Edna Staebler Award for Creative Non-Fiction shortlist (Canada)

The shortlist for the 21st annual Edna Staebler Award for Creative Non-Fiction has been revealed. The $10,000 prize, administered by Wilfrid Laurier University, recognizes a first or second published work of creative non-fiction by a Canadian author that has a Canadian setting or significance. The award was established in 1991 by literary journalist Edna Staebler to encourage Canadian talent:

Joshua Knelman, Hot Art: Chasing Thieves and Detectives through the Secret World of Stolen Art (Douglas and McIntyre)

Robyn Michele Levy, Most of Me: Surviving My Medical Meltdown (Greystone Books)

Andrew Westoll, The Chimps of Fauna Sanctuary: A Canadian Story of Resilience and Recovery (HarperCollins Canada)

City Reads 2012 (UK)

City Reads, 15 September - 7 October, is an annual citywide reading initiative which aims to spread a love of books and ideas to the widest possible audience throughout Brighton & Hove. The project is run by Collected Works: a Reader Development organisation based in Brighton. The concept is simple: selecting one book by one author for the whole community to read, discuss, debate and creatively engage with in a series of special events, workshops and performances. This year's chosen book and author is: My Policeman by Bethan Roberts

2012 Ned Kelly Award Winners (Australia)

Crime Writers' Association of Australia announced the winners of the 2012 Ned Kelly Awards:

Best Novel: Pig Boy by J.C. Burke (Random House)

Best First Novel: The Cartographer by Peter Twohig (HarperCollins)

Best True Crime: Sins of the Father by Eamonn Duff (Allen & Unwin)

S.D. Harvey Short Story Award: "Summer of the 17th Poll,"
by A.J. Clifford

Lifetime Achievement: Gabrielle Lord

Recipients of the 2012 PEN Literary Awards

The PEN American Center has announced the winners and runners up for the 2012 PEN Literary Awards

London book and poetry events: 29 August - 4 September, 2012

Book, poetry and spoken word events in London 29 August - 4 September, 2012

Wiley joins the Open Access Scholarly Publishers Association

John Wiley & Sons, Inc. has announced its new membership of the Open Access Scholarly Publishers Association. OASPA represents the interests of open access journal publishers globally in all scientific, technical and scholarly disciplines and enables exchange of information, setting standards, advancing models, advocacy, education, and the promotion of innovation

2012 Toronto Book Awards shortlist (Canada)

The five finalists for the 2012 Toronto Book Awards were announced on August 27:

Dave Bidini for his biography, Writing Gordon Lightfoot: The Man, the Music, and the World in 1972
Andrew J. Borkowski for his collection of short stories, Copernicus Avenue
Farzana Doctor for her novel, Six Metres of Pavement
Michele Landsberg for her collection of columns, Writing the Revolution
Suzanne Robertson, for her collection of poetry, Paramita, Little Black

2012 James Tait Black Prizes winners

The winners the University of Edinburgh's £10,000 James Tait Black Prizes are novelist Padgett Powell and biographer Fiona MacCarthy. The awards were presented during the Edinburgh International Book Festival

Killer Nashville announces the 2012 Award winners

Killer Nashville 2012 has announced its Award winners:

2012 Claymore Award Winner: Jonathan Stone for "Again"
2nd Place: V.R. Barkowski for "A Twist of Hate"
3rd Place Tie: Carol Baier for "Wicked Schemes" & Mark Troy for "The Law of the Splintered Paddle"

2012 Silver Falchion Award: C.Hope Clark for "Lowcountry Bribe"

Crime Scene Detective Award: Lee Masterson ​

SEMWA Magnolia Award Chester D. Campbell

Hampstead & Highgate Literary Festival 2012 (UK)

The Hampstead & Highgate Literary Festival offers London's literature lovers an outstanding line-up of authors, journalists, politicians and writers. Now in its fourth year. Over three days at Ivy House in Golders Green, the home of the London Jewish Cultural Centre, you will have the chance to hear the likes of Howard Jacobson, Rose Tremain, Michael Palin, Kathy Lette, Peter Hain MP, Pam Ayers, Robert Goddard, Gillian Slovo and Sam Bourne - starts September 9, 2012

