McShane new Waterstones head of books

Waterstones has announced former Piccadilly store manager Rik McShane as its new head of books at the same time as appointing Steve Monaghan as director of IT and e-commerce as Helen Baker steps down from the role

Five hundred new fairytales discovered in Germany

A whole new world of magic animals, brave young princes and evil witches has come to light with the discovery of 500 new fairytales, which were locked away in an archive in Regensburg, Germany for over 150 years. The tales are part of a collection of myths, legends and fairytales, gathered by the local historian Franz Xaver von Schönwerth (1810–1886) in the Bavarian region of Oberpfalz at about the same time as the Grimm brothers were collecting the fairytales that have since charmed adults and children around the world

Nook in the UK: Barnes & Noble to host London event for developers

Barnes & Noble is sponsoring an event for developers in London on March 19, possibly signaling a spring entry of its Nook e-reading and tablet devices into the UK and Europe

Children's publisher Scholastic developing app for e-reading

Scholastic Inc. is developing an app called Storia, which includes around 1,300 e-books and multimedia e-books that can be bought directly from the publisher or from retailers. Such favorite picture series as "Clifford the Big Red Dog" and "Ready, Freddy!" will be in digital format for the first time. The app also will feature games, quizzes, interactive stories, an e-dictionary and a virtual book shelf that kids can organize

OverDrive acquires Australian eBook company Booki.sh

OverDrive has acquired Australian eBook company Booki.sh. Booki.sh is the developer of a cloud-based platform for distributing, selling and reading popular eBooks from anywhere and on any device with a modern web browser. Booki.sh founders and principals Joseph Pearson, Virginia Murdoch and Peter Haasz will join OverDrive from their existing offices in Melbourne to expand the global distributor's publishing, library and school initiatives

Voting opens for 2012 Indies Choice and E.B. White Read-Aloud Awards

The owners and staff at all ABA member bookstores can now cast their ballots for the 2012 Indies Choice Book Awards and the E.B. White Read-Aloud Awards. Voting is open till March 31 via an electronic form on BookWeb.org

Shandi Mitchell wins Kobzar Literary Award (Canada)

The $25,000 Kobzar Literary Award, a prize which uniquely honours books with a Canadian-Ukrainian theme, was presented to author Shandi Mitchell at a gala ceremony in Toronto on Thursday evening. Mitchell, who lives in Nova Scotia, was recognized for her 2009 debut novel, Under This Unbroken Sky, which tells the story of a Ukrainian-Canadian family living on the Prairies during the Great Depression. The jury - authors Denise Chong, Randall Maggs, Nino Ricci, and M.G. Vassanji - described the book as a "compelling and poignant narrative that honours the ancestry of many Canadian Ukrainians who worked for a better life during the depression era." Under This Unbroken Sky previously won the 2010 Commonwealth Writers’ Prize (Caribbean and Canada) for Best First Book

BTB #283: Predicting the Present

Predicting the future is a dangerous proposition, but predicting the present isn't necessarily any easier a task. In his closing keynote presentation to the recent NFAIS 2012 Conference, Joseph Esposito echoed science fiction author William Gibson, who said, "The future is already here – it's just not very evenly distributed." In other words, the raw materials of our future scenarios are lying all around us

Children's literature expert Turan Mirhadi honored

Turan Mirhadi, veteran researcher and co-founder of the Children's Book Council, was honored during a ceremony held at the Center for the Great Islamic Encyclopedia last week

Wicked Young Writers' Award (UK)

Young people can submit entries for the Wicked Young Writers' Award until Tuesday 31 July 2012. A shortlist of 100 finalists will be announced in the autumn, followed by a special showcase of the winners' entries at London's Apollo Victoria Theatre, home of the award-winning musical