Ian Rankin opens Edinburgh University library upgrade

Bestselling crime writer Ian Rankin has opened a redevelopment of Edinburgh University's main library:



Technorati Tag: Books

Tony Harrison wins inaugural PEN/Pinter prize

Poet and playwright Tony Harrison has won the inaugural PEN/Pinter prize for his "unmistakable and passionate voice". The prize is to be awarded annually to the writer who best exemplifies Pinter's own quest to "define the real truth of our lives and our societies". Harrison, who filed poems from the frontline in Bosnia for the Guardian in 1995, was selected by a panel of judges including Pinter's widow, the author Antonia Fraser, playwright Tom Stoppard and National Theatre director Nicholas Hytner. "When Tony's name came up it pretty much stopped the discussion," said Stoppard. "I think we all felt immediately that he was exactly the writer for the PEN/Pinter prize, and PEN/Pinter was exactly the prize for Tony. Harold would raise a glass to that." - Guardian

Technorati Tag: Books

2009 Booktrust Early Years Awards winners

The winners of the 2009 Booktrust Early Years Awards were announced at a ceremony at BAFTA, Piccadilly, London on 23 September.

Baby Book Award
Chick by Ed Vere (Puffin)

Pre-School Award
Oliver Who Travelled Far and Wide by Mara Bergman, illus. Nick Maland (Hodder Children's Books)

Best Emerging Illustrator
Box of Tricks by Katie Cleminson (Jonathan Cape)

Frank O'Connor Award winner is Simon Van Booy

"British author Simon Van Booy has won the world's richest short story prize, the Frank O'Connor award, for a collection which focuses on the different faces of love. Van Booy's Love Begins in Winter beat five other short story collections, including the US author Wells Tower's Everything Ravaged, Everything Burned and Zimbabwean Petina Gappah's An Elegy for Easterly, to win the €35,000 (£30,000) prize. Some big literary names, including Kazuo Ishiguro, Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie, Ali Smith and James Lasdun, had failed to make even the shortlist for this year's award."

New book: The UFO Files - from UK National Archives

"The UFO Files, published by The National Archives, is a collection of the most impressive reports from the Ministry of Defence's secret files on real-life UFO sightings. These reports are brought together for the first time, covering sightings from the early 1900s right up to the present day. The book includes sightings from civilians, as well as from military personnel and intelligence agencies. It looks at investigations conducted by British Intelligence and the CIA in response to UFO sightings, and their views on UFO threats to national security. Official reports, dramatic witness statements and personal interviews, many conducted by the author himself, are combined with rarely seen photographs and drawings."

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The Frances Lincoln Diverse Voices Children's Book Award

Frances Lincoln Limited and Seven Stories have announced the second Diverse Voices Award in memory of Frances Lincoln (1945 to 2001), to encourage and promote diversity in children's fiction. The purpose of The Frances Lincoln Diverse Voices Children's Book Award is to:

* Take positive steps to increase the representation of people writing from or about different cultural perspectives, whose work is published in Britain today.
* Promote new writing for children, especially by or about people whose culture and voice are currently under-represented.
* Recognise that as children's books shape our earliest perceptions of the world and its cultures, promoting writing that represents diversity will contribute to social and cultural tolerance.
* Support the process of writing rather than, as with the majority of prizes, promoting the publication.

Technorati Tag: Books

The Bookseller Retail Awards 2009 winners

The winners of the The Bookseller Retail Awards 2009 have been announced:

The Bookseller's Bookselling Company of the Year
W H Smith

Outstanding Contribution to Bookselling
Amanda Ross

High Street Retailer of the Year
Waterstone's

Direct to Consumer Bookselling Company of the Year
The Book Depository

Bertrams Independent Bookseller of the Year
Simply Books

Walker Books Children's Independent of the Year
Jarrolds Children's Book Department

Wiley Manager of the Year
Ian Critchley, Waterstone's Liverpool One

Usborne Children's Bookseller of the Year
Borders

Martina Cole General Retailer of the Year
W H Smith

Nielsen Marketing Campaign of the Year
Borders Where's Wally? On Google Earth

Technorati Tag: Books

The Roald Dahl Funny Prize 2009 shortlists announced

The shortlists for The Roald Dahl Funny Prize 2009 have been announced:

The funniest book for children aged six and under

* The Great Dog Bottom Swap by Peter Bently, illus. Mei Matsuoka (Andersen Press)

* Octopus Socktopus by Nick Sharratt (Alison Green Books)

* Elephant Joe is a Spaceman! by David Wojtowycz (Alison Green Books)

* Crocodiles Are the Best Animals of All! by Sean Taylor, illus. Hannah Shaw (Frances Lincoln)

* Mr Pusskins Best in Show by Sam Lloyd (Orchard Books)

