Publishing Company Blog: November 2022

Wednesday, November 30, 2022

Ron DeSantis book announcement a clear sign of presidential ambition

Florida governor expected to challenge Trump for Republican nod in 2024 will publish The Courage to Be Free in February

Tsitsi Dangarembga, Anne Carson and Mary Gaitskill honoured by Royal Society of Literature

New authors chosen for the RSL International Writers programme, championing ‘the power of literature to transcend borders’, are announced

Monday, November 28, 2022

Kim Moore wins Forward poetry prize for ‘phenomenal’ poems about everyday sexism

All the Men I Never Married took the £10,000 award for best collection, while Stephanie Sy-Quia and Nick Laird were also winners in other categories

It ain’t me babe: Bob Dylan apologises for using a machine to autograph books

Musician says he had vertigo when he used autopen on books advertised as hand-signed

Woman’s name and tiny sketches found in 1,300-year-old medieval text

Exclusive: Old English name, Eadburg, repeatedly scored into manuscript had remained hidden for more than 12 centuries

Saturday, November 26, 2022

Irish amateur historian on lonely mission to save ‘bogeyman’ Cromwell from genocide charges

As scholars gather in Dublin to debate the Puritan’s life, one man is insisting Ireland must apologise for blackening the Lord Protector’s name

Thursday, November 24, 2022

Britain is a ‘bifurcated place nowadays’, says Julian Barnes

Author and patron for torture-survivor charity criticises politicians for encouraging ‘mean-spiritedness’

Wednesday, November 23, 2022

James Norton to star in West End version of bestselling novel A Little Life

Author Hanya Yanagihara and director Ivo van Hove adapt ‘mesmerising’ story about effects of child abuse for London stage

Children’s authors of colour published in UK rose to 11.7% of market in 2021

BookTrust research shows, however, that the overall picture ‘remains far from representative’ with some writers and illustrators reporting tokenism

Monday, November 21, 2022

Paramount scraps $2.2bn sale of Simon & Schuster publishing to Penguin

Penguin owner Bertelsmann will not appeal US judge’s ruling that merger would be illegal because it would hit authors’ pay

Oxford word of the year to face its first public vote

Three ‘words’ selected by Oxford University Press – ‘goblin mode’, ‘#IStandWith’ and ‘metaverse’ – can now be voted for online

Friday, November 18, 2022

Recently discovered Wind in the Willows illustration to be sold at auction

The pencil and ink drawing of a swaggering Mr Toad and his friends by EH Shepard was found hanging on the stairs of an East Anglian country house

Thursday, November 17, 2022

£50K Baillie Gifford non-fiction prize won by Katherine Rundell

The acclaimed children’s author won for her book Super-Infinite, described as a ‘glorious celebration’ of the life and work of poet John Donne

TikTok to sell books directly to users via marketplace

To further capitalise on the popularity of BookTok the social media giant will let users purchase titles through partnerships with publishers and retailers

Marcus Sedgwick, celebrated children’s author, dies aged 54

Tributes have flooded in for the much-loved writer, who wrote more than 40 books for children and adults including the recent Be the Change handbooks

Tess Gunty and Imani Perry among National Book Award winners

Gunty’s debut novel The Rabbit Hutch, set in a low-income housing community in Indiana, was the fiction winner

Wednesday, November 16, 2022

Want to buy Joan Didion’s sunglasses? That’ll be $27,000. Her broken clock? $35,000

Auction of the late writer’s estate sees prices soar thousands of dollars over estimates – but it is all going to a good cause

Olivia Douglass wins 4thWrite prize for ‘gripping’ short story Ink

Tale of friends reuniting and secrets unravelling will be published by the Guardian in award run jointly with publisher 4th Estate

• Read the winning story in full

Nadine Dorries to write book about Boris Johnson’s ‘dramatic downfall’

The former culture secretary and author of 16 novels reportedly has the working title, The Political Assassination of Boris Johnson

Tuesday, November 15, 2022

Joelle Taylor’s C+nto & Othered Poems, about butch lesbian culture, wins Polari prize

In the UK’s only dedicated awards for LGBTQ+ literature, Adam Smith’s history of poppers and children’s book Nen and the Lonely Fisherman were also honoured

Monday, November 14, 2022

Michelle Obama admits to hating her appearance in new book

In The Light We Carry, the follow-up to her bestseller Becoming, the former first lady reveals her ‘fearful mind’ and experience of depression during the pandemic

Colm Tóibín quits role at Irish literary festival in row over volunteers

Future of Listowel Writers’ Week in question amid allegations of ‘toxic’ culture

FTX crypto king Sam Bankman-Fried subject of new book by Michael Lewis

Bestselling writer Lewis has been shadowing Bankman-Fried as the cryptocurrency founder’s company, FTX, failed

Mindfulness books for children are a runaway publishing trend

Industry reports sales of titles for under-10s addressing emotions up almost 40%, driven by demand from young people

Sunday, November 13, 2022

Far-right activist Tommy Robinson ‘using former IRA mole to spy on opponents’

New book by Nick Lowles of Hope not Hate claims ex-MI5 informer who bombed for the Republicans is extremist’s ‘surveillance officer’

Friday, November 11, 2022

One in five children’s books features character of colour – but fiction lags behind

New survey finds steep rise in recent years but presence of minoritised characters is often ‘poorly executed or insignificant’

Thursday, November 10, 2022

Goldsmiths prize goes to collaborative duo Natasha Soobramanien and Luke Williams

Their novel Diego Garcia, which took a decade to complete and addresses the losses of the Chagos islanders, wins prize for innovative fiction

HarperCollins union workers go on strike over pay ‘for as long as it takes’

Workers at the only ‘big four’ publisher to have a union authorize indefinite strike over low wages and diversity

Swedish author Karin Smirnoff pens new Dragon Tattoo novel

The Girl in the Eagle’s Talons, out in English next year, picks up from David Lagercrantz in filling out the late Stieg Larsson’s vision for a 10-book sequence

Wednesday, November 9, 2022

Trump said Pence was ‘too honest’ over January 6 plot, says ex-vice-president in book

Pence also seems to blame anti-Trump Lincoln Project for angering former president with political ad, fueling Capitol attack

BookTrust launches Christmas appeal with research showing parents buying fewer presents

Survey shows more than 60% of UK parents will be spending less this year on gifts for children, as charity begins #JustOneBook drive to give disadvantaged youngsters book parcels

Tuesday, November 8, 2022

A Little Life: four-hour adaptation of divisive queer novel heading to Adelaide festival

Splitting audiences like Hanya Yanagihara’s bestseller, Ivo van Hove’s play will make its Australian debut in Adelaide in 2023, and will be performed in Dutch with subtitles