PA Bulletin 13 August 2012

PA Bulletin 13 August 2012, from The Publishers Association, UK, is now available online #publisher #publishing

Julie Bruck reads from The Woman Downstairs

Julie Bruck reads from The Woman Downstairs (Brick Books)

Lane Anderson Award for Canadian-authored science writing shortlist

The shortlist for the third annual Lane Anderson Award for Canadian-authored science writing has been announced:

Adult
Strange New Worlds: The Search for Alien Planets and Life Beyond Our Solar System by Ray Jayawardhana
Cascadia's Fault: The Deadly Earthquake That Will Devastate North America by Jerry Thompson
The Atlantic Coast: A Natural History by Harry Thurston

Young reader
What Does the Earth Sound Like? 159 Astounding Science Quizzes by Eva Everything
Totally Human: Why We Look and Act the Way We Do by Cynthia Pratt
Nowhere Else on Earth: Standing Tall for the Great Bear Rainforest by Caitlyn Vernon

100 Years of Tarzan

This year marks the 100th anniversary of the publication of Tarzan of the Apes, Edgar Rice Burroughs' classic work on the ape man of the jungle. Conservation International's President Russ Mittermeier - a lifelong Tarzan fan - reflects on the role the character had in his life, as well as one of the most crucial issues of our times: saving the tropical rainforest

CWA Dagger shortlists announced

The shortlists have been announced for the final three CWA Daggers, with four authors in contention for each dagger. Winners will be announced October 18:

The CWA Gold Dagger:
• Vengeance in Mind, by N.J. Cooper (Simon & Schuster)
• The Flight, by M.R. Hall (Mantle)
• The Rage, by Gene Kerrigan (Harvill Secker)
• Bereft, by Chris Womersley (Quercus)

The CWA John Creasey (New Blood) Dagger:
• Heart-Shaped Bruise, by Tanya Byrne (Headline)
• Land More Kind than Home, by Wiley Cash (Bantam)
• Good People, by Ewart Hutton (Blue Door)
• What Dies in Summer, by Tom Wright (Canongate)

The CWA Ian Fleming Steel Dagger:
• Dare Me, by Megan Abbott (Picador)
• A Foreign Country, by Charles Cumming (HarperCollins)
• The Fear Index, by Robert Harris (Hutchinson)
• Reamde, by Neal Stephenson (Atlantic Books)

The Specsavers Bestseller Dagger (public vote):
• Ann Cleeves
• Anthony Horowitz
• Stuart MacBride
• Jo Nesbø
• Kathy Reichs

'Drugstore Cowboy' author James Fogle dies at 75 in prison while serving time

James Fogle, who wrote "Drugstore Cowboy," an autobiographical crime novel that led to an acclaimed 1989 film starring Matt Dillon, has died. He was 75

Australian Educational Publishing Awards 2012 shortlist

The Australian Publishers Association has announced the short listed entries in the 2012 Australian Educational Publishing Awards

Age Book of the Year Awards winners (Australia)

1835: The Founding of Melbourne and the Conquest of Australia by James Boyce won the $10,000 Age Book of the Year Award as well as the $2,500 nonfiction category prize, Bookseller+Publisher reported. Other category winners were Foal's Bread by Gillian Mears (fiction) and The Brokenness Sonnets I-III and Other Poems by Mal McKimmie (poetry)

2012 Inspirational Reader's Choice Awards winners

The winners of the 2012 Inspirational Reader's Choice Awards, sponsored by the Faith, Hope and Love chapter of the Romance Writers of America, are:

Long Contemporary: Chasing Sunsets by Eva Marie Everson (Revell)
Short Contemporary: (tie)
Love Finds You in Sunset Beach, Hawaii by Robin Jones Gunn (Summerside)
Light the Fire by Mary Manners (White Rose)
Long Historical: The Maid of Fairbourne Hall by Julie Klassen (Bethany House)
Short Historical: Belonging by Robin Lee Hatcher (Zondervan)
Women's Fiction: Broken Wings by Carla Stewart (FaithWords)
Romantic Suspense: Shadows on the Sand by Gayle Roper (Multnomah)
Novella: A Perfect Plan by Beth Wiseman (Thomas Nelson)

