Blogs

Black Lives Matter in the book industry

By Faridah Àbíké-Íyímídé

Author at Usborne

It’s early 2012 and a young boy is walking home when he is fatally shot in the back by a neighbourhood watch officer. The officer claims... Read more

Book launches just got better

By Richard Charkin

Founder at Mensch Publishing

It’s pretty obvious that the book industry, along with nearly all other businesses, will be hammered by the plague. The damage is somewhat mitigated by... Read more

Serendipity will keep bookshops alive

By Anne Welsh

Writer at Freelance

With some bookshops set to reopen in a couple of weeks, it’s a good time to think about some of the lockdown actions that have... Read more

Lockdown diaries: the deputy MD

By Sarah Benton

Deputy MD at Orion

I have a clear memory of the day that Covid-19 became a reality to me. My daughter, Matilda, was five months old, and Katie Espiner,... Read more

Comedy in a crisis

By James Naughtie

Judge at Everyman Wodehouse Prize for Comic Fiction

How good it was to be forced to read some funny novels in the early days of the virus crisis. A judge’s lot in the... Read more

Lockdown diaries: the agent

By Hayley Steed

Agent at Madeleine Milburn

Agents are often described as friends and therapists as well as a tough negotiators. The former really came into its own when COVID-19 hit. We... Read more

Not now, Barnard

By Philip Jones

Editor at The Bookseller

This week J K Rowling unveiled a new children’s tale, The Ickabog, a story about truth and the abuse of power. Not about now, the... Read more

Bursting the South Asian literary bubble

By Pragya Agarwal

Author at Bloomsbury

Today sees the launch of South Asian LitFest, a free, live online festival I've created to show celebrate and showcase authors both from the subcontinent and the diasporic South... Read more

The academic digital revolution is here... again

By Sam Herbert

Co-founder at 67 Bricks

What’s an industry painstakingly crafted on authority, history and traditional processes to do, when suddenly the world rips up the rule book and says: Forget... Read more

Lockdown diary: the literary editor

By Federico Andornino

Editorial director at Weidenfeld & Nicolson

I was in Paris when Covid-19 became a reality. It was the weekend of 21st February and I was there for a quick family reunion:... Read more

Rebirth: how we moved the Jhalak Prize online

By Sunny Singh

Chair of judges at Jhalak Prize for the Book of the Year

This year's Jhalak Prize winner will be announced online, a "scrappy, rough at the edges ‘ceremony’ with video clips, image cards and zoom chats".... Read more

What now for authors? On writing, coping and facing the future

By Emily Reynolds

Writer at National Survivor Union Network

Sanjana Varghese had been working as a freelance journalist in London for around a year when the coronavirus pandemic hit. As countries around the world... Read more

Lockdown diaries: the children's publisher

By Kate Wilson

Managing director at Nosy Crow

One evening a week or so ago, I was speaking to a friend in another publishing company, sitting at the kitchen table, glass of wine... Read more

Après nous, le déluge

By Philip Jones

Editor at The Bookseller

Last week, more than 140 French independent publishers wrote an open letter claiming that under French publishing’s happy facade, lies a real story of “overproduction”,... Read more