Given this morning at the ALA’s mid-winter meeting, the Newbery Medal for 2009 went to Neil Gaiman’s THE GRAVEYARD BOOK. The Caldecott Medal went to THE HOUSE IN THE NIGHT, illustrated by Beth Krommes and written by Susan Marie Swanson. For honor books and the many other awards presented this morning, visit the ALA’s site or Twitter feed.
Lunch Weekly for Monday, January 26
Deal Reports Just e-mail to deals@PublishersMarketplace if you aren’t using the online form linked below. Report a deal using the online form The Key As usual, the handy key to our Lunch deal categories. While all reports are always welcome, those that include a category will generally receive a higher listing when it comes time to put them all together. “nice deal” $1 – $49,000 “very nice deal” $50,000 – $99,000 “good deal” $100,000 – $250,000 “significant deal” $251,000 – $499,000 “major deal” $500,000 and up FICTION Debut Sam Munson’s THE NOVEMBER CRIMINALS, a novel composed for the University […]
NBCC Award Nominees
Book critics were ready to declare Roberto Bolano’s 2666 the novel of the year before it was even published so the National Book Critics Circle might as well have given it the award rather than just a nomination on Saturday, along with Dexter Filkins’ everybody’s Top Ten list THE FOREVER war. But the other categories and their nominees range a little further (and M. Glenn Talyor’s nominated novel The Ballad of Trenchmouth Taggart comes from the West Virginia University Press): FictionRoberto Bolano, 2666Marilynne Robinson, HomeAleksandar Hemon, The Lazarus ProjectM. Glenn Talyor, The Ballad of Trenchmouth TaggartElizabeth Strout, Olive Kittredge Nonfiction […]
From the UK: Sales Fall at Smiths; Waterstone's New "Hosts"; Puffing Caroline Michel and More
A burst of short items from the United Kingdom: Sales at WH Smith‘s high street stores for the nine weeks ending January 17 declined 7 percent compared to a year ago. (They were down 7 percent for the past 20 weeks as well on a comp basis.)Company release Over at Waterstone’s, Nick Hornby and Kate Mosse will merchandise special Writer’s Tables at the chain stores. (The program started last year with tables from Sebastian Faulks and Philip Pullman.) The Guardian redefines the paradigm of a puff piece, as their reporter is thrilled to get the “first interview” with Caroline Michel […]
Celebrity Books
Publicist Jayme Phillips confirms that her client, actor Patrick Swayze, intends to co-author a memoir with his wife Lisa. (Swayze was diagnosed with pancreatic cancer last year.) But Phillips says, “There’s no publisher. There’s no dates. There’s no anything else.”Reuters Separately, an entertainment wire service claims that Molly Ringwald is writing a book on life as a fortysomething for HarperCollins for publication later this year.Wire
Layoffs Hit Big University Presses
Cambridge University Press is laying off almost 160 people in the UK. Chief executive Stephen Bourne says: “We know that this is an incredibly difficult time for those staff that are affected and we will be doing all we can to support them through these changes.” He added, “This has been a very hard decision to make. There are parts of the business doing very well and a lot of them are overseas but two parts are not and one is simply not viable in the long term.” Hardest hit is their Cambridge Printing Services unit, where 133 jobs are […]