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London, 19 May 2020 - The shortlist for the 2020 AKO Caine Prize for African Writing has been announced, featuring five stories that "speak eloquently to the human condition" through a diverse array of themes and genres. This year's shortlist was determined virtually by the judging panel.

The shortlisted authors for this year's Prize are from Namibia, Nigeria, Rwanda and Tanzania.  Read more

Unit sales of print books continue to defy expectations that the coronavirus crisis will lead to a plunge in sales. In fact, just the opposite is occurring. Last week, unit sales of print books had their second consecutive week of double-digit growth over the previous week at outlets that report to NPD BookScan.  Read more

As the latest step in its efforts to become a global entertainment giant, Wattpad Corp., which began as an online platform that allows writers to self-publish, is starting to develop TV and film projects based on fiction that has appeared on their website.

World-building is an essential part of all fiction writing. Sure, with fantasy genres, writers have to create a whole new world (don't you dare close your eyes). But, If you're reading a novel set in New York, then you'd expect the author to tell how New York looks, sounds, and smells. You'd want to know absolutely everything about the people who live there, too.  Read more

The big adult fiction title of this past fall was Margaret Atwood's The Testaments. The sequel to the author's 1985 bestseller The Handmaid's Tale was unveiled with a 500,000-copy first printing.  Read more