Publishing Company Blog: March 2023

Thursday, March 30, 2023

Children’s books publisher Peter Usborne dies at 85

Publisher pays tribute to ‘genius’ who was an ‘inspirational leader’

New project seeks to bring south Asian literature to western readers

Founded by two translators – one American, one British – the Salt initiative will provide mentorships, funding and a south Asia-focused literary translation school

Wednesday, March 29, 2023

Stella prize 2023 shortlist: small publishers dominate Australian literary award

No major publishers represented among final six books in contention for $60,000 prize for female authors

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Poem of ‘beauty, wit and grace’ about fathers and sons wins National Poetry Competition

Ex-New York cab driver Lee Stockdale wins £5,000 after My Dead Father’s General Store in the Middle of a Desert beat 17,000 other poems

Tuesday, March 28, 2023

Michel Houellebecq sex film to be released despite attempt to stop it

Amsterdam court dismisses French author’s complaint against film that shows him having sex with young women

Six libraries to close in Aberdeen, despite efforts to save them

Many of the buildings are in deprived areas, say Save Aberdeen Libraries, while Aberdeen City Council argues facilities will be moved to cheaper ‘hubs’

London’s County Hall to host immersive Paddington Bear theatre show

The Paddington Bear Experience, a family-friendly show based on Michael Bond’s character, will be at the ex-GLC building on the South Bank

Monday, March 27, 2023

Margo Jefferson wins 2023 Rathbones Folio prize

The writer and critic’s memoir, Constructing a Nervous System, was described as ‘astounding and rhapsodic’ by judges

Train tomes: Exeter St Davids station opens book vending machine

Penguin Random House has installed a machine in the Devon city’s station, enabling travellers to buy a changing raft of titles, inspired by company founder Allen Lane

Márquez overtakes Cervantes as most translated Spanish-language writer

Author of One Hundred Years of Solitude tops list of those most translated into 10 languages this century ahead of Don Quixote creator

Sunday, March 26, 2023

Agatha Christie novels reworked to remove potentially offensive language

Poirot and Miss Marple mysteries have passages edited by sensitivity editors for latest HarperCollins editions

Rare copy of Othello shows a cast list involved in real-life murder drama

A 1655 edition of Shakespeare’s tragedy names members of an acting troupe, one of whom was slain in an eerie echo of the play

Saturday, March 25, 2023

Your garden should be a multilayer food forest, says RHS horticulturist

Tom Massey promotes natural ‘forest gardens’ with biodiverse planting to create wildlife havens

Friday, March 24, 2023

Book fraudster Filippo Bernardini spared jail

The publishing employee who obtained manuscripts from authors such as Margaret Atwood and Ian McEwan was fined and will be deported from the US

Thursday, March 23, 2023

Eric Brown, science fiction author and Guardian critic, dies aged 62

Writers, publishers and agents pay tribute to a warm, generous figure, author of more than 50 books ranging from SFF to crime to children’s literature

Dylan Thomas prize shortlist includes four debuts

Three British writers are among the six nominees including Saba Sams for her short story collection, Send Nudes, and Warsan Shire for Bless the Daughter Raised By a Voice in Her Head

Wednesday, March 22, 2023

‘It’s been a wild ride’: funk legend Sly Stone announces memoir

Thank You (Falettinme Be Mice Elf Agin) will ‘cover all aspects’ of the musician’s life, including his battles with drug use, and is set for release this September

Tuesday, March 21, 2023

Apocalyptic road trip story wins the Waterstones children’s book prize

The Cats We Meet Along the Way by Nadia Mikail – about a family’s trip across Malaysia during the impending end of the world – wins the older readers category, the overall prize and £5,000

Hilary Mantel memorial to be held at Southwark Cathedral

The celebration of the double Booker winner’s life will include tributes and readings from her work with a limited number of tickets available for the general public

Simon Armitage savours spring ‘ecstasy and melancholy’ on World Poetry Day

Poet laureate celebrates a plum tree in poem commissioned by the National Trust for its blossom campaign

Indian novel about caste becomes first Tamil work longlisted for Booker prize

Perumal Murugan, who said he had given up writing in 2015 after protests against one of his books, wins selection with Pyre

Sunday, March 19, 2023

A Brief History of Time is ‘wrong’, Stephen Hawking told collaborator

Thomas Hertog worked with cosmologist on a new book after he shared his doubts about A Brief History of Time

Friday, March 17, 2023

Export ban on Coleridge anti-slavery manuscript as British buyer sought

Handwritten poem in Greek from his undergraduate years has recommended sale price of £20,400

Rare early letter from Jane Austen to her sister will go on public display

Author showcases her dry wit in little-seen 1798 letter detailing her hats, household chores and chicken dinners

Carnegie medal for writing announces all-female shortlist

Seven authors are in the running for prize celebrating outstanding achievement in children’s writing

Wednesday, March 15, 2023

JK Rowling says she knew her views on transgender issues would make ‘many folks deeply unhappy’

The Harry Potter author, who says she has been scared for her family’s safety, believes ‘time will tell whether I’ve got this wrong’

Many UK primary schoolchildren ‘drastically’ missing out on poetry

Research in January by Macmillan and CLPE found limited books and lack of teacher support means majority study or hear poetry less than once a week

Tuesday, March 14, 2023

Trump says the Queen, Diana and Oprah Winfrey ‘kissed my ass’ in letters

Former president promotes book of correspondence with mournful claim that ‘only half’ of those included still like him

Stormzy and Tracey Emin join Hay festival 2023 lineup

The UK’s best-known literary festival has a new CEO and promises ‘11 days of different’ as it unveils its full lineup featuring Richard Osman, Dua Lipa, Margaret Atwood and more

Martha Mills prize: new award for young writers launched by London Review Bookshop

Aimed at finding ‘lively, unusual, original’ writing by those aged between 11 and 14, the prize is inspired by the ‘imagination and curiosity’ of Martha, who died in 2021 aged 13

Monday, March 13, 2023

Theresa May to release book on famous political scandals

In The Abuse of Power, former PM will look at how public institutions close ranks ‘to serve themselves’

Book thief who stole more than 1,000 manuscripts ‘wanted to cherish them before anyone else’

Filippo Bernardini impersonated hundreds of people in the publishing industry to obtain work by Margaret Atwood, Sally Rooney and Ian McEwan, but never intended to leak the books

Kenzaburo Oe, Nobel prize-winning Japanese writer, dies aged 88

Fiction and essays tackled subjects including militarism and nuclear disarmament, innocence and trauma

Sunday, March 12, 2023

All Quiet on the Western Front wins best international feature film Oscar

German language war epic triumphs in the category for non-English language films

• Follow the action live from this year’s ceremony!

Surviving copies of Shakespeare’s First Folio to go on show

Events planned across UK and Ireland, including a British Library exhibition, will mark 400 years since original complete works was first published

Friday, March 10, 2023

Hay festival to hold inaugural Eurovision book contest

Submissions will be made by the public as books festival parters with famed music event for a literary showdown

Thursday, March 9, 2023

Waterstones says ‘no truth’ in claims it refuses to sell books on gender and feminism

The retailer had been trending on social media after accusations it did not stock works by Hannah Barnes and Victoria Smith

Trump to publish book of letters from Kim Jong-un, Oprah Winfrey and others

Letters to Trump will contain 150 private letters written over more than 40 years, including correspondence with North Korean leader

Baillie Gifford prize: six books shortlisted for ‘winner of winners’ award

Finalists for honour spotlighting the best of the non-fiction prize’s 25-year history include studies of the Beatles, Shakespeare and the Treaty of Versailles