The 2005 Diagram Prize for the Oddest Title of the Year
The shortlist for the 2005 prize was announced recently. My favourite competition of the year is run by columnist Horace Bent in the Bookseller (the UK book trade weekly) with input from dedicated odd title hunters from all over the world. Read more
Chaired by the writer and journalist John Walsh, a panel of four publishing insiders deliberated the thorny subject of how to get published in front of a large, well-informed, near-capacity audience of writers at the London Book Fair. Read more
The Masterclass on Historical Fiction at the London Book Fair involved two of the most successful authors in the genre, Bernard Cornwall, author of the Sharpe novels and the Arthurian trilogy, and Philippa Gregory, who first made her name in the field with A Respectable Trade and has more recentlywritten a series of Tudornovels. Read more
Report from the Annual Writers’ Conference in Winchester
In the week that brought the news that the average age of authors whose books were in the US bestseller lists was a little over fifty, Fay Weldon in her plenary address to the 25th Writers’ Conference at Winchester had more good news for mature writers. Read more
Nick Webb, publisher turned author, comments on what GoogleWorld might mean for authors
When I first turned to writing I resolved to resist the personality disorders that decades of dealing with authors made me associate with the species. You know: insecurity, jealous rage, plangent whingeing, emotional neediness, and - above all - endless anxiety about money. Read more
Last week saw the launch of the Poetry ArchiveOnline archive with recordings of over 130 living poets' voices, mostly from the UK; you can listen to excerpts on their wonderful site or go to www.poetrybookshoponline.com to buy hour-long recordings on CD. www.poetryarchive.org a major initiative to record poets’ voices and to preserve their own readings of their work. The new website is at www.poetryarchive.org, where you can listen to the 80 poets who have so far been recorded by the Archive, now the world's premier online collection of recordings of poets read Read more
Poetry lovers who are within reach of London can look forward to an annual treat in January. The poets shortlisted for the annual T S Eliot Prize for the best poetry collection published in the UK during 2005 will be reading on Sunday the 15th January. Read more
A new study of current trends and consumer attitudes to buying and reading books has found the UK to be among the nations with the biggest reading public.
Author Helen Fielding says Bridget Jones has found a new audience with Gen Z, who have more problems than young women did 30 years ago but take comfort in the character's trials and tribulations.
Keira Knightley is latest star to publish a children's book, but some say trend pushes aside genuine writers and makes it harder to find great children's fiction
This year, Frankfurt Book FairWorld's largest trade fair for books; held annually mid-October at Frankfurt Trade Fair, Germany; First three days exclusively for trade visitors; general public can attend last two. will include a space dedicated to the boom in New Adult publishing. In the fair's own words, the 8,000 sq metre area will offer "an additional home to the successful New Adult genre and its subgenres Romantasy and Dark College [known in the UK as Dark Academia], along with many queer publishing houses". Read more
The volume of hardback books sold in the first week of publication by some of the bestselling authors is down compared to their previous titles, despite the fact that in some cases revenues have either remained flat or gone up marginally, analysis of Bookscan data reveals. Read more
Many readers of Alan Moore-the prolific and influential author of Watchmen, V for Vendetta, Jerusalem, and, most recently, The Great When-are enchanted by the magic of his creative vision. For his next trick, The Moon and Serpent Bumper Book of Magic, Moore would like you to come away with a respect for, and perhaps even a belief in, magic itself. Read more