News: books

Mslexia removes Shriver as judge over 'alienating' comments on diversity

Women’s writing magazine Mslexia has removed Lionel Shriver as a competition judge following the author’s controversial statements on diversity in publishing.... Read more

Dialogue joins with gal-dem on Literature course which ‘rewrites canon’

Sharmaine Lovegrove, publisher of Dialogue Books, is collaborating with women of colour magazine gal-dem to create a 12-month literature course tasked with “rewriting the literary canon to... Read more

Honours for Waterstone, Ishiguro, Beard and Calder

Tim Waterstone, founder of the eponymous bookshop chain Waterstones, has been recognised in the Queen’s Birthday Honours List with a knighthood for "services to bookselling and charity".... Read more

PRH 'drunk on virtue' over diversity drive, says Shriver

Lionel Shriver has branded Penguin Random House (PRH) "drunk on virtue" after seeing a "by turns fascinating, comical and depressing" questionnaire for authors to complete as part of... Read more

Shamsie scoops 2018's Women’s Prize for Fiction

Kamila Shamsie has scooped this year's £30,000 Women’s Prize for Fiction for her "extraordinarily topical" novel Home Fire (Bloomsbury Circus). ... Read more

Harvill Secker launches BAME crime writing competition

Harvill Secker is launching a competition in partnership with Bloody Scotland to find a debut crime writer from a BAME (black, Asian, minority ethnic) background.... Read more

'Ambitious' account of English Reformation wins Wolfson History Prize

Professor Peter Marshall of Warwick University has won the £40,000 Wolfson History Prize 2018 for Heretics and Believers: A History of the English Reformation (Yale University Press)—a book seven years in the... Read more

Keyes criticises 'sexist' Wodehouse Prize

Bestselling author Marian Keyes has reportedly accused the Bollinger Everyman Wodehouse Prize of sexism after failing to make the shortlist. Read more

Oval Office comes to Waterloo courtesy of PRH

Penguin Random House has unveiled a replica Oval Office inside London Waterloo station complete with a Donald Trump lookalike and secret service bodyguards. Read more

W H Smith unveils 'Thumping Good Read' contenders

Pan Macmillan, Bloomsbury, Orion and Penguin Random House all have titles in the running for W H Smith's Thumping Good Read Award, which is back after... Read more

Gowar up for Times Breakthrough Award

Debut author Imogen Hermes Gowar has been nominated for this year's The Times Breakthrough Award in the Books category for her novel The Mermaid and... Read more

Banker launches publishing start-up offering novelists £24k salary

A new company has launched offering aspiring novelists an alternative to the "traditional" routes to publication: a salary from £2,000 per month to write their... Read more

Wadeson to lead Transworld's Non-Fiction division

Transworld's Susanna Wadeson has been promoted to publishing director, head of non-fiction, taking over the leadership of the company’s non-fiction team.... Read more

Michelle Obama shares intimate family photos to promote forthcoming memoir

Michelle Obama is sharing never-before-seen photos of herself growing up to promote her forthcoming memoir Becoming (Penguin). Read more

Sullivan and Vaughan win CBI's Book of the Year

Author Deirdre Sullivan and illustrator Karen Vaughan have won the 28th Children’s Books Ireland Book of the Year Award for their "remarkable" book Tangleweed and... Read more