News: books

Shriver wins BBC National Short Story Award

Lionel Shriver has won the BBC National Short Story Award 2014 for her story “Kilifi Creek”, with Zadie Smith the runner-up. Shriver – author... Read more

Awesome Awful tops charts in strong week

David Walliams easily romped to the number one spot on the UK Official Top 50 in the strongest week of sales for booksellers since 2013.... Read more

Tyson and Thomas in running for William Hill award

Controversy-dogged former heavyweight boxing champion Mike Tyson, retired Welsh rugby star Gareth Thomas and Olympic gold-medallist Nicole Cooke are among those who have been longlisted... Read more

Harlan Coben moves to Cornerstone

Crime writer Harlan Coben has signed a four-book deal with Cornerstone’s Century and Arrow imprints, moving to the Penguin Random House division from Orion.... Read more

Random House Books lines up Cleese campaign

John Cleese will make appearances on TV programmes including BBC1’s “The Graham Norton Show”, take part in a live Twitter chat, and go on a... Read more

New Rosamund Lupton for Little, Brown

Little, Brown has acquired a new novel by Rosamund Lupton. Emma Beswetherick, with Little, Brown publisher David Shelley, bought UK and Commonwealth rights in The... Read more

RHCP signs Irish YA debut

Random House Children’s Publishers (RHCP) has acquired the debut novel from Irish YA author Moïra Fowley-Doyle . The Accident Season is about 17-year-old Cara... Read more

Authors demand 'honest communication' on publicity

There needs to be “open and honest communication” between writers and publishers regarding publicity demands, authors have told The Bookseller. Some voiced the opinion... Read more

Garnet launches Periscope imprint

Garnet Publishing is launching a new imprint, Periscope, and its first title will be Princess Bari (March 2015, £9.99) by South Korean author Hwang Sok-yang.... Read more

Faber to launch Modern Classics imprint

Faber is launching a new imprint of modern classics, including titles from T S Eliot, Kazuo Ishiguro and Hanif Kureishi. The... Read more

Wave of publicity for 'Gone Girl' release

Special screenings of the new film “Gone Girl” will be held for WH Smith staff and other key retailers in advance of the film release... Read more

Preston: Amazon 'disparaging' of author protests

Douglas Preston, founder of Authors United, has said Amazon appears to be meeting the group’s efforts with “disparagement and what seems to be an escalation... Read more

Sainsbury's to develop exclusive children's range

Sainsbury’s has partnered with Centum Books in a three-year deal to develop an exclusive range of children’s titles for the supermarket, aiming to bring out... Read more

Mulholland signs Mumbai detective tale

Hodder & Stoughton’s crime imprint Mulholland Books has acquired a new Mumbai-set series about a retired inspector and his unlikely sidekick – a baby elephant.... Read more

Scribe signs Gavron memoir

Scribe has acquired an autobiographical title from novelist Jeremy Gavron, in which he investigates the loss of his mother at the age of four.... Read more