2012 Dayton Literary Peace Prize finalists

Finalists have been named for the $10,000 Dayton Literary Peace Prize, which recognizes fiction and nonfiction that "uses the power of literature to foster peace, social justice and global understanding." Winners will be announced November 11 in Dayton, Ohio. The shortlisted titles are:

Fiction
Nanjing Requiem by Ha Jin (Pantheon)
Salvage the Bones by Jesmyn Ward (Bloomsbury)
Shards by Ismet Prcic (Grove Atlantic)
The Cat's Table by Michael Ondaatje (Knopf)
The Grief of Others by Leah Hager Cohen (Riverhead)
The Sojourn by Andrew Krivak (Bellevue Literary Press)

Nonfiction
A Train in Winter by Caroline Moorehead (HarperCollins)
Day of Honey by Annia Ciezadlo (Free Press)
Mighty Be Our Powers by Leymah Gbowee (Perseus Books Group)
To End All Wars by Adam Hochschild (Houghton Mifflin Harcourt)
What It Is Like to Go to War by Karl Marlantes (Grove/Atlantic)

Random House Group has joined Public Library Online

The Random House Group today joins Public Library Online, launching with digital bookshelves from Jacqueline Wilson, Joanna Trollope, Katie Fforde, Lee Child and P G Wodehouse. Titles will be available on the service from August 21 with further shelves to follow. Public Library Online is built on the goal shared by authors, publishers and libraries to support reading and literacy through public libraries

Canadian book buyers and their relationship to libraries

BookNet Canada: Voracious readers will often beg or borrow their books from anywhere possible - buy books in person or online, borrow from the library or steal from friends. As part of The Canadian Book Consumer we have the opportunity to drill down into topical questions and we're interested in understanding more about how book buyers use the library

Carrie's War author Nina Bawden dies

Nina Bawden, a British author of more than 40 books including children's classic Carrie's War, has died at age 87

2012 Thurber Prize for American Humor finalists

The three finalists for the 2012 Thurber Prize for American Humor have been announced. The group features a small and diverse works from comedic talents. The group includes Calvin Trillin's latest book "Quite Enough of Calvin Trillin: 40 Years of Funny Stuff", Nate Di Meo for his book "Pawnee: The Greatest Town in America" and second time finalist Patricia Marx for her most recent work, "Starting From Happy."

2012-2013 WNBA Award

The Women's National Book Association has announced that author Ann Patchett has been chosen to receive the 2012-2013 WNBA Award. The award is presented by WNBA to a living American woman who derives part or all of her income from books or the allied arts and has done meritorious work in the world of books beyond the duties or responsibilities of her profession or occupation

Barnes & Noble Nook eReader to launch in the UK this Autumn

Barnes & Noble has announced that it plans to bring its Nook devices and its own digital content to the UK later on this year in the autumn

Amazon to deliver parcels to UK cornershops

Amazon steps up battle with the high street by delivering parcels to nearly 5,000 corner shops and newsagents around the country

Waterstones to start selling rival Amazon's Kindles as it ditches plans for own-brand e-reader

Waterstones will offer Amazon's Kindle for sale through its shops - a shock move for the bookseller. The bookseller had hoped to create its own e-reading device to sell books via its online store, but has now backed away from this plan

Walker Books acquires Leslye Walton’s debut YA novel

The Walker Books Group, with Candlewick Press US, Walker Books UK, and Walker Books Australia, has acquired The Strange and Beautiful Sorrows of Ava Lavender, the debut YA novel from American author Leslye Walton

2012 SCIBA Book Award Finalists (USA)

Southern California Independent Booksellers Association's booksellers have selected the 2012 SCIBA Book Award Finalists in six categories. Each year SCIBA awards books in the following categories; fiction, non fiction, mystery, art, architecture & photography, children's novel and children's picture book. SCIBA's award recipients are the best in their category, loved by Southern California booksellers & represent the incredible literary talent residing in Southern California

Not the Booker prize 2012 shortlist

Not the Booker prize 2012 shortlist:

Pig Iron by Ben Myers
Paint The Town Red by AJ Kirby
The Notable Brain Of Maximilian Ponder by JW Ironmonger
Life! Death! Prizes! by Stephen May
Tales From The Mall by Ewan Morrison
The Revelations by Alex Preston
The Casablanca Case by Simon Swift

