrits in Paris bought the second issue of Young Men's Magazine at auction for £690,850. It outbid the Bronte Parsonage Museum, based in the family's former house in Haworth, West Yorkshire. The work, written when Bronte was 14, is regarded as important for the light it sheds on her literary development

Christopher Hitchens dies

British author, literary critic and journalist Christopher Hitchens has died, aged 62, according to Vanity Fair magazine. He died from pneumonia, a complication of the oesophageal cancer he was suffering from, at a Texas hospital

Wednesday, December 14, 2011

2012 Man Booker Prize for Fiction: full judging panel announced

The full judging panel for the 2012 Man Booker Prize for Fiction has been announced

Russell Hoban, cult author, dies aged 86

Legendary cult author Russell Hoban, whose apocalyptic novel Riddley Walker was described by Anthony Burgess as "what literature is meant to be", died last night aged 86, his publisher has announced. Hoban, born in Pennsylvania but a resident of London for more than 30 years, first made a name for himself with his children's books; his series about Frances the badger and his novel The Mouse and His Child are acclaimed as modern classics

Tuesday, December 13, 2011

The Huffington Post is launching a book club

The Huffington Post is launching a book club. This is why. Stories are how we understand our world. Books are not separate from the rest of our lives - just as a song can provide the perfect soundtrack to a real-life experience, so the characters, ideas, dilemmas, behaviors we learn through our books help us "read" everything else that surrounds us. This is why our Book Club is different. Just like other book clubs, it's a way for us to invite you to read books that you otherwise might not, and to be part of a larger community discussing their narratives and themes. Unlike any other book club, we also want to hear about how your reading intersects with your experiences, your memories, your everyday life and with current events

Book swaps at London tube and train stations 'a good idea', says Johnson

London mayor agrees to look into creating a network for sharing books at capital's stations in time for 2012 Olympics

BTB #265: Copyright & Commerce: Orphan Works & Fair Use in a Digital Age

From the perspective of copyright, 2011 has been a year like so many others in the Digital Age. Suits and counter-suits over copyrighted text, music, film and video continue to fly in and out of court. The long-standing "Google Books" case is, for now, scheduled for trial in 2012, while the HathiTrust - a consortium of university libraries - has drawn a new lawsuit from authors for announcing plans to post online copyrighted texts that may or may not be "orphan works." A panel of IP experts and commentators offered their answers and insights into these compelling issues this morning at the Newseum in Washington, DC. Maria A. Pallante: The 12th Register of Copyrights and Director of the United States Copyright Office; Cecilia Kang: National technology reporter for the Washington Post; and Victor Perlman: General Counsel, American Society of Media Photographers spoke with CCC's Chris Kenneally

Bounce! plans to expand publisher representation (UK)

Bounce! Sales & Marketing Ltd aims to expand the number of publishers it represents following the appointment of Catherine Stokes to the new post of sales and marketing director. The company will also begin to provide more bespoke marketing services to its clients

Monday, December 12, 2011

Penguin Shorts

The first affordable quality books for a mass audience were brought out by Penguin nearly 80 years ago. And while times have changed the way we read books is only just now becoming different. Sometimes it is still only a hardback or paperback book that will do. But at other times we prefer to read on something even more portable. Penguin Shorts are designed to fill a gap. They are short, they are original and affordable and they are written by some of today's best and most exciting writers. They are also only available exclusively in digital form

2012 Stan Lee Excelsior Award shortlist

The shortlist for the 2012 Stan Lee Excelsior Award has been announced

Orla Kiely to create range of baby and toddler books

Designer Orla Kiely, best known for creating handbags and hats, will launch a new range of baby and toddler books in September with Colours and Numbers, inspired by her own trademark designs. The books will be published by Egmont Press

