Publishing Company Blog: February 2022

Monday, February 28, 2022

Waterstones acquires Blackwell’s, the UK’s biggest independent bookseller

Sale of 143-year-old family-owned business marks a further concentration of the industry

Edgar Allan Poe’s pocket watch among donations to museum

Owned by the author while he was writing The Tell-Tale Heart, in which a ticking timepiece drives his narrator mad, the bequest also includes a fragment of Poe’s original coffin

Obscure poetry collection’s sales soar after TikToker dreams about it

The publisher of The Fifth Window by poet Russell Thornton has ordered a reprint after orders flooded in following viral fame

Margaret Atwood joins writers condemning Russian invasion of Ukraine

The author was among more than 1,000 signatories to an open letter by PEN International saying there ‘can be no free and safe Europe without a free and independent Ukraine’

William Barr uses new book to outline case against Trump White House run

Former attorney general also describes tempestuous Oval Office meeting in which he rejected electoral fraud claims

Trump hints at 2024 presidential bid in CPAC speech

Sunday, February 27, 2022

Toni Morrison novel The Bluest Eye off banned list in St Louis schools

Nobel laureate’s classic debut was removed from libraries but backlash and lawsuits prompted vote to restore

Books bans and ‘gag orders’: the crackdown no one asked for

Saturday, February 26, 2022

Unseen JRR Tolkien paintings, photographs and video clips released

Estate of Lord of the Rings author also publishes unseen draft manuscripts and letters on its website

Friday, February 25, 2022

‘A symbol of new beginning’: Mosul’s university library reopens

The institution suffered a devastating attack by Islamic State in 2014. Eight years on, an international effort has seen it reopen as ‘a lighthouse of knowledge’

Monday, February 21, 2022

Britney Spears lands ‘record-breaking’ book deal for tell-all memoir

Pop star’s memoir was subject of a massive bidding war, and comes weeks after she sent a cease-and-desist letter to her sister over her own autobiography

Harold Pinter’s perfectionism included ice-cream sales, letter shows

Exclusive: Document reveals playwright’s attention to detail while US book recalls his precision on pauses

Sunday, February 20, 2022

Jan Pieńkowski, illustrator of Meg and Mog books, dies at 85

Celebrated author and illustrator’s work inspired by Polish childhood and experience as wartime refugee

Diaghilev and me: Ballets Russes star’s diaries reveal how the maestro was also a monster

The dance impresario ‘cruelly’ sabotaged the careers of others in a bid to keep all the glory to himself, according to a new biography

Saturday, February 19, 2022

Author Joanne Harris turns down US book deal over censoring of ‘f-bomb’

Author of Chocolat says she does not use words ‘accidentally’

George RR Martin to team up with Marvel for new comic book series

Game Of Thrones writer says opportunity to produce comics based on his superhero series Wild Cards is a ‘privilege’

Wednesday, February 16, 2022

‘The critics don’t deter us’: ABC managing director launches passionate defence of broadcaster

New book from media veteran David Anderson outlines organisation’s contribution to Australian public life despite defunding and scrutiny

Get our free news app; get our morning email briefing

Tuesday, February 15, 2022

PJ O’Rourke, writer and humorist, dies aged 74

O’Rourke held a variety of roles, including editor-in-chief of National Lampoon and Rolling Stone’s foreign affairs desk chief

Monday, February 14, 2022

Myanmar’s first literary work since coup reveals ‘courage and altruism’ of writers

Picking Off New Shoots Will Not Stop the Spring was born from a desire to preserve online expressions of outrage, grief and dissent, say editors

Sunday, February 13, 2022

I’ll fight to overturn US ban on my ‘Queer Bible’, says British author

Former model Jack Guinness caught up in furore over Mississippi mayor’s attempt to withhold funding for library until ‘homosexual materials’ are withdrawn

Saturday, February 12, 2022

The Great Gapsby? How modern editions of classics lost the plot

F Scott Fitzgerald’s masterpiece is the latest title to appear in a cheap modern version after copyright expires

Friday, February 11, 2022

Blade Runner 2099: Ridley Scott to bring sequel TV series to Amazon

The follow-up to Denis Villeneuve’s Blade Runner 2049 will be a live-action series that is reportedly a priority for the company

Thursday, February 10, 2022

Library use plummeted in 2021, but e-visits showed 18% rise during lockdown

Covid-19 has caused a steep decline in visitors and income, but an increase in digital visits shows libraries continue to be valued, says Cipfa CEO

Wednesday, February 9, 2022

Damon Galgut and Colm Tóibín join ‘rich and large’ Rathbones Folio prize shortlist

Galgut’s Booker winner and Tóibín’s fictionalised biography of Thomas Mann are two of eight titles selected by the judges

Tuesday, February 8, 2022

Kurt Schwitters’ unknown portrait sitter identified as wartime German spy

Historian finds that one of the subjects the artist painted while he was detained by the British alongside other refugees who had fled the Nazis was Ludwig Warschauer, who later confessed to espionage

Monday, February 7, 2022

Margaret Atwood joins writers calling for urgent action over missing Rwandan poet

More than 100 authors from around the world have written to the Rwandan president about the case of Innocent Bahati, who disappeared a year ago today

‘Let’s do it’: John McCain knew Palin VP pick was a huge gamble, new book says

Reporter says 2008 Republican nominee mimed rolling dice and said ‘Fuck it’ before picking hard-right Trump precursor

Olivia Colman overcomes Bafta snub to take London critics’ best actress award

Colman wins prize for her role in The Lost Daughter, while Jane Campion’s western The Power of the Dog also triumphed taking home four awards

‘Adults are banning books, but they’re not asking our opinions’: meet the teens of the Banned Book Club

Conservatives are pushing to ban books from school libraries. At a time of crisis, a group of Pennsylvania teenagers are fighting back

Wit and wisdom of Germany’s anti-noise philosopher revealed to new readers

Theodor Lessing’s newly collected early writings shine light on writer who later prophesied climate change

Sunday, February 6, 2022

Monica Ali says reaction to previous novel caused 10 years of depression

Brick Lane author said people were baffled when she wrote about Princess Diana rather than ‘brown people’

Friday, February 4, 2022

Tennessee pastor leads burning of Harry Potter and Twilight novels

The livestreamed event drew large crowds, who cheered as books deemed ‘demonic’ by pastor Greg Locke went up in flames

New exhibition of clothing reveals Charlotte Brontë’s sensual side

Items including Mohawk moccasins and ‘the Victorian equivalent of a negligee’ on display at the Brontë Parsonage Museum suggest the novelist was more fashion-conscious than previously thought

Thursday, February 3, 2022

‘A tale of strength’: Veronica Gorrie wins Australia’s richest literary prize for police memoir

First Nations author collects $125,000 for Black and Blue: A Memoir of Racism and Resilience, a ‘powerful’ account of her career as a police officer

Get our free news app; get our morning email briefing

Trump risked disaster with Abbas praise in key Israel meeting, ambassador says

In new book, David Friedman recounts private meeting with Israeli president in which Trump also knocked Netanyahu – and how he says he turned his man around