London book and poetry events: 15-21 August, 2012

Book, poetry and spoken word events in London 15-21 August, 2012

The 12th Annual Ebooks Conference (Scotland)

The 12th Annual Ebooks Conference (Scotland) - 25 October 2012 - Edinburgh, Scotland

Wiley to sell travel publishing program

On March 7, 2012, John Wiley & Sons, Inc. announced that it intends to explore opportunities to sell a number of its consumer print and digital publishing assets in its Professional/Trade business as they no longer align with the company's long-term business strategy. Those assets include travel (including the well-known Frommer's brand), culinary, general interest, nautical, pets, crafts, Webster’s New World, and CliffsNotes. On August 10, 2012, Wiley entered into a definitive agreement to sell all of its travel assets, including all of its interests in the Frommer's brand, to Google. Proceeds from this sale, and others that may arise from the sale of other consumer assets, will be redeployed to support growth opportunities in Professional/Trade; Scientific, Technical, Medical, and Scholarly; and Global Education businesses

2012 Davitt Awards shortlists (Australia)

The shortlists for this year's Davitt Awards, presented by Sisters in Crime for crime books written by Australian women, have been announced. The shortlisted titles in each of the categories are:

Adult fiction

Beyond Fear (Jaye Ford, Bantam)
A Decline in Prophets (Sulari Gentill, Pantera Press)
Death and the Spanish Lady (Carolyn Morwood, Pulp Fiction Press)
Love, Honour and O'Brien (Jennifer Rowe, A&U)
The Courier's New Bicycle (Kim Westwood, HarperVoyager)
Shattered Sky (Helene Young, Hachette)

True crime

The Australian Book of Family Murders (Wendy Lewis, Pier 9)
Cold Case Files: Past Crimes Solved by New Forensic Science (Liz Porter, Macmillan)

Children's and young adult fiction

The Golden Day (Ursula Dubosarsky, A&U)
Dangerously Placed (Nansi Kunze, Random House)
Surface Tension (Meg McKinlay, Walker Books)

2012 Bulwer-Lytton Fiction Contest winner

The winner of this year's Bulwer-Lytton Fiction Contest, which challenges writers to compose the opening sentence to the worst of all possible novels, is Cathy Bryant of Manchester, England. She crafted the following epic:

"As he told her that he loved her she gazed into his eyes, wondering, as she noted the infestation of eyelash mites, the tiny deodicids burrowing into his follicles to eat the greasy sebum therein, each female laying up to 25 eggs in a single follicle, causing inflammation, whether the eyes are truly the windows of the soul; and, if so, his soul needed regrouting."

2012 World Fantasy Awards finalists

Finalists for the 2012 World Fantasy Awards have been announced in eight categories. Winners will be celebrated at the World Fantasy Convention November 1-4 in Toronto

Novel
• Those Across the River, Christopher Buehlman (Ace)
• 11/22/63, Stephen King (Scribner; Hodder & Stoughton as 11.22.63)
• A Dance with Dragons, George R.R. Martin (Bantam; Harper Voyager UK)
• Osama, Lavie Tidhar (PS Publishing)
• Among Others, Jo Walton (Tor)

Novella
• "Near Zennor", Elizabeth Hand (A Book of Horrors)
• "A Small Price to Pay for Birdsong", K.J. Parker (Subterranean Winter 2011)
• "Alice Through the Plastic Sheet", Robert Shearman (A Book of Horrors)
• "Rose Street Attractors", Lucius Shepard (Ghosts by Gaslight)
• Silently and Very Fast, Catherynne M. Valente (WSFA Press; Clarkesworld)

Short Fiction
• "X for Demetrious", Steve Duffy (Blood and Other Cravings)
• "Younger Women", Karen Joy Fowler (Subterranean Summer 2011)
• "The Paper Menagerie", Ken Liu (F&SF 3-4/11)
• "A Journey of Only Two Paces", Tim Powers (The Bible Repairman and Other Stories)
• "The Cartographer Wasps and the Anarchist Bees", E. Lily Yu (Clarkesworld 4/11)

Anthology
• Blood and Other Cravings, Ellen Datlow, ed. (Tor)
• A Book of Horrors, Stephen Jones, ed. (Jo Fletcher Books)
• The Thackery T. Lambshead Cabinet of Curiosities, Ann & Jeff VanderMeer, eds. (Harper Voyager US)
• The Weird, Ann & Jeff VanderMeer, eds. (Corvus; Tor, published May 2012)
• Gutshot, Conrad Williams, ed. (PS Publishing)

