Bloomsbury will launch a new popular science imprint, Sigma, in October 2014 that will publish up to 15 titles per year globally and will be overseen by Jim Martin, previously an editor on the adult trade division’s natural science list. The first Sigma list include Sex on Earth by Jules Howard, The World’s Smallest Mammoth by Victoria Herridge, and additional titles by Amy Teitel, David Hone and Kat Arney. Martin said in a statement: “It’s very exciting to be able to bring new and dynamic authors to a broad audience with Sigma. The books will combine the very best writing […]
Awards
Next: The National Book Awards Shortlists
The first-ever National Book Awards longlists were narrowed down to five finalists in each category on Wednesday morning, ahead of the awards ceremony on November 20. Half of the contenders are published by Penguin Random House. As of 10:00, four free ebook samplers (titled “The Contenders”) will be available from major retailers, covering each of the awards categories, created and distributed with the assistance of Penguin. The nominees are below; rather than alphabetical order, we have listed them according to their print sales to date, with the biggest sellers listed first. (In fiction, Saunders has outsold the rest of the […]
Catton Wins the Booker
Eleanor Catton’s 848-page second novel THE LUMINARIES won the Booker Prize, awarded in London on Tuesday night. At 28, she is the youngest Booker winner ever. Little, Brown just published the book in the US earlier in the day, though it was issued previously in the UK (Granta) and her home of New Zealand (Victoria University Press). Little, Brown published her debut novel The Rehearsal as well. In thanking her publishers, Catton noted wryly that it “was a publisher’s nightmare,” since “the shape and form of the book made certain types of editorial suggestions…not only mathematically impossible, but also astrologically impossible.” (A […]
Tonight’s Booker
The Booker Prize will be awarded this evening in London. Jim Crace’s HARVEST has been the bettors’ favorite from the start and remains so today, albeit by a small margin. Based on historical trends, that makes it highly likely Crace will not actually win, since except for Hilary Mantel, the Booker “favorite” almost always loses. Eleanor Catton’s 848-page The Luminaries is a close second in the betting, and is finally on sale in the US today. There’s some question as to how much is actually wagered on the prize, though. The Telegraph says that “a mere £24” has been bet on […]
Setterfield Tops November Library List
The new LibraryReads initiative has announced their third monthly list of librarian favorites for November. Their No 1. pick is Diane Setterfield’s new novel, which also appears on the November IndieNext list (as do three other titles.) The full list: Diane Setterfield, Bellman & Black Julia Spencer-Fleming, Through the Evil Days Pat Conroy, The Death of Santini Joshilyn Jackson, Someone Else’s Love Story Amy Tan, The Valley of Amazement James Whitfield Thompson, Lies You Wanted to Hear P.S. Duffy, The Cartographer of No Man’s Land Barry Maitland, The Raven’s Eye Lene Kaaberbol & Agnete Friis, Death of a Nightingale Mira […]
Munro Wins the Nobel
The Nobel Prize in Literature was awarded this morning to Alice Munro, cited briefly as “master of the contemporary short story.” She is the 13th woman and first Canadian (aside from 1976 winner Saul Bellow, born near Montreal) to win the literature prize, which comes one year after her most recent short story collection DEAR LIFE and several months after telling the National Post and the New York Times she had retired from writing. In a follow-up interview with press Swedish Academy permanent secretary Peter Englund said: “I think no one has better deconstructed the central myth of modern romantic […]