January 24, 2015 has been proclaimed National Readathon Day, a “marathon reading” session across the country to raise money in order to help fund the National Book Foundation’s efforts to promote literacy and reading. The “quixotic new event” was created by Penguin Random House, which brought to the idea to the NBF this summer, the Washington Post reports. NBF executive director Harold Augenbraum calls it “a terrific opportunity to broaden the awareness in communities across the country and to infuse funds into our community-based programs.” PRH is joined by Goodreads and Mashable as co-sponsors. Individuals and reading “teams” (which can […]
Archives for November 2014
Awards and More: Giller, Waterstones’ Candidates, Etc.
Sean Michaels‘ debut novel US CONDUCTORS won Canada’s Giller Prize Monday night, surpassing heavy favorite Miriam Toews and becoming only the second debut novelist to win the Giller. The book was by Random House Canada and in the US by Tin House Books. Michaels receives $100,000 (CA) as part of the expanded prize purse announced earlier this year. In the UK, Waterstones named their eight candidates for “book of the year”: Everyday Sexism, by Laura Bates The Miniaturist, by Jessie Burton The Narrow Road to the Deep North, by Richard Flanagan Persiana: Recipes from the Middle East & Beyond, by Sabrina Ghayour Once […]
People
Doubleday vp, executive director of publicity Alison Rich will take on the additional role of associate publisher, Nan A. Talese Books, continuing to report to Suzanne Herz. In her new role Rich will be responsible for providing additional marketing and publicity support and “building social media followings and digital promotion” for the imprint. At Random House Canada, Lynn Henry is moving from Doubleday Canada to the new role of publishing director at Knopf Canada, reporting to Anne Collins. Amy Black will become associate publisher at Doubleday Canada, reporting to Kristin Cochrane. (Nita Pronovost and Tim Rostron will report to Black). Martha […]
Launch Kids and DBW
Friday we recapped the amazing line-up of keynotes and speakers set for Digital Book World on January 14 and 15, but DBW actually kicks off on the January 13 with our fourth annual Publishers Launch Kids conference. The biggest gathering in children’s publishing to look at the business opportunities in the digital transition, this year’s program features major movement in education (from Google and News Corp.’s Amplify), as well as such new developments as the rise of online fandom; Kickstarter for children’s literature; personalization; ebook subscriptions just for children’s books; new adventures in storybuilding; and more. (A few notable panelists […]
AAP Asks for Full Appeals Court to Review GSU Decision
Following last month’s favorable ruling from a three-panel Appeals Court panel in the Georgia State University case considering fair use in academic digital reserves, the AAP is pressing the issue by asking for the full Court of Appeals to review the case. The AAP is seizing upon the unusual “concurring” opinion appended to the Appeals Court ruling by Judge C. Roger Vinson. It’s a bit of a misnomer, since Judge Vinson actually disagreed with the other two judges; to him, the case was quite simple (“GSU’s use of Plaintiffs’ copyright protected works without compensation was, in a word, unfair”). In a release explaining […]
People
Sarah Odedina “has decided to leave” Hot Key Books in the UK, which she started for Bonnier Publishing in 2011. Odedina is stepping down from her position as managing director immediately, but will stay with the company until April 30, 2015. Ed Park is leaving Amazon Publishing’s Little A imprint to join Penguin Press as an executive editor, focused on growing their fiction list. Editor of Amazon’s literary journal Day One Carmen Johnson will take over Park’s responsibilities at Little A. The NYT bills it is as “a major setback” — though his last announced acquisition was 16 months ago. Separately, Amazon’s […]