Collection
• Bluegrass Symphony, Lisa L. Hannett (Ticonderoga)
• Two Worlds and In Between, Caitlin R. Kiernan (Subterranean Press)
• After the Apocalypse, Maureen F. McHugh (Small Beer)
• Mrs Midnight and Other Stories, Reggie Oliver (Tartarus)
• The Bible Repairman and Other Stories, Tim Powers (Tachyon)

Artist
• John Coulthart
• Julie Dillon
• Jon Foster
• Kathleen Jennings
• John Picacio

Special Award Professional
• John Joseph Adams, for editing - anthology and magazine
• Jo Fletcher, for editing - Jo Fletcher Books
• Eric Lane, for publishing in translation - Dedalus books
• Brett Alexander Savory & Sandra Kasturi, for ChiZine Publications
• Jeff VanderMeer & S.J. Chambers, for The Steampunk Bible

Special Award Non-Professional
• Kate Baker, Neil Clarke, Cheryl Morgan & Sean Wallace, for Clarkesworld
• Cat Rambo, for Fantasy
• Raymond Russell & Rosalie Parker, for Tartarus Press
• Charles Tan, for Bibliophile Stalker blog
• Mark Valentine, for Wormwood

Bloody Scotland Scottish Crime Book of the Year shortlist

The shortlist for the inaugural Bloody Scotland Scottish Crime Book of the Year award has been announced:

Charles Cumming – A Foreign Country (Harper Collins)
Craig Russell – Dead Men & Broken Hearts (Quercus)
Denise Mina – Gods & Beasts (Orion)
Peter May – The Lewis Man (Quercus)
Philip Kerr – Prague Fatale (Quercus)
Will Jordan – Redemption (Random House)

Broadcaster and journalist Sheena McDonald chairs the judging panel, and her fellow judges are Waterstones' crime fiction expert Ewan Wilson and Len Wanner, author of The Crime Interviews Vol 1,2 and 3. The award is in association with Waterstones.

The winner will be announced on Sunday September 16 during Bloody Scotland, where the winner will be presented with a trophy and a cheque for £3,000

The Penguin Podcast: Crossover Fiction featuring Louisa Reid, Alex Scarrow and Eoin Colfer

Today we've got a podcast devoted entirely to Crossover fiction, fiction that appeals to both teenagers and adults alike. You might consider it a guilty pleasure, something to read only on an ereader, but more adults are becoming loud and proud about their love of the genre and we've got three crossover authors in this podcast to tell you why! First up there's Louisa Read, author of Black Heart Blue, reading a short extract and answering some questions. Next we have Alex Scarrow, author of the historical fiction series Time Riders, who will be talking to us about the appeal of YA novels. After that we have an extract from the audiobook edition of Eoin Colfer's final instalment of the Artemis Fowl series, The Last Guardian, followed by a chat with the author himself

Vintage Classics unveils the World of Stories

Vintage Classics unveils the World of Stories - a free, fun, safe interactive website for children - to accompany the launch of the new Vintage Children's Classics series and inspire and nurture a life-long love of reading

Co-operative pioneer, 95, pens bestselling book (Canada)

Harold Chapman recently penned a part history, part memoir about the co-operative movement

Edinburgh International Book Festival 2012 (Scotland)

The Edinburgh International Book Festival began in 1983 and is now a key event in the August Festival season, celebrated annually in Scotland's capital city. Biennial at first, the Book Festival became a yearly celebration in 1997. Throughout its history, the Book Festival has grown rapidly in size and scope to become the largest and most dynamic festival of its kind in the world. In its first year the Book Festival played host to just 30 'Meet the Author' events. Today, the Festival programmes over 700 events, which are enjoyed by people of all ages - 11-17 August 2012 - Scotland. RSS feed

Ngaio Marsh Award 2012 finalists announced

The finalists for the Ngaio Marsh Award for Best Crime Novel 2012 were announced. Paul Cleave, Ben Sanders, Neil Cross and Vanda Symon were all named as finalists for the award, which is made annually for the best crime, mystery or thriller novel written by a New Zealand citizen or resident