* The Pencil by Allan Ahlberg, illus. Bruce Ingman (Walker Books)

The funniest book for children aged seven to fourteen

* The Galloping Ghost by Hilda Offen (Catnip Publishing)

* Eating Things on Sticks by Anne Fine, illus. Kate Aldous (Doubleday)

* Grubtown Tales: Stinking Rich and Just Plain Stinky by Philip Ardagh, illus. Jim Paillot (Faber and Faber)

* The Boy in the Dress by David Walliams, illus. Quentin Blake (HarperCollins)

* Purple Class and the Half-Eaten Sweater by Sean Taylor, illus. Helen Bate (Frances Lincoln)

* Ribblestrop by Andy Mulligan (Simon & Schuster)


Technorati Tag: Books

Man Booker Prize 2009 Shortlist announced

A S Byatt, J M Coetzee, Adam Foulds, Hilary Mantel, Simon Mawer and Sarah Waters are today, Tuesday 8 September, announced as the shortlisted authors for the 2009 Man Booker Prize for Fiction. The shortlist was announced by Chair of judges James Naughtie at a press conference held at the Man Group plc's London headquarters:

A S Byatt The Children's Book (Random House, Chatto and Windus)
J M Coetzee Summertime (Random House, Harvill Secker)
Adam Foulds The Quickening Maze (Random House, Jonathan Cape)
Hilary Mantel Wolf Hall (HarperCollins, Fourth Estate)
Simon Mawer The Glass Room (Little, Brown)
Sarah Waters The Little Stranger (Little, Brown, Virago)


Technorati Tag: Books

Liverpool Reads (UK)

"Liverpool Reads launched on Tuesday 15th September and this year is our biggest read ever. This year's book is The Savage, written by David Almond and illustrated by Dave McKean. The Savage is a uniquely presented, touching tale of grief, solace and hope from a master of contemporary storytelling and a visionary artist. David Almond, acclaimed author of Skellig - a children's novel recently adapted into a major drama for Sky television - is a Whitbread Children's award winner and was short-listed for the Carnegie Medal for The Fire-Eaters"


Technorati Tag: Books

New HSE Books website (UK)

"Health and Safety Executive has made the content of some 230 of our priced publications freely available through our new HSE Books website. The site helps deliver HSE's promise, made in June 2009 at the launch of our new strategy, to make the content of our priced publications containing guidance and regulation, freely available from 1 September 2009. These mainly include HSE's 'HSG' and 'L' series of publications. The content of these priced publications are now freely available in PDF format. Printed hard copies can also be purchased through the new website. The option to view a PDF is shown under the paragraph headed 'Downloads' on the relevant page for each publication within the new site"
Technorati Tag: Books

Pan Macmillan celebrates 30 years of The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy

"On 12 October 1979 the most remarkable book ever to come out of the great publishing corporations of Ursa Minor (and Earth) was made available to humanity - The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy. Pan Macmillan is celebrating thirty years of planet-hopping comic genius with the publication of special editions of Douglas Adams' iconic books. With new forewords from Russell T Davies, Terry Jones, Simon Brett, Neil Gaiman and Dirk Maggs, these editions are a must-have for Hitchhiker readers. Turn to the back of each book to find exclusive material from the Pan Macmillan archives, such as original synopses, press releases, photographs and letters from Douglas to his publisher. Whether you're a seasoned Hitchhiker fan or experiencing Arthur Dent's intergalactic adventures for the first time you'll love the fun new design, including The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy's 'DON’T PANIC' DIY sticker


Technorati Tag: Books

UK publisher Marion Boyars driven out of business

"One of the UK's most adventurous independent publishers, Marion Boyars, is being forced out of business after more than 40 years by the adverse climate of today's book trade. The publisher of authors including Ken Kesey, Georges Bataille, Nobel prize winner Kenzaburo Oe, Ivan Illich and Shel Silverstein, Marion Boyars said that it had sold licences in 38 literary titles to Penguin Classics, and that it would be winding down its operations once it has completed its autumn programme" - Guardian


Technorati Tag: Books

2009 Financial Times and Goldman Sachs Business Book of the Year Award shortlist

The shortlist for the 2009 Financial Times and Goldman Sachs Business Book of the Year Award has been announced:

* Animal Spirits: How Human Psychology Drives the Economy, and Why It Matters for Global Capitalism by George A. Akerlof & Robert J. Shiller
* Good Value: Reflections on Money, Morality and an Uncertain World by Stephen Green
* Imagining India: Ideas for the New Century by Nandan Nilekani
* In Fed We Trust: Ben Bernanke's War on the Great Panic by David Wessel
* Lords of Finance: 1929, The Great Depression, and the Bankers who Broke the World by Liaquat Ahamed
* The Match King: Ivar Kreuger and the Financial Scandal of the Century by Frank Partnoy


Technorati Tag: Books