Orange (Sur)Prize As if often the case, the U.K.’s Orange Prize honoring fiction by a woman written in English confounded expectations, naming Andrea Levy’s SMALL ISLAND as the winner of the $55,000 award. She beat out favorites “Oryx and Crake” by Margaret Atwood and “The Colour” by Rose Tremain, as well as others including National Book Award winner “The Great Fire” by Shirley Hazzard and the praised debut novel “Purple Hibiscus” by young Nigerian author Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie. Levy was surprised too; she told the BBC, “I was shocked – I didn’t think this would happen. It was a fantastic […]

Releases on Reagan Releases Press releases about Reagan related books (mostly reprints) are coming at a fast pace. In the accelerated publishing schedule column, Sentinel has moved up REAGAN OFF THE CUFF: Personal Recollections of The President, to july 26. Written by longtime Reagan aide Jim Kuhn, whose positions included serving as executive assistant to Mr. Reagan during his second term, it’s described by the publisher as, “A fly-on-the-wall memoir.” Bought last year, it was originally set for publication in 2005. DK has announced a new run of their glossy $50 testimonial first published in 2001, “Ronald Reagan: An American […]

A Small Note I’m back, but still exhausted, and on top of the last few days’ reports there is so much new information to share. Which is my lame excuse for presenting a lengthy, and no-doubt typo-filled, meal. (If this is getting too Deluxe to handle, you should tell me.) BEA In a Few Final Blinks Just as he’s expected to dominate the bestseller list this summer, the man from Hope, Arkansas set a buoyant mood of hope that prevailed throughout the Book Expo America convention in Chicago, which wrapped up yesterday. To add one more tidbit to our prior […]

Chicago, B.C. I’m really, really tired of chicken. I’m slightly annoyed, in the kindest way, at my friends at Little, Brown, because I can’t get their slogan for the new Malcolm Gladwell book, “Don’t think — BLINK” out of my mind. But Gladwell’s book is also about trusting your intuition, so there you have it — no takebacks. And, like many convention-goers, I’m tired but happy. Reporting from a trade show is always a dicey proposition; pretending that quotes from a few key people is representative or fooling yourself into thinking a few galleys merit more attention than others is […]

Work in Progress As many of you have noted, I’m posting direct to the PublishersMarketplace home page whenever I can. The downside of this constant activity is that I haven’t had time to be as reflective/analytical as I usually like. And I don’t even have time right now for my usual disclaimers about how hard it is to “cover” a trade show-as one person, or even as an entire staff. Nonetheless.: Knopf Cuts Clinton Pre-Orders As Demand Rises The show’s big story remains the biggest story, and will stay that way at least until June 22. Pre-orders for Bill Clinton’s […]

Chicago, B.C. At least psychologically, Bill Clinton’s upcoming keynote address tonight at BEA has turned this year’s convention around, particularly given that the idea of a return to Chicago B.C. (before Bill) was not particularly stirring. Anticipation of the speech continues to dominate press coverage and chatter among attendees; the big question is whether, after the former president’s exciting “toe touch,” will the books and the convention itself come to the fore. Leading into the show-and riding the Clinton enthusiasm-BEA show manager Greg Topalian was characteristically upbeat about how things were shaping up. (Careful observers will note that this year’s […]