Agatha Christie celebrated with West End memorial (UK)

A memorial celebrating crime writer Agatha Christie is to be erected in London's West End, after Westminster council granted planning permission

2012 New England Book Awards winners

The winners of the 2012 New England Book Awards, sponsored by the New England Independent Booksellers Association, are:

Fiction: The Flight of Gemma Hardy by Margot Livesey
Nonfiction: Remembering the Music by Kate Whouley [Editor's note: Yea, Kate!]
Children's: More by I.C. Springman, illustrated by Brian Lies

The winners will be celebrated at NEIBA's fall conference in Providence, R.I., October 3-5

Vacancy: International Sales Manager, The London Book Fair

Job Title: International Sales Manager, The London Book Fair
Reports to: Group Sales Manager
Based at: Richmond, UK
Job Purpose:

To sell exhibition floor space and value added packages to new and existing exhibitors based internationally.
Maintain effective relationships with customers, industry partners, trade organisations and other partners as required, often internationally, requiring a strict observance of cultural etiquette.
Build new relationships by expanding the database and prospecting for new business.

Scope: This role will work with global English language markets outside the UK plus Western, Central and Eastern European markets

Age Book of the Year awards shortlist (Australia)

The judges have shortlisted 15 books in three categories (fiction, nonfiction and poetry) for the Age Book of the Year awards. Category winners will receive $2,500, with the overall winner netting $10,000. The awards will be presented August 23 at the Melbourne Writers Festival

Robert Hughes,art critic, dies at 74

Robert Hughes, the eloquent, combative art critic and historian who lived with operatic flair and wrote with a sense of authority that owed more to Zola or Ruskin than to his own century, died on Monday at Calvary Hospital in the Bronx. He was 74 and had lived for many years in Briarcliff Manor, N.Y.

Philip Marlowe set to return in novel by John Banville

Philip Marlowe is making another comeback. Henry Holt & Company said on Tuesday that Raymond Chandler's creation, one of the world's most famous private eyes, will star in a novel written by John Banville to be published in 2013

Lennoxlove Book Festival 2012 (Scotland)

Lennoxlove Book Festival 2012 - a weekend of entertainment, enlightenment and ideas with a glittering cast of writers and artists, as well as fun events and activities for children. Set in the stunning location of Lennoxlove House, Haddington, East Lothian. Aimed at book lovers of all ages and includes the Knight Frank family festival - 2-4 November 2011

Isle of Man author launches latest novel

Isle of Man-based author Chris Ewan has launched his latest crime novel Safe House at an event hosted by the Henry Bloom Noble Library in the community room of Noble's Park Pavilion

Top literary agency scouts for new talent at Foyles open day (UK)

Aspiring novelists can pitch their book ideas directly to top literary agents from Curtis Brown for free at Foyles book store in London. At Foyles' Discovery Day, Curtis Brown literary and talent agents are in the Charing Cross store on Saturday 22 September to find the best new literary talent

Amazon sells more eBooks than printed titles

Amazon.co.uk now sells more Kindle books than printed books, according to figures released by the internet retailer. The company, which started selling the downloadable books in the UK in August 2010, said this year it has sold 114 Kindle titles for every 100 print books. That includes both hardback and paperback but does not include Kindle titles that are available free

BTB #306: Copyright on the Continent Update for July 2012

In Washington, the political stalemate continues - and with the November 2012 elections approaching fast, hopes dim of opening up the legislative logjam. Meanwhile in Europe, copyright law, at least, is seeing plenty of changes, with the prospects looming of a sweeping reform of collective rights management. Today, we turn our attention to Europe for another edition of "Copyright & the Continent" with Victoriano Colodron of Copyright Clearance Center

BTB #305: A Golden Age for Self-Publishing?

The wild growth in e-books and self-publishing has spurred a fiery debate over the future direction of the industry. While some argue that the growing mountain of books makes it harder than ever for any single title to succeed, people like Keith Ogorek, author of 7 Secrets of Successful Self-Published Authors, say that this time, our time, is the best time ever to be an author

BTB #304: Textbooks Should Be Great Books!

