Emma House is leaving the London Book Fair in January after six years to join the UK’s Publishers Association as their international director. House will be the first woman to hold a senior role in the organization. Chief executive Simon Juden says “her appointment gives us the opportunity to refocus the role of international director slightly, as we seek to continue the robust protection of members’ copyrights overseas and domestically, as well as explore and exploit opportunities for market development.”
International News
Credit Crisis Hits UK Wholesalers
The international credit crisis is threatening the UK book supply chain after Woolworth’s–which owns both trade and library wholesaler Bertram’s and Entertainment UK, which supplies books to the big supermarket segment–had its credit insurance pulled following a loss of 100 million pounds in the most recent six months. (The entertainment wholesale and publishing unit earned 2.2 million pounds on flat sales of 446 million pounds in the period.) As the Independent explained last month, “trade credit insurance covers businesses against the risk of bad debt due to the insolvency or protracted default of their buyers. Earlier in the summer credit […]
What Happened to Books in Canada?
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 […]
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 […]