Complete

One e-Book Per Child for 2010? The One Laptop Per Child program held a workshop in Cambridge, MA at which founder Nicholas Negroponte unveiled his vision of their second generation machine — which looks a lot more like a foldable e-book. Negroponte told the group, “The next generation laptop should be a book.” Laptop Magazine reports, “The design will provide a right and left page in vertical format, a hinged laptop in horizontal format, and a flat, two-screen continuous surface for use in tablet mode.” They are hoping to produce the new machine for 2010, and also aim to reduce […]

Arvato’s Dohle Picked to Run Random House This morning Bertelsmann chief executive Hartmut Ostrowski confirmed that Markus Dohle, 39 — who runs Arvato Print, part of the division previously headed by Ostrowski — has been picked to “succeed” Peter Olson as chairman and ceo of Random House. Olson “will be leaving Bertelsmann of his own initiative May 31, 2008. This decision was approved by mutual agreement with the Supervisory Board. It will allow Peter to pursue new challenges in the academic sector. He is in discussions for a position as a senior faculty member at a U.S. university.” Ostrowski tells […]

Lawrence Hill Takes Commonwealth Prize Canadian Lawrence Hill’s THE BOOK OF NEGROES, about a West African girl sold into slavery in 18th-century South Carolina who eventually returns home, won the overall Commonwealth Writers’ Prize. Tahmima Anam of Bangladesh won the Best First Book prize for A GOLDEN AGE. Bloomberg Weinstein Announces Alchemist Film Project Harvey Weinstein announced at Cannes that he will personally produce a film version of Paulo Coelho’s bestselling THE ALCHEMIST. The project had languished at Warner Bros. for years, with Laurence Fishburne eventually acquiring the rights along with A-Mark Entertainment. They are thought to have sold rights […]

Paper Reports on Borders and Paperchase The Telegraph “reports” that Borders has appointed JPMorgan Cazenove to “conduct a strategic review of Paperchase,” their UK-based stationery chain, with the expectation of a sale. It’s not clear, though, if the paper is sharing any actual news. (Earlier this month the NYT “reported” that Morgan Stanley was handling the sale of Direct Group North America, without realizing that news was first noted in mid-March.…) Both Morgan and Merrill Lynch were named as Borders’ bankers in March. Borders spokesperson Anne Roman notes that “when we publicly announced that the company was exploring strategic alternatives, […]

Hachette Partners on Self-Published Hit Hachette Book Group USA’s Faith Words will take over sales, marketing, distribution, licensing, and manufacturing for William P. Young’s self-published hit THE SHACK (covered in USAT on May 1, linked in Lunch) in a co-venture that will include future titles from Windblown Media — formed with Wayne Jacobsen and Brad Cummings to distribute The Shack. Publisher Rolf Zettersten says they have “compelling plans for future books, including He Loves Me by Wayne Jacobsen and So You Don’t Want to Go to Church Anymore by Wayne Jacobsen and Dave Coleman under the pen name Jake Colsen.” […]

Big Changes at Penguin Children’s President of the Penguin Young Readers Group for over a decade Doug Whiteman is taking on a new role at the company as evp of business operations for Penguin Group USA, starting next week. Former Random House evp and coo for North America Don Weisberg is returning to publishing to take over as the new president for Penguin’s children’s division. And he’s being joined by another publishing star as former Scholastic president of children’s book publishing and distribution Barbara Marcus joins the company as a strategic advisor. Weisberg says in the announcement, “I’m looking forward […]