In her keynote presentation for the 25th annual conference of the Text & Academic Authors Association, author Joy Hakim declared, "Textbook writing is, or should be, an artistic task. What we do is very important. We need to do nothing less than write great books, books good enough to inspire and educate a generation of learners."

Roald Dahl Funny Prize 2012 judges announced

The Great British Bake Off and Light Lunch presenter Mel Giedroyc and journalist and author of The Reluctant Bride Lucy Mangan are two of the judges announced for the fifth year of the Roald Dahl Funny Prize. Joining them on the panel tasked with seeking out the funniest children's books of 2012 are Liz Pichon, winner of the 2011 Prize for 7-14 years with The Brilliant World of Tom Gates, and Ed Vere, award-winning picture book author of Chick and Mr Big. Children's book royalty and author of a new Roald Dahl biography - Fantastic Mr Dahl - Michael Rosen returns to lead this gloriumptious selection of human beans in their quest to find two splendiferous winners: for children aged 6 years and under, and children aged 7–14 years categories

Berkley purchases Sylvain Reynard's Gabriel's Inferno Series from Omnific Publishing

Penguin Group has acquired USA Today & NYT bestselling author Sylvain Reynard's Gabriel's Inferno & Gabriel's Rapture, in a two-book deal on behalf of Omnific Publishing, facilitated by Deidre Knight & Melissa Jeglinski of The Knight Agency. Berkley purchases Sylvain Reynard's Gabriel's Inferno Series from Omnific Publishing in a seven-figure deal

John Vitale leaving HarperCollins

John Vitale is leaving HarperCollins this month. He worked with authors that included Kurt Vonnegut, Maurice Sendak and Shel Silverstein

Michael Cart reminisces about the late great Ray Bradbury

In his latest podcast, Michael Cart pays a loving tribute to writer and faithful library supporter Ray Bradbury, who passed away on June 5, 2012. Ray Bradbury titles cited in this podcast: Dandelion Wine, The Martian Chronicles, Farenheit 451, The Halloween Tree

Not the Booker prize 2012: vote for the shortlist

Not the Booker prize 2012: vote for the shortlist:

Socrates Adams - Everything's Fine

Kitty Aldridge - A Trick I Learned from Dead Men

Louis Armand - Breakfast at Midnight

Ros Barber - The Marlowe Papers

Nicola Barker - The Yips

Ned Beauman - The Teleportation Accident

Liam Murray Bell - So It Is

Caroline Brothers - Hinterland

Peter Carey - The Chemistry of Tears

Adam Christopher - Empire State

Glen Duncan - Talulla Rising

Steve Ely - Ratmen

Stuart Evers - If This Is Home

Jenni Fagan - The Panopticon

Patrick Flanery - Absolution

Vanessa Gebbie - The Coward's Tale

Jonny Gibbings - Malice in Blunderland

Andrea Gillies - The White Lie

M John Harrison - Empty Space

Lander Hawes - Captivity

Peter Hobbs - In the Orchard, the Swallows

Kerry Hudson - Tony Hogan Bought Me an Ice Cream Float Before He Stole My Ma

JW Ironmonger - The Notable Brain of Maximilian Ponder

Lars Iyer - Dogma

Suzanne Joinson - A Lady Cyclist's Guide To Kashgar

Susanna Jones - When Nights Were Cold

Aj Kirby - Paint This Town Red

Margo Lanagan - The Brides of Rollrock Island

John Lanchester - Capital

Harriet Lane - Alys Always

Will Le Fleming - Central Reservation

Deborah Levy - Swimming Home

Nell Leyshon - The Colour of Milk

Karen Lord - Redemption In Indigo

Kenneth Macleod - The Incident

Hilary Mantel - Bring Up the Bodies

Paul Mason - Rare Earth

Simon Mawer - The Girl Who Fell from the Sky

Stephen May - Life! Death! Prizes!

