London Book Fair 2013

Special link: London Book Fair 2013

Wednesday, December 26, 2012

Susan Cooper: a life in writing

'I remember writing about the snow in The Dark Is Rising with a lizard on my typewriter'

Mark Coker Predicts: 'More money will be made in author services than in book sales'

In his 2013 Book Publishing Industry Predictions, Smashwords founder Mark Coker included this warning for aspiring writers: "In the self-publishing gold rush, more money will be made in author services than in book sales"

Bookshop numbers halve in just seven years (UK)

The number of high street bookshops in Britain has more than halved in just seven years due to the rise of e-books and the consumer downturn, research for The Daily Telegraph has found

Friday, December 21, 2012

Her Majesty’s Gold Medal Award for Poetry winner (UK)

The Queen has approved the award of Her Majesty's Gold Medal for Poetry for the year 2012 to John Agard

Bord Gáis Energy Book of the Year winner

Donal Ryan's brilliant debut novel The Spinning Heart has been voted the Bord Gáis Energy Book of the Year from a shortlist comprising the winners of the individual generic categories announced at the Irish Book Awards gala dinner on November 22nd. Despite competition from major writers such as John Banville, Edna O'Brien and the highly-acclaimed Atlas of the Great Irish Famine, Ryan's expansive and ambitious novel emerged as the overall winner in what was commonly regarded as a wonderful year for Irish writing

Wednesday, December 12, 2012

London book and poetry events: 12-19 December

Book, poetry and spoken word events in London 12-19 December, 2012

Tuesday, December 11, 2012

2012 Man Asian Literary Prize longlist has been announced

The 2012 Man Asian Literary Prize longlist:

Goat Days by Benyamin (India)
Between Clay and Dust by Musharraf Ali Farooqi (Pakistan)
Another Country by Anjali Joseph (India)
The Briefcase by Hiromi Kawakami (Japan)
Thinner Than Skin by Uzma Aslam Khan (Pakistan)
Ru by Kim Thúy (Vietnam/Canada)
Black Flower by Young-Ha Kim (South Korea)
Island of a Thousand Mirrors by Nayomi Munaweera (Sri Lanka)
Silent House by Orhan Pamuk (Turkey)
Honour by Elif Shafak (Turkey)
Northern Girls by Sheng Keyi (China)
The Garden of Evening Mists by Tan Twan Eng (Malaysia)
The Road to Urbino by Roma Tearne (Sri Lanka/U.K.)
Narcopolis by Jeet Thayil (India)
The Bathing Women by Tie Ning (China)

Sunday, December 9, 2012

Hall and Sprackland are £10k Portico Prize winners

Sarah Hall and Jean Sprackland have been named the 2012 winners of the north's leading book award, the Portico Prize for Literature at a Gala Dinner in Manchester Town Hall

Guardian first book award 2012 goes to Kevin Powers

Kevin Powers, whose novel The Yellow Birds takes its title from a US army marching song and has drawn comparisons with Cormac McCarthy and Ernest Hemingway, has won this year's Guardian first book award

International Prize for Arabic Fiction 2013 longlist

The longlist of 16 novels for the International Prize for Arabic Fiction 2013 has been announced

Thursday, December 6, 2012

Cervantes Prize winner

The 86-year-old Spanish poet, novelist and essayist Jose Manuel Caballero Bonald has won the Cervantes Prize, the most prestigious literary award in the Spanish-speaking world, for helping to "enrich the Hispanic literary legacy," the Spanish-language news agency EFE reported

Mystery Writers of America announces Ken Follett & Margaret Maron as their 2013 Grand Masters plus Raven and Ellery Queen Awards

Ken Follett and Margaret Maron have been chosen as this year's Grand Masters by Mystery Writers of America. MWA's Grand Master Award represents the pinnacle of achievement in mystery writing and was established to acknowledge important contributions to this genre, as well as a body of work that is both significant and of consistent high quality. Mr. Follett and Ms. Maron will be presented with their awards at the Edgar Awards Banquet, which will be held at the Grand Hyatt Hotel in New York City on Thursday, May 2, 2013

Golden Pen Award winner

The Golden PEN Award for a Lifetime's Distinguished Service to Literature is presented annually to a British Writer. The winner is chosen by the Board of English PEN. In 2012 the prize was awarded to Linton Kwesi Johnson

Specsavers National Book Awards winners (UK)

The winners of this year's Specsavers National Book Awards, a "celebration of the best of British publishing," were named this week. The public will vote online for the Specsavers Book of the Year, with the winner announced December 26. The 2012 category honorees are:

Autobiography/biography: My Animals and Other Family by Clare Balding
Popular fiction: Fifty Shades of Grey by E. L. James
Crime book: A Wanted Man by Lee Child
Outstanding achievement: Ian Rankin
Food & drink: The Hairy Dieters by Si King & Dave Myers
International author: The Snow Child by Eowyn Ivey
Nonfiction: Is It Just Me by Miranda Hart
Author of the year: Bring Up The Bodies by Hilary Mantel
Children's book: Ratburger by David Walliams
Audiobook: The Woman Who Went to Bed for a Year by Sue Townsend, read by Caroline Quentin
New writer: The Unlikely Pilgrimage of Harold Fry by Rachel Joyce

London book and poetry events: 5-11 December

Book, poetry and spoken word events in London 5-11 December, 2012

Sunday, December 2, 2012

Publishers brace for authors to reclaim book rights in 2013

A copyright law that lets authors break contracts after 35 years will start taking effect in January. The law, which is meant to give authors like Stephen King and Judy Blume a "second bite at the apple," could provide yet another disruption for traditional publishers