Gil Adamson’s THE OUTLANDER won the First Novel Award now presented by Amazon.ca and Books in Canada: “part historical novel, part western Gothic, and part adventure story, it’s an astonishing portrayal of crime and retribution, and survival and love.” (It’s published by House of Anansi in Canada, and Ecco in the US.) But the real story, as the Globe and Mail points out, is the publishing hiatus at BiC, which has reviewed Canadian books since 1971. It “has not produced an issue since its January-February number this year, and now its proprietor is saying he has no intention of reviving […]
International News
Director's Jesus Book a Dutch Bestseller
Dutch director Paul Verhoeven co-wrote JESUS OF NAZARETH with his own biographer Rob van Scheers and publisher Meulenhoff is on their fourth printing within weeks of release after a big promotional campaign in Holland. In the book, ” Verhoeven suggests that Jesus was the son of Mary and a Roman soldier who raped her,” the Hollywood Reporter says. Pendo has bought German rights; a US deal is reportedly in negotiations.HR
Bloomsbury Buys Berg
Bloomsbury has made another addition to its growing academic division with the purchase of Oxford International Publishers Limited, which operates as Berg Publishers, for 1.8 million pounds in cash, 200,000 million pounds in stock, and up to 1 million pounds in deferred compensation based performance. Focused on books and journals for the academic student market in the fields of fashion, design and culture studies, Berg had sales 1.58 million pounds in 2007. Kathryn Earle will continue to run the company.Release
Journalist Tries to Verify Boy Soldier's Story
Journalist Malcolm Knox–who uncovered the lies in Norma Khouri’s book–worked with Sudanese refugee and one-time boy soldier Cola Bilkuei on his book COLA’S JOURNEY and was asked to verify the book’s accuracy. (Just published in Australia, it is not available elsewhere for now.) “So what are we left with? Aside from boy soldiers, a priest and a lawyer who knew Cola in Africa, we have the assurances of the Australian government, which gave Cola his first passport and checked on him through cousins who already lived here…. “Ultimately, though, between what could be verified and what lies on the pages […]
Medina Will Return in Serbia
After being withdrawn in the wake of protests by Muslims, Serbian publisher Beobook indicates their edition will return to bookstores. Company director Aleksandar JasiÄ “explained that despite the fact that the book was withdrawn from the stores in July, copies were still available in the streets at double prices, adding that soon after the publisher dropped the book, pirate versions started to sell”–and he says reader reactions have been “very positive.”Serbian report
The Season in France
A French news service share statistics on the big French fall publishing season, “an important ritual on the French literary circuit. Every year, by the end of August, French booksellers get agitated, critics get irritated, and writers become nervous as a profusion of titles hits the bookshelves.” The total count of 676 novels is down slightly from last year’s 727 works. Of those, 210 are works in translation. They come from 98 publishers in all, and even the biggest houses have only a small share: “Gallimard and Fayard have 18 novels each, Le Seuil 15, Grasset 14, Le Rocher 13, […]