Breaking news on authors, publishers, and book-related topics

Free Library of Philadelphia to stay open

Sep 22 2009: The Free Library of Philadelphia, due to close on October 2 if the state did not pass necessary funding, has been saved by a vote of 32 to 17. The library's website offers the following thank you:

"We are enormously grateful to everyone who advocated on our behalf. ...

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Dept. of Justice says Google Book Search Settlement must change

Sep 21 2009: In a highly anticipated brief, the Department of Justice says the Google Book Search Settlement as currently structured should be rejected by the court overseeing its approval. "As presently drafted the proposed settlement does not meet the legal standards this court ...

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FT Business book of the year shortlist announced

Sep 18 2009: Looking to understand the current financial crisis? If so, a good place to start might be the Financial Times Business Book of the Year Award shortlist, just announced, which contains two Depression-era histories, two books by serving corporate bosses, a blow-by-blow ...

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Google makes concession to European publishers

Sep 08 2009: In a move meant to blunt criticism from European authors and publishers, Google said it will "remove all European books that are still commercially available from its $125 million program to scan orphaned and out-of-print books in the U.S. and sell them online. As a ...

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Booker finalists announced

Sep 08 2009: The six finalists for the prestigious UK Booker Prize are:

• A S Byatt, The Children's Book (Chatto and Windus)
• J M Coetzee, Summertime (Harvill Secker)
• Adam Foulds, The Quickening Maze (Jonathan Cape)
• Hilary Mantel, Wolf Hall (Fourth Estate)
• Simon Mawer, The Glass...

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Keith Waterhouse, author of 'Billy Liar' dies ages 80

Sep 04 2009: Author, playwright and Fleet Street legend Keith Waterhouse has died "quietly in his sleep" at the age of 80. Waterhouse made his screenwriting debut on the 1961 film Whistle Down The Wind, but remains best known for his 1959 novel Billy Liar (which was made into a ...

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NY Times breaks embargo on Edward Kennedy memoir

Sep 03 2009: The New York Times has broken the embargo on the forthcoming memoir by Edward Kennedy, True Compass, due to publish on September 14. In an article published Sept 2 it comments extensively on the book.

Twelve spokesman Cary Goldstein tells the Washington Post: "We ...

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Authors Guild slams Amazon over its Google Settlement stance

Sep 03 2009: After Amazon came out against the Google Settlement earlier this week, the Authors Guild has come back with a letter slamming the e-tailer, claiming that "Amazon's hypocrisy is breathtaking." The Guild likened Amazon's control of bookselling and the up-and-coming e-book...

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