Sunday, December 11, 2011

BTB #264: Setting Goals For Self-Publishing

Joining CCC's Chris Kenneally to offer insights on self-publishing and to help authors ask the right questions before they self-publish is Joel Friedlander, who blogs at thebookdesigner.com where he draws on more than 30 years in publishing. Friedlander also recently presented at the Self-Publishing Boot Camp held at Stanford University (the next session will be in San Francisco, February 20, 2012, in partnership with San Francisco Writers University

BBC Short Story Award goes global for 2012

The BBC's award for short fiction is to turn international for one year to celebrate the Olympics, with the shortlist to be expanded from five stories to 10. The judging panel will be chaired by broadcaster Clive Anderson

Bloomsbury Institute enters reader events market

Bloomsbury Institute events will include live interviews and discussions at the Bloomsbury Salon, and the Bloomsbury Institute Lectures, which will showcase contemporary thinking and new research across Academic disciplines. We’ve teamed up with Intelligence Squared, the world’s premiere debating forum, to present The Intelligence Squared Bloomsbury Book Club, an exclusive opportunity for readers to meet authors including Nadine Gordimer, William Boyd and Stella Rimington and discuss the books with them. Our events are in the evening, beginning at 6pm for 6.30pm until 7.30pm at 50 Bedford Square, London, WC1B 3DP. Bloomsbury Salon and Lecture tickets cost £8 including a glass of wine and the price of the ticket is redeemable against a book purchase on the night

Second work of memoir from Auster

Faber is to publish Winter Journal, a second work of memoir by American writer Paul Auster, in September 2012

Queen of Tartan Noir to take on Tattoo Girl

Scots novelist Denise Mina will write six graphic novels based on the best-selling Stieg Larsson novels for DC Comics

Cheap classics boom as rest of book trade struggles

While recession bites elsewhere, sales of Wordsworth Editions' £1.99 classics have surged

Saturday, December 10, 2011

John Kinsella withdraws from TS Eliot Poetry Prize

John Kinsella has become the second poet to withdraw from the TS Eliot Prize in protest over its sponsorship by investment firm, Aurum Funds. The Australian, who was shortlisted for his collection Armour, said he was withdrawing on "ethical" grounds.
Prize organisers The Poetry Book Society made the deal after losing its public funding earlier this year. Alice Oswald withdrew from the shortlist on Tuesday saying she felt "uncomfortable" with the sponsorship

Friday, December 9, 2011

Grand Central and Little, Brown U.K. partner for thrillers in translation

Grand Central Publishing has announced a partnership with Little, Brown Book Group U.K. that will see the two publishers jointly acquiring and publishing up to six titles per year, focusing on crime/suspense/thrillers in translation. The books will be published under the Grand Central banner in the U.S. and under a new imprint, Trapdoor, in the U.K.

Darcie Chan: how I became a best-selling author

This summer, Darcie Chan's debut novel became an unexpected hit. It has sold more than 400,000 copies and landed on the best-seller lists alongside brand-name authors like Michael Connelly, James Patterson and Kathryn Stockett. It's been a success by any measure, save one. Ms. Chan still hasn't found a publisher

Catherine Hall is theThe Green Carnation Prize Winner 2011

Catherine Hall has won the 2011 Green Carnation Prize with her second novel, The Proof of Love. Set during the long hot summer of 1976, it is a deeply evocative and moving tale of a young Cambridge mathematician who arrives in a remote village in the Lake District and takes on a job as a farm labourer. Just as he is slowly winning the trust of the suspicious local community, tragedy strikes

Thursday, December 8, 2011

The Royal Society of Chemistry celebrates 170 years of publishing

The Royal Society of Chemistry celebrates 170 years of publishing today with the awarding of a Chemical Landmark plaque at the learned society's office in Cambridge. The blue plaque will be placed outside the main entrance of Thomas Graham House at the Cambridge science park

Hard Case Crime to publish lost novel by James M. Cain

Hard Case Crime has announced their discovery and plan to publish, a novel that was once thought lost by James M. Cain. Cain was the author of The Postman Always Rings Twice, Double Indemnity (adapted for the screen by Raymond Chandler), and Mildred Pierce, all of which have been put to film with great acclaim

