Publishing Company Blog: October 2022

Monday, October 31, 2022

Pence blames Trump for events leading to January 6 in new memoir

Former vice-president says meeting at which advisers led by Giuliani urged Trump to not accept election defeat was ‘a new low’

‘Lachlan gets fired the day Rupert dies’: Murdoch biography stokes succession rumors

New book by Australian reporter Paddy Manning hints at Succession-style feud with ramifications for US rightwing politics

Sunday, October 30, 2022

Revealed: TE Lawrence felt ‘bitter shame’ over UK’s false promises of Arab self rule

Deleted chapter of book by British spy who supported Arab revolt reveals his true feelings about insincere pledge of self-government

Saturday, October 29, 2022

Ian Jack, Guardian columnist and former Granta editor, dies aged 77

Writer who also edited Independent on Sunday remembered as one of the best in British journalism

Friday, October 28, 2022

‘It’s a therapeutic genre for me’: Iceland’s PM releases debut crime novel

Katrín Jakobsdóttir joins long list of fiction-writing politicians with book that came together during Covid pandemic

Senator Tom Cotton brags about ignoring Trump impeachment evidence

New book by Arkansas senator, a Republican presidential hopeful, also suggests president did not understand military procedures

Lost John Steinbeck essay about American democracy published

How About McCarthyism? was originally published in France in 1954 and its warning of ‘the taking of power by a self-interested group’ has now been translated

Thursday, October 27, 2022

Prince Harry’s ‘unflinching’ memoir, Spare, to be published in January

Publishing simultaneously in 16 different languages, the book is billed as ‘full of insight, revelation, self-examination, and hard-won wisdom’

Open letter to top publisher condemns $2m Amy Coney Barrett book deal

More than 250 literary figures rail against acquisition by Penguin Random House of book by conservative US supreme court justice

Wednesday, October 26, 2022

Arthur C Clarke award goes to ‘thrilling’ verse novel by Harry Josephine Giles

Deep Wheel Orcadia, set on a distant space station struggling for survival, is praised by judges for ‘making you rethink what science fiction can do’

Trump bragged about new US nuclear weapons, Woodward tape shows

Former president told Washington Post reporter: ‘We have stuff that Putin and Xi have never heard about before’

Tuesday, October 25, 2022

Descendant of Doctor Zhivago author loses copyright court case

Anna Pasternak alleged Lara Prescott copied elements of her book about her great uncle Boris’s lover

Book prices set to rise as production costs soar, say UK publishers

Firms aim to minimise rises by using cheaper paper and increasing print runs as raw material and energy cost hikes hit sector

Peterborough libraries offer amnesty on fines to recover 22,000 missing books

Service says the move is aimed at encourage the return of borrowers who stopped using the library during the Covid pandemic

Ralph Fiennes defends JK Rowling saying abuse she receives is ‘disgusting’

Actor condemns attacks directed at the Harry Potter author since she spoke out about gender identity and trans rights

George Orwell’s classic works to be published on Substack

Down and Out in Paris and London will start the project and be delivered to subscribers in ‘coffee break’ segments

Samuel Alito assured Ted Kennedy in 2005 of respect for Roe, diary reveals

Excerpts reported by biographer show Alito, who wrote June ruling that outlawed abortion, said he was ‘big believer in precedents’

Monday, October 24, 2022

Bob Woodward to publish Trump interviews detailing his ‘effort to destroy democracy’

The investigative journalist’s new audiobook, The Trump Tapes, digs deep into the threat the former president poses to democracy

Ted Cruz took refuge in supply closet during January 6 riot, book reveals

Texas senator wrote he ‘vehemently disagreed’ with colleagues’ call to allow certification of 2020 election

Sunday, October 23, 2022

Salman Rushdie has lost sight in one eye and use of one hand, says agent

Full extent of injuries from ‘brutal attack’ on Satanic Verses author in New York state in August revealed

Friday, October 21, 2022

House of the Dragon: HBO ‘disappointed’ as season finale leaks

The final episode of the first season of the hit Game of Thrones prequel has landed online days early

Henri Cartier-Bresson: new edition of French photographer’s work published

Eleventh edition of Photographe showcases photographer who was known as ‘the eye of the century’

Jamie Oliver and Geri Halliwell-Horner become the latest celebrities to announce children’s books

Publishers have faced criticism for producing books considered ‘an easy sell’

Maggie Haberman on Trump: ‘He’s become a Charles Foster Kane character’

The author of a new book on the former president reflects on his tumultuous tenure, and getting inside his head

Thursday, October 20, 2022

Thomas Keneally shares $50,000 book prize with fellow nominees

The 87-year-old Australian author, who won the ARA Historical Novel prize, says he ‘wanted to help some of the other writers’ because of how hard it is to make a living as a writer

Wednesday, October 19, 2022

‘Vividly realised’ global stories on 4thWrite prize shortlist

The short story competition for unpublished writers of colour, run by the Guardian and 4th Estate, features a domestic child worker in Pakistan and a physics professor whose psyche splits in two

My Brother Sean illustrator laments lack of Black children’s authors

Errol Lloyd hopes for emergence of new crop of writers, as Newcastle exhibition opens

