Back at Olympia for a second straight year, the London Book Fair opened Tuesday in familiar form, similar to last year’s show. The special above-ground train that is supposed to connect London’s tube directly to Olympia is still out of commission (fortunately it was a good morning for a leisurely wall). The hotel-style nomenclature, with its Grand Halls and galleries, remains in place, and the International Rights Center is still situated on another floor where elevators are maddeningly slow and the stairs up and down can be crowded. The wifi is still free and still works, automatically reducing one of the biggests […]
Archives for April 2016
Ingram Makes Distribution Appointments
Perseus Distribution clients received a long memo on Monday with details on the management structure for what is now the largest independent distribution network. Signed by Ingram’s Phil Ollila and Mark Ouimet and Perseus’s Sabrina McCarthy, they note: “Because this is such a large distribution company one of the things we are thinking about is how to take advantage of the scale of Ingram while making sure that our clients continue to get the service they expect from the distribution companies. With this in mind, our structure for the future is going to rely on the development and continuation of […]
Based on Leaked Images, Kindle Returns to Ugly Roots with New Oasis
The original Kindle reader was one of the odder-looking pieces of consumer electronics, and with the new eighth-generation “top of the line” Kindle reader that Jeff Bezos tipped on Twitter last week, Amazon appears to be returning to its roots. Called the Kindle Oasis according to early posts spotted on Amazon’s Canadian and Chinese stores, the asymmetrical device is thicker on one side, to allow for page-turning buttons. As the WSJ noted, it sports a removable “rechargeable protective case for extended battery life” (even though battery life is hardly a complaint about current devices) — which is supposed to make the […]
Backman’s BRITT-MARIE WAS HERE Leads May Library Reads List
Fredrik Backman’s new novel Britt-Marie Was Here is the No. 1 pick for the May Library Reads list. You can start reading excerpts of two of the novels on the list, The Fireman by Joe Hill and Everyone Brave is Forgiven by Chris Cleave, right now at Buzz Books 2016: Spring Summer. The rest of the list features: Stephanie Danler, Sweetbitter (Knopf) Clare Mackintosh, I Let You Go (Berkley) Dan Vyleta, Smoke (Doubleday) John Hart, Redemption Road (Thomas Dunne Books) Kelley Armstrong, City of the Lost (Minotaur) Laura Lippman, Wilde Lake (William Morrow) Lydia Millet, Sweet Lamb of Heaven (Norton)
Awards: Alvar Takes PEN/Bingham; Yanagihara A Contender Again, for Women’s Prize
Mia Alvar won the PEN/Bingham prize for debut fiction for her story collection In the Country, presented on Monday night. Ta-Nehisi Coates won PEN/Diamonstein-Spielvogel Award for the Art of the Essay. Toni Morrison was unable to attend the awards gala, so Errol McDonald accepted the PEN/Saul Bellow Award for Achievement in American Fiction on her behalf. Separately, the UK’s Women’s Prize for Fiction announced their shortlist on the eve of the London Book Fair as usual, with Hanya Yanagihara’s novel A Little Life in contention again (after nominations for both the Booker and the National Book Award). The other nominees are: Ruby, Cynthia Bond […]
People, Etc.
Heather Jackson is leaving Harmony to become a literary agent, joining the David Black Agency on May 2. She will focus on commercial nonfiction and fiction, popular culture, and fresh narrative voices that inform, entertain, and shift the cultural conversation. At Houghton Mifflin Harcourt, Stephanie Fletcher has been promoted to editor, culinary/lifestyle. In addition, Tim Mudie moves up to associate editor, and Pilar Garcia-Brown has been promoted to editorial associate. Beth Collins was promoted production manager at Beacon Press, and Daniel Barks was promoted to reprint and digital production manager. Founder of Clarion Books and author of nonfiction for young readers Jim Giblin died […]