Pearson released preliminary results for 2022, reporting sales of £3.84 billion, up 12 percent from the previous year (helped considerably by the strong dollar and weak British pound, so up 5 percent on an underlying basis). Operating profit was £271 million, compared to £183 in 2021. The results put in relief how little of a “publishing company” Pearson has become (and should be of note to all of the list-makers and rankers). Higher Education sales were £898 million, up from £849 million a year ago but actually down 4 percent on an underlying basis, “driven by a decline in enrollments […]
Archives for March 2023
Pen America Literary Awards
Pen America announced the winners of their literary awards.
Obituary: Amy Schwartz
Children’s book author and illustrator Amy Schwartz died suddenly the weekend of February 25. She had a hand in more than 50 children’s books across many imprints, including Charlotte Zolotow Award winner What James Likes Best and New York Times Best Book of the Year Bea and Mr. Jones. Mary Cash, vp and editor in chief at Holiday House said, “I can’t think of anyone whom I think understood and portrayed the day-to-day routines of families with young children with more intelligence and joy. Amy was an acute observer of all the tiny details that together make up a child’s life. Her wonderful books […]
Forthcoming: A New Zadie Smith Novel
Penguin Press will publish THE FRAUD by Zadie Smith, historical fiction “set against the legal trial that divided Victorian England,” on September 5. This is Smith’s first novel since publishing Swing Time in 2016. The publisher calls it a “novel about truth and fiction, Jamaica and Britain, fraudulence and authenticity and the mystery of ‘other people.'”
People 3/3
April Indie Next List
The ABA’s #1 pick on its April Indie Next List is Yours Truly by Abby Jimenez.