Slate to begin a monthly review of books

Slate has introduced a monthly book review, the latest expansion of literary criticism online as stand-alone book review sections in newspapers have dwindled. The section will nearly triple the number of book-related articles that Slate publishes, covering fiction, nonfiction and the occasional children's book

James Atlas will edit for Amazon

The longtime publisher and author James Atlas has signed up with Amazon to edit a series of biographies, he said this week, following in the footsteps of another veteran, Laurence Kirshbaum, the publisher and agent who jumped to Amazon Publishing last year

2012 Blue Peter Book of the Year prize

Schoolchildren across the U.K. voted Gareth P. Jones the winner of the 2012 Blue Peter Book of the Year prize for his novel The Considine Curse, the Guardian reported. British kids also selected Jeff Kinney's Diary of a Wimpy Kid as Blue Peter's Best Children's Book of the Last 10 Years, besting J.K. Rowling's Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix, along with eight other shortlisted bestsellers for ages 5–11

2012 Golden Kite Awards winners

The winners of the 2012 Golden Kite Awards, presented to children's book authors and artists by their peers and sponsored by the Society of Children's Book Writers and Illustrators, are:

Fiction: Between Shades of Gray by Ruta Sepetys (Philomel/Penguin)
Nonfiction: Amelia Lost: The Life and Disappearance of Amelia Earhart by Candace Fleming (Schwartz & Wade/Random House)
Picture book text: Over and Under Snow by Kate Messner, illustrated by Christopher Silas Neal (Chronicle)
Picture book illustration: Balloons Over Broadway by Melissa Sweet (Houghton Mifflin Books for Children)

Honor Books:
Fiction: Words in the Dust by Trent Reedy (Arthur A. Levine Books/Scholastic)
Nonfiction: Mysterious Bones: The Story of Kennewick Man by Katherine Kirkpatrick, illustrated by Emma Stevenson (Holiday House)
Picture book text: These Hands by Margaret H. Mason, illustrated by Floyd Cooper (Houghton Mifflin Books for Children)
Picture book illustration: Follow Me by Tricia Tusa (Harcourt Children's Books)

Sid Fleischman Award for Humor: The Fourth Stall by Chris Rylander (HarperCollins)

The awards will be presented August 5 at the Golden Kite Luncheon during SCBWI's 41st Annual Conference on Writing and Illustrating for Children, which takes place in Los Angeles August 3-6

Harry Potter eBooks to be distributed to Public and School Libraries through OverDrive

Pottermore, the online experience and home of the Harry Potter eBooks created by J.K. Rowling and partnered by Sony, has announced it has entered into an exclusive worldwide eBook and digital audiobook distribution agreement with OverDrive for public and school libraries. Under the terms of the agreement, OverDrive will manage hosting and digital fulfillment for libraries for the Harry Potter collection of eBooks and digital audiobooks in English and more than 20 other languages to OverDrive's network of over 18,000 public and school libraries worldwide

The shock, nerves and embarrassment of recording audiobooks

Audiobooks are increasing in popularity but many authors admit they have a phobia about reading their own books. What is it like for those writers who record audio versions of their work? Two writers give their contrasting experiences to BBC Radio 4's Front Row

Acorn Media buys stake in Agatha Christie estate

Production company Chorion sells its 64% stake in the Agatha Christie estate to US home entertainment company Acorn Media

Sales, earnings dip at Harlequin

Weakness in print sales in its overseas markets led to a slight decline in revenue and earnings at Harlequin in 2011, parent company Torstar reported this morning. Revenue fell 1.9%, to C$459.4 million, and operating earnings were down 2.0%, to C$82.4 million. Foreign exchange had a negative impact on results, including depressing earnings by C$6 million

Diagram Prize for Oddest Book Title of the Year shortlist

The shortlist for the Diagram Prize for Oddest Book Title of the Year has been announced:

A Century of Sand Dredging in the Bristol Channel: Volume Two by Peter Gosson (Amberley). A book that documents the sand trade from its inception in 1912 to the present day, focusing on the Welsh coast

Cooking with Poo by Saiyuud Diwong (Urban Neighbours of Hope). Thai cookbook. "Poo" is Thai for "crab" and is Diwong's nickname

Estonian Sock Patterns All Around the World by Aino Praakli (Kirjastus Elmatar). Covers styles of socks and stockings found in Estonian knitting

The Great Singapore Penis Panic: And the Future of American Mass Hysteria by Scott D Mendelson (Createspace). An analysis of the "Koro" psychiatric epidemic that hit the island of Singapore in 1967

Mr Andoh's Pennine Diary: Memoirs of a Japanese Chicken Sexer in 1935 Hebden Bridge by Stephen Curry and Takayoshi Andoh (Royd Press). The story of Koichi Andoh, who travelled from Japan to Yorkshire in the 1930s to train workers at a hatchery business the art of determining the sex of one-day-old chicks

A Taxonomy of Office Chairs by Jonathan Olivares (Phaidon). Exhaustive overview of the evolution of the modern office chair

The Mushroom in Christian Art by John A Rush (North Atlantic Books). In which the author reveals that Jesus is a personification of the Holy Mushroom, Amanita Muscaria

Ezra F. Vogel wins 2012 Lionel Gelber Prize

Sara Charney, chair of the Lionel Gelber Prize Board and niece of Lionel Gelber, has announced that Ezra F. Vogel has won the 2012 Prize for Deng Xiaoping and the Transformation of China, published by The Belknap Press of Harvard University Press. Deng Xiaoping and the Transformation of China was named the winner by a five-person jury and selected from their previously-announced shortlist