Tuesday, October 18, 2022

Nazanin Zaghari-Ratcliffe to publish memoir about her years in jail in Iran

The book, to be written with her husband Richard Ratcliffe, will detail her six years in prison and the campaign for her release

Carmen Callil, pioneering champion of female writers, dies aged 84

Publisher who founded Virago Press began as a campaigning outsider who introduced UK readers to authors including Angela Carter and Margaret Atwood

Monday, October 17, 2022

Shehan Karunatilaka wins Booker prize for The Seven Moons of Maali Almeida

Judges described the Sri Lankan author’s second novel as a ‘rollercoaster journey through life and death’ and praised its audacity and ambition

Volodymyr Zelenskiy publishes collection of war speeches as ‘battle cry for the world’

A Message from Ukraine includes 16 speeches selected by the president as well as an introduction setting out what he has learned since the start of the war with Russia

Saturday, October 15, 2022

Netanyahu used golf metaphor to turn Trump against Palestinians, book says

In new memoir, former Israeli PM describes efforts to turn US president against Palestinian leader Abbas

Friday, October 14, 2022

‘Hugely relatable’: new film Emily will introduce Brontë sisters to younger audiences

Biopic imagines Brontë’s life in the years leading up to her writing one of English literature’s most feted novels

Thursday, October 13, 2022

2022 Gordon Burn prize awarded to London Bridge terror attack examination, Aftermath

Narrative non-fiction winner is written by Preti Taneja, who taught Usman Khan creative writing two years before he stabbed five people and killed two

TS Eliot prize announces a ‘shapeshifting’ shortlist

With a record number of entries, half of the ten shortlisted books are debut collections that the judges describe as ‘unflinching in their explorations of love and grief, brutality and desire’

Trump a narcissist and a ‘dick’, ex-ambassador Sondland says in new book

Ex-EU envoy Gordon Sondland derides Democrats and Pompeo, and recalls fallout from testifying in Trump’s first impeachment

Policy of secrecy leaves authors with ‘no inkling’ works are being set for NSW’s year 12 exams

Delia Falconer and Nikki Gemmell latest writers to find out their works were selected for the HSC – after the exams

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Wednesday, October 12, 2022

Martin Lewis writes guide for libraries wanting to become winter ‘warm banks’

The money saving expert has teamed up with the UK’s library and information association to offer tips and guidance

Tuesday, October 11, 2022

‘Remixed’ version of Wordsworth and Coleridge’s Lyrical Ballads highlights 21st-century poverty

The Refuge from the Ravens project places new works alongside the original, ‘redefining it to help people grasp the concept’ of homelessness

Monday, October 10, 2022

‘Immensely brave’: Abduljalil al-Singace named international writer of courage

The Bahraini activist who is serving a life sentence in prison for his role in anti-government protests was chosen to share the PEN Pinter prize by Malorie Blackman

Female history and biography writing dominates Baillie Gifford shortlist

A study of the violence of Britain’s empire, Oliver Cromwell’s commonwealth and the present day refugee crisis are among five books by women vying for this year’s £50,000 first prize

British Library to host Salman Rushdie celebration event

Writers including Hanif Kureishi, Monica Ali and Nigella Lawson will gather in London to share readings and reflections two months after the author was attacked on stage

Sunday, October 9, 2022

Protesters in Iran are ‘beautiful and inspiring’, says Persepolis creator

‘What I have lived, the youth is living now,’ says Marjane Satrapi, whose graphic novel depicted girl’s life in 1979 Islamic revolution

‘People need to tell stories’: Lviv holds literary festival in defiance of war

Writers at annual book event in Ukrainian city say storytelling and art have helped many endure violence

Cutting his teeth: how Bram Stoker found his inner Dracula in Scotland

Author’s method acting approach to writing terrified local people in Aberdeenshire as he perched on the rocks like a bat

Saturday, October 8, 2022

Trump ally Lindsey Graham told ex-cop Capitol rioters should be shot in head

Michael Fanone recounts meeting with South Carolina Republican senator in book to be published next week

Friday, October 7, 2022

Peter Robinson, creator of the Inspector Banks novels, dies aged 72

The Leeds-born novelist whose work included poetry and short stories as well as his bestselling thrillers will be remembered as a master of plot and character

Thursday, October 6, 2022

Jada Pinkett Smith signs deal for ‘no holds barred’ memoir

Actor will address her ‘unconventional upbringing in Baltimore’ and ‘complicated marriage’ to Will Smith in tell-all due next year

‘Miracle find’: rare Don Quixote and short stories could sell for €900k

Sotheby’s describes 17th-century Cervantes editions as a ‘once in a lifetime’ opportunity for collectors

Nobel prize in literature 2022: Salman Rushdie among favourites as winner due to be announced – live

Follow latest updates as this year’s winner is decided by Swedish writers, linguists, literary scholars, historians and a prominent jurist

Wednesday, October 5, 2022

Goldsmiths prize shortlist features a first: twin-authored novel Diego Garcia

Natasha Soobramanien and Luke Williams’ ‘extraordinary’ work sits alongside a field of creatively ambitious writing that finds new ways of telling stories