How ‘maverick' Seren's getting ready for the next chapter in the story of publishing (Wales)

Publishing house Seren continues to sparkle 30 years after its creation, as Robert Llewellyn Jones discovers

McGraw-Hill cutting 10 pct of education unit work force, freezing pension; eyes $100M savings

Publishing company McGraw-Hill Cos., which owns the Standard & Poor's corporate credit rating firm, says it will cut 550 jobs at its education arm and freeze all employees' pensions next year as part of a plan to split into two companies. At the education business, McGraw-Hill said Wednesday that it will cut 20 percent of executive positions and 10 percent of the workforce overall, making most of the reductions by the end of this year

Dymocks launches publishing arm (Australia)

Australian book retailer Dymocks has launched its new web-based publishing arm to enable aspiring authors to produce, publish and distribute their work as both physical and electronic books

The Blue Peter Book Awards 2012 shortlist announced

The Blue Peter Book Awards 2012 shortlist announced:

* Discover the Extreme World by Camilla de la Bedoyere, Clive Gifford, John Farndon, Steve Parker, Stewart Ross and Philip Steele (Miles Kelly)

* The Official Countdown to the London 2012 Games by Simon Hart (Carlton Books)

* The Considine Curse by Gareth P. Jones (Bloomsbury)

* A Year without Autumn by Liz Kessler (Orion Children's Books)

Tuesday, December 6, 2011

PA Bulletin 6 December 2011 (UK)

PA Bulletin 6 December 2011, from The Publishers Association, UK, is now available online #publisher #publishing

Thomas Allen and Cormorant launch e-book initiative for indie bookstores

In early 2012, Thomas Allen Publishers and Cormorant Books will roll out cStories, an initiative that will make digital short-story "singles" available for sale through independent booksellers' websites. The stories, all Canadian-authored titles from Cormorant and Thomas Allen, will include previously published short fiction as well as new writing. Sold as EPUB files for $1.99 each, they will be exclusive to independent booksellers who sign on for the project

Are publishers putting the squeeze on bloggers?

There are worrying signs from some quarters that online reviewers are being held to much stricter terms than traditional journalists receiving review copies

Amanda Knox, Raffaele Sollecito working on book deals

Amanda Knox may be one step closer to telling the world her side of the story about her saga of being wrapped up in an Italian murder trial that caught the world's eye. Knox, who recently returned home to the United States after winning an appeal of her conviction, has officially inked a deal with attorney Robert Barnett to represent her when it comes to book deals

BTB #263: Google Book Settlement: Good Riddance or Lost Opportunity?

In March, Judge Denny Chin rejected the proposed settlement between Google and book publishers and authors over Google's book scanning and book search programs. At the recent "Copyright & Technology" conference, a panel of legal experts considered the unanswered questions that decision left behind. Presenting their views were James Grimmelmann of New York Law School; Edward Rosenthal, whose firms represents the Authors Guild in their suit against the HathiTrust; attorney Mary Rasenberger, who from 2002-2008 served in the Copyright Office and the Office of Strategic Initiatives of the Library of Congress, and as director for the National Digital Preservation Program; and Frederic Haber, general counsel, Copyright Clearance Center. CCC's Chris Kenneally moderated.

The Frances Lincoln Diverse Voices Children’s Book Award 2013

Shami Chakrabarti, Director of Liberty (The National Council for Civil Liberties), and Alex Wheatle MBE, the award-winning British novelist of Jamaican heritage, have joined the judging panel of The Frances Lincoln Diverse Voices Award, which was jointly founded by Frances Lincoln Ltd and Seven Stories, the national centre for children's books, in memory of Frances Lincoln (1945-2001) to encourage and promote diversity in children's fiction

Profile to publish starry book for National Libraries Day (UK)

