With Sri Lanka's Shehan Karunatilaka and India's Geetanjali Shree taking home two of publishing's biggest prizes, what next for one of the world's most overlooked literary regions?
For once, the rumours have proved true. Annie Ernaux, the 82-year-old French writer, who for the last couple of years has been touted as a favourite, has been announced as the winner of the 2022 Nobel prize for literature - only the 17th woman out 119 laureates in the award's history.
After its sponsorship model changed from a single-headline partnership with Baileys, the Women's Prize is enjoying a golden summer of talks, workshops and a booming merchandise line backed by high-profile influencers.
Margaret Drabble was a bright young star with five novels to her name in 1971, when she was talked into joining her old friend JB Priestley on the judging panel for a new book prize. "Jack told me that I should spend the fee (which came in wine) by choosing some very nice half-bottles to drink by myself, which I did," she recalls.
Its knack for creating tension and controversy has helped it remain an energising force in publishing for more than 50 years - but how do writers, publishers and judges cope with the annual agony of the Booker?
Though there were four debuts on the Booker shortlist, it's been more than a decade since a debut won. And with two magisterial novels from established writers in Maaza Mengiste's The Shadow King and Tsitsi Dangarembga's This Mournable Body on the list, first-timer Douglas Stuart's success may come as a surprise. Read more
The Nigerian-American author won the Orange Prize in 2007 and her ‘Half of a Yellow Sun' has been voted the best of the Women's Prize's 25 years of winners.
‘At their core, cosy crimes are very character-driven stories about unlikely and everyday heroes, and the tone of them is very humorous. The detectives are people who are underestimated - older characters or slightly bumbling eccentrics who make mistakes along the way and get themselves into trouble.
Former Simon & Schuster staffer Filippo Bernardini has said stole more than 1,000 unpublished manuscripts because he wanted to read books before they hit stores.
In court papers published on Friday (March 10th), Bernardini apologised for his crime but claimed he did it so he could dive into the stories before they were available to the general public.
Writing and publishing a book about a controversial public figure is like diving into shark-infested waters, says ABC investigative journalist Louise Milligan. She told her Adelaide Writers' Week audience that if she'd written her 2017 award-winning book Cardinal: The Rise and Fall of Cardinal Pell today, she wondered if it would even be published. Read more
World Book Day organisers urge focus on reading for pleasure, as National Literacy TrustUK-based organisation which has campaigned since 1993 to improve literacy standards across all age groups. Excellent research information and details of the many initiatives the charity is currently involved in. www.literacytrust.org.uk. It also has a useful page of news stories on UK literacy, which links to newsletter http://www.readitswapit.co.uk/TheLibrary.aspx survey reveals decline
Ahead of World Book Day on Thursday 2nd March, the charity by the same name is urging teachers, carers and parents to encourage reading for pleasure as it continues on a sharp decline. Read more
The backlash to Puffin Books' decision to update Roald Dahl's children's books has been swift and largely derisive. The publisher has been accused of "absurd censorship", "corporate safetyism" and "cultural vandalism." Read more
The 60th Bologna Children's Book FairThe Bologna Children's Book Fair or La fiera del libro per ragazzi is the leading professional fair for children's books in the world. kicked off today, drawing 1,456 exhibitors hailing from 90 countries and regions of the world. This is more than in the pre-pandemic year of 2019, when there were 1,442 exhibitors. Read more
In the late afternoon of Sunday, September 19, 1819, 23-year-old John Keats struck out for his daily walk from his lodging in Winchester, England. He'd arrived in the city a month prior, leaving behind southern England's Isle of Wight for a change of scenery in the cathedral city of Winchester. Read more
Harriet Muncaster is the bestselling author of the Isadora Moon series and the middle-grade Victoria Stitch series (Oxford Children's Books). Her new book, Emerald and the Ocean Parade, was published on 2 March and introduces Emerald, Isadora's mermaid friend.
Blurb is a funny sounding word. It's phonetically unappealing, beginning and ending with unattractive voiced bilabial stops, and its definition-an advertisement or announcement, especially a laudatory one-carries some of the same meaning as another unattractive word, blubber, which evokes excess in its dual definition as both an expostulation of unrestrained emotion as well as excess fat. Read more
'The writer's intention hasn't anything to do with what he achieves. The intent to earn money or the intent to be famous or the intent to be great doesn't matter in the end. Just what comes out.'