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 […]
Lunch Weekly for Monday, May 19
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 Damian Tarnopolsky’s GOYA’S DOG, a satirical novel about the attempts of […]
Lunch for Friday, May 16
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, […]
Lunch for Thursday, May 15
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.” […]
Lunch for Wednesday, May 14
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 […]
Lunch for Tuesday, May 13
Kiser to Hyperion, and More Personnel News Crown editorial director Kristin Kiser will move to Hyperion as vp and associate publisher, starting May 27, reporting to president Ellen Archer. Kiser will be responsible for the management of the production, art, operations, and sub rights departments, along with managing the strategic planning for the company’s publishing program and coordinating and directing campaign plans for Hyperion and Voice frontlist and backlist titles. At Barnes & Noble, vp of the newsstand business Jaime Carey has been promoted to the newly created position of chief merchandising officer, responsible for the merchandise buying of all […]