Alan Bennett, Julian Barnes and Stephen Fry are among the stellar contributors to The Library Book, to be published by Profile for National Libraries Day on 4th February. The book is a compilation of famous writers' thoughts on why libraries matter and is edited by Profile publicist Rebecca Gray, who volunteers in her spare time for a mobile library for homeless people. All royalties will go to charity The Reading Agency to help their work supporting libraries

Monday, December 5, 2011

The Federation of Children's Book Groups wins the 2011 Eleanor Farjeon Award

The Federation of Children's Book Groups has won the 2011 Eleanor Farjeon Award. The £2,000 award is given to individuals deemed to have made an outstanding contribution to the world of children's books. It was presented to FCBG chair Adam Lancaster by Anne Harvey from the Eleanor Farjeon estate and the Children's Book Circle, which co-ordinates the award, at a ceremony in London

'New' Jane Austen portrait unearthed by author

'New' Jane Austen portrait unearthed by authorA British author is claiming to have unearthed a previously unseen portrait of Pride And Prejudice writer Jane Austen. Dr Paula Byrne, the author of a new book on Austen, was given the portrait by her husband and recognised the long, straight "Austen nose". There are currently just two recognised portraits of Austen - one sketched by her sister Cassandra in 1810. The find is the subject of a BBC Two documentary scheduled for Boxing Day. Byrne - who has previously written books on poet Mary Robinson and author Evelyn Waugh - was presented with the portrait by her husband, Shakespeare scholar Jonathan Bate, who had bought it at auction. The pencil drawing on vellum is inscribed "Miss Jane Austin" on the back. Byrne insists that "apart from the striking family resemblance", this was the first clue as to the identity of the sitter

Sunday, December 4, 2011

Library Thing Author Interview: Anthony Horowitz

We've got a special mid-month author interview with Anthony Horowitz, the author of the popular Alex Rider series of books as well as several popular UK television series and mini-series, including "Foyle’s War," "Midsomer Murders," and "Poirot." Anthony's latest work is The House of Silk, a new Sherlock Holmes adventure published last month by Mulholland Books

In conversation: Neil Gaiman talks to Shaun Tan

'I use text as the grout between the tiles of the pictures. I always overwrite and then trim it down to the bare bones' - Neil Gaiman

Saturday, December 3, 2011

Saudi Research and Publishing Company launches new Android application

In line with its vision to deliver news to its growing target audience around the world, the Saudi Research and Publishing Company (SRPC) is set to launch native Android apps for all its publications starting with Asharq Al Awsat, the pioneering pan-Arab daily and the world's most trusted source of Arab news

Biography of cancer wins Guardian First Book award

Siddhartha Mukherjee's 'remarkable and unusual' study, The Emperor of All Maladies, beats four novels to the £10,000 prize

Coates to launch Bilbary e-book site

Former Waterstone's m.d. Tim Coates is to launch Bilbary, an international online consumer site for the sale and lending of e-books

Usborne seeks "boutique" publishing boost

Usborne is focusing on series and younger readers to help grow its fiction sales in the coming two years. The publisher is not expanding its fiction list next year, but aims to boost its fiction sales by "boutique publishing", said Rebecca Hill, fiction editorial director

Beall's List of Predatory, Open-Access Publishers by Jeffrey Beall 2012 Edition

Predatory, open-access publishers are those that unprofessionally exploit the author-pays model of open-access publishing (Gold OA) for their own profit. Typically, these publishers spam professional email lists, broadly soliciting article submissions for the clear purpose of gaining additional income. Operating essentially as vanity presses, these publishers typically have a low article acceptance threshold, with a false-front or non-existent peer review process. Unlike professional publishing operations, whether subscription-based or ethically-sound open access, these predatory publishers add little value to scholarship, pay little attention to digital preservation, and operate using fly-by-night, unsustainable business models

Friday, December 2, 2011

Hachette says France ready for digital books

Regulation and a devoted book culture look set to cushion the impact on French publishers and booksellers of the impending digital revolution that has so transformed markets in the United States and Britain. Arnaud Nourry, the CEO of Hachette Books Group, predicted that e-books would take off in France this year and that the market would benefit from the relatively late adoption of digital reading because it would benefit from lessons learned elsewhere