Samantha Mills - The Quiddity of Will Self

Timothy Mo - Pure

Alan Monaghan - A Soldier's Farewell

Ewan Morrison - Tales from the Mall

Steve Mosby - Dark Room

Benjamin Myers - Pig Iron

Michael Palin - The Truth

Elliot Perlman - The Street Sweeper

Richard Pierce - Dead Men

Tom Pollock - The City's Son

Alex Preston - The Revelations

David Rain - The Heat of the Sun

Anna Raverat - Signs of Life

Dan Rhodes - This Is Life

Keith Ridgway - Hawthorn and Child

Gwendoline Riley - Opposed Positions

Adam Roberts - Jack Glass

Bethan Roberts - My Policeman

Fiona Robyn - The Most Beautiful Thing

Iain Rowan - One of Us]

Zadie Smith - NW

James Smythe - The Testimony

Simon Swift - The Casablanca Case

Graeme Talboys - Stealing Into Winter

Tarun Tejpal - The Story of My Assassins

Paul Torday - The Legacy of Hartlepool Hall

Adam Thorpe - Flight

Alan Warner - Dead Man's Pedal

Peter Wild - The Passenger

Will Wiles - The Care of Wooden Floors

Ada Wilson - Red Army Faction Blues

Jacqueline Winspear - Elegy For Eddie

Chris Womersley - Bereft

2012 Ned Kelly Awards Short list

The short list for the 2012 Ned Kelly Awards has been announced:

Best First Fiction
Boyd Anderson Ludo
Allan Barbeler An Absence of Discretion
Andrez Bergen Tobacco Stained Mountain Goat
Claire Corbett When We Have Wings
Virginia Duigan The Precipice
Y.A. Erskine The Brotherhood
Maggie Groff Mad Men, Bad Girls and the Guerrilla Knitter’s Institute
Sylvia Johnson Watch Out For Me
Melanie Joosten Berlin Syndrome
Stuart Littlemore Harry Curry: Counsel of Choice
Noel Mealey Murder and Redemption
Daniel O’Malley The Rook
Alastair Sarre Prohibited Zone
Peter Twohig The Cartographer
Kim Westwood The Courier's New Bicycle
Gas Wylde Casino Kurnell

Best Fiction
Lenny Bartulin De Luxe
A.A. Bell Hindsight
Honey Brown After The Darkness
J.C. Burke Pig Boy
Peter Corris Comeback
Miranda Darling Siren’s Sting
Garry Disher Whispering Death
Jaye Ford Scared Yet?
Kerry Greenwood Cooking the Books
Brett Hoffmann The Race
Katherine Howell Silent Fear
Stephen M Irwin The Broken One
Malcolm Knox The Life
Adriana Koulias The Sixth Key
Nansi Kunze Dangerously Placed
Tobsha Learner The Map
Stuart Littlemore Harry Curry: Counsel of Choice
Colleen McCullough The Prodigal Son
Barry Maitland Chelsea Mansions
Kel Robertson Rip Off
Michael Robotham The Wreckage
Jennifer Rowe Love, Honour & O’Brien
Kirsten Tranter A Common Loss
Peter Twohig The Cartographer
Kim Westwood The Courier's New Bicycle
Felicity Young A Dissection of Murder

Best True Crime
Hilary Bonney The Double Life of Herman Rockefeller
Peter Corris Mad Dog
Eamonn Duff Sins of the Father
Michael Duffy Call Me Cruel
Lucy Frost Abandoned Women
Fiona Harari A Tragedy in Two Acts
Rochelle Jackson Partners and Crime
Rachael Jane Chin Nice Girl
Kevin Morgan Detective Piggot’s Casebook
Kevin Morgan Gun Alley
James Morton and Susanna Lobez Gangland Melbourne
James Morton and Susanna Lobez Gangland Sydney
Stephen Orr The Cruel City
Liz Porter Cold Case Files
Mark ‘Chopper’ Read Road To Nowhere
Kay Schubert Perfect Stranger
Adam Shand Outlaws
David Spiteri The Prez

The SD Harvey Short Story
TBA

Melbourne Writers Festival 2012 (Australia)

Since 1986, Melbourne Writers Festival has been a cornerstone of the city's literary culture. The festival's success - and that of the city's writers, publishers and all those across the industry - has provided the opportunity for Melbourne's community of readers and writers to grow and prosper. The 27th Melbourne Writers Festival runs from 23 August to 2 September 2012

London book and poetry events: 1-7 August, 2012

Book, poetry and spoken word events in London 1-7 August, 2012

PA Bulletin 30 July 2012

PA Bulletin 30 July 2012, from The Publishers Association, UK, is now available online #publisher #publishing

Gore Vidal dead at 86

Gore Vidal has died at the age of 86