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

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...

Full Story

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 ...

Full Story

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 ...

Full Story

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...

Full Story

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 ...

Full Story

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 ...

Full Story

Dominick Dunne dies aged 83

Aug 27 2009: Dominick Dunne, bestselling author and movie producer, has died at the age of 83 after a long battle with bladder cancer. At the time of his death he was finalizing his new novel Too Much Money, which is scheduled to publish in December.

Dunne is survived by sons ...

Full Story

eBooks soon to be available through local bookstores

Aug 26 2009: US booklovers who wish to shop locally but prefer to read ebooks will soon be able to buy ebooks through their local bookstore including many independents (but, for now, only if their local independent uses the American Bookseller Associations (ABA) online commerce ...

Full Story