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

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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Disney buying Marvel Entertainment

Sep 01 2009: The Walt Disney Company is to buy Marvel Entertainment in a stock and cash transaction totaling about $4 billion.

Bloomberg News reports that "The purchase gives Disney, the world's largest media company, more than 5,000 Marvel characters to market in movies, theme ...

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Philadelphia proposes "doomsday" scenario, closing all libraries

Aug 29 2009: A state budget impasse lasting nearly two months has put Pennsylvania libraries in turmoil, leading to at least one branch closing, preparations for more closures should delays continue, and the fear that the final budget will impose painful, potentially enormous cuts ...

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