The Man Booker International Prize 2013 - judging panel announced

The judges for the biennial 2013 Man Booker International Prize have been announced. This is the fifth time that the Prize has been awarded. In order to ensure a panel with the broadest reading experience, the number of judges will increase from three to five. Chaired by Sir Christopher Ricks, the scholar and literary critic, the panel consists of author and essayist Elif Batuman, writer and broadcaster Aminatta Forna, novelist Yiyun Li and author and academic Tim Parks

Royal Society Young People's Book Prize 2011 winner

How the World Works by Christiane Dorion and illustrated by Beverly Young is the the winner of the Royal Society Young People's Book Prize 2011

Sting sees music of the future through app

Sting is the latest musician to release an app following the likes of Lady Gaga, Slash and Britney. The singer believes they are the future of music and may favour the app over the album from now on. Apps have only been around for the last few years but this new tecnology has become incredibly popular. Hundreds of thousands are currently available and 14 billion downloads have been made worldwide since 2009. By 2015 experts are predicting this figure will rise to 183 billion

Nicanor Parra awarded Cervantes Prize

Chilean poet Nicanor Parra has won the Cervantes Prize, the Spanish-speaking world's highest literary honour, it has been announced. The prestigious plaudit comes with a cash award of 125,000 euros (£107,000). The prize, which was announced in Madrid by Spanish Culture Minister Angeles Gonzalez-Sinde, honours a writer's body of work. Parra, now aged 97, is considered one of the most important poets of Spanish language writing

Andrew Martin wins the CWA Ellis Peters Award

A dark tale of wartime intrigue has been named by The Crime Writers' Association as the winner of this year's prestigious Ellis Peters Historical Award, at a ceremony at the Athenaeum in London. Andrew Martin's novel The Somme Stations, published by Faber and Faber, was selected for the £3,000 first prize

Thursday, December 1, 2011

Christa Wolf dies aged 82

Christa Wolf, one of the best known authors from the former East Germany, has died in Berlin at the age of 82 after a long illness. In works including Cassandra and Medea, she explored power shifts and war, as experienced by women. Wolf courted controversy throughout her career and had links to the East German Stasi police in the 1960s

'Fahrenheit 451' finally out as an e-book

At age 91, Ray Bradbury is making peace with the future he helped predict. The science fiction/fantasy author and longtime enemy of the e-book has finally allowed his dystopian classic "Fahrenheit 451" to be published in digital format. Simon & Schuster released the electronic edition Tuesday at a list price of $9.99

Penguin sees dark clouds after strong Christmas

Book publisher Penguin, a unit of Pearson, sees "dark clouds" gathering after a strong Christmas, as structural and cyclical factors combine to obscure the view

Louise Harrison reminisces about brother George Harrison and the Beatles

For more than 40 years, Beatles fans have asked Louise Harrison to write a book about her famous younger brother, George. Now she has finally relented. The 80-year-old former Sarasota resident has finished most of the text for a book to be released next year or 2013. Now she's scanning never-before-published photos, letters and documents that will fill the rest of the pages

Booksellers feel pressure as turnover falls (Switzerland)

Swiss booksellers and publishers are currently facing tough times, prompted by the economic crisis, online and discounter competition and e-books. Many hope that a return to a fixed book price system will help solve their problems. Another way out could be specialisation

Blackstaff Press enter digital age with eBook list

After 40 years of successful book publishing, Blackstaff Press is marking its special birthday by recognising just how much the publishing industry has changed over the last four decades - with the launch of its first eBook list

Czech illustrator Zdenek Miler dies, aged 90

Czech illustrator and animated film director Zdenek Miler, the author of the world-renowned "Little Mole" (Krtek) character, died at the age of 90 Wednesday